I used to always "take the car"......it was very easy, everyones asleep, driveway had a hill and could make it a full block away without having to start it.........dad wrote down the milage? Odometers were REAL easy to unhook in the 80s......
The trick was to time the early morning arrival when the neighbor would be starting his work truck.....yes I'd wait down the street like a stakeout...... then......home
