The quick answer is yes, it definitely can hurt a car to just sit and not be driven. The main reason has to do with the battery. If a battery is not regularly driven, it will slowly discharge and eventually die. Even if you regularly start and drive your car for short periods of time, that’s not enough to keep the battery at full power. To keep the battery healthy, you need to drive your car for at least 30 minutes once a week.
Of course, there are other factors that can contribute to your car’s health decline even when you are driving it regularly. For example, if you don’t change the oil often enough or get tune-ups on schedule, your car will eventually have some serious issues. But if you take care of these things and still don’t drive very often, the main thing you have to worry about is the battery dying on you unexpectedly.
If you know you won’t be driving your car for an extended period of time (say, more than two weeks), there are some steps you can take to help preserve the battery life. One is to disconnect the negative terminal of the battery; this will prevent any discharge while disconnected. Another is to invest in a trickle charger; this plugs into a standard outlet and provides a slow charge to keep the battery at optimum levels even when not in use. And finally, if possible, store your car in a cool and dry place; extreme temperatures can also shorten battery life significantly.