Warning concerning Thieves Stealing from Your Car or Truck

[Beggar for the Spirit]

There is another aspect of gas prices going up that I never thought of before, until recernly.

I had only heard of a few reports over the years in which gasoline was being stolen from vehicles in various parts of the US. But then this became more of a reality to me as I have now had the gas stolen from my vehicle 5 times in the past year! 😞 

 

I have an older truck, so I guess I was naive in thinking that an older truck would not be a target of theft. But apparently older trucks are an excellent target by thieves because

• Older vehicles usually have no alarms 
• Older vehicles usually have no lock on the fuel door
• But even if you have lock on the fuel door or add a “locking gas cap”,  trucks are high enough off the ground for a thief to slide underneath and make a hole in the gas tank 

 

Last year I had to clean up the street area where my truck normally is parked because gas had been pouring out underneath my truck! I had never dealt with a gasoline spill, so I was really nervous and worried.  This caused me so much trouble and then when I took it to the mechanic for a replacement gas tank, which was quite the cost along with expensive labor, the mechanic never mentioned anything to me that this could have been the result of someone trying to siphon gas directly from my gas tank!

 

Instead I thought and told the mechanics that since the truck was older, the gas tank must have been rusty maybe and then possibly it easily cracked open when I had accidentally driven over something?  But maybe mechanics are getting more business with cracked gas tanks and so some may not bother showing the customers that their gas tank had a hole in it caused by thieves? 

 

So when I left the mechanic shop with the replacement gas tank, at least I felt comforted that no longer would I leak gasoline because I had a new gas tank. But just last month, guess what happened?

 

My neighbors told me that there was a strong gasoline smell from under my truck that they could smell from their house! That’s when I realized that my previous broken gas tank must have been a result of thieves, because since that first gas tank replacement last year, I also have had the gas siphoned out from the fuel door 3 times! The last time was just a few weeks ago. 😞 

 

So now I feel that I have no choice but to try and sell my truck as I can no longer afford to keep repairing or replacing the gas tank or even afford to keep losing all the gas in my truck each month, as my older truck has become a special target of thieves 🎯  

 

I thought I would post about this personal situation so that all of you will at least be aware of this latest criminal trend. I hope this does not happen to any of you. If you do not have a truck or SUV, then hopefully thieves will not try and crack a hole in your gas tank as cars are lower to the ground and there is little room for a thief to slide under. But cars are still having the gas siphoned from the gas door also, so please be aware and maybe adding a “locking gas cap” will be a good preventative measure. Sadly if gas prices rise, there will be more stealing of gas.  Here is a link to an article in Arizona where this trend has started very recently and is being noticed by the police and local mechanics.

 

https://tucson.com/news/national/thieves-costly-new-tactic-puncture-vehicles-gas-tank/article_98bf67c9-0015-57e2-b4bd-97cfab86491b.html

  

Edited 11 hours ago by Beggar for the Spirit

[LeslieDean]

In 2009 when diesel was 5.00 gal I filled up my F150 King aRanch..100.00.total. I drove it next morning and ran out of gas two blocks from home. Tripe A then a licking cap but still a lesson to learn.