OT: Gasoline Theft

bmattock

bmattock

Veteran
Local time
1:53 AM
Joined
Jul 29, 2003
Messages
10,655
As totally off-topic as you can get, I guess, but I thought I'd mention this. Yesterday, I noticed I had only a little bit of gas remaining in my tank. But, I knew I had filled up only a few days previous and I habitually reset my trip odometer when I fill up. I normally get between 250 and just under 300 miles to a tank. Now it was nearly empty at 125 miles. I guess I got siphoned.

So I had to order a locking gas cap from the local auto parts store. The guy there told me that with gas prices headed back up, they are having a hard time keeping them in stock. They didn't even have one for my car, so like I said, I had to order one.

Just FYI. I live in a safe neighborhood, very quiet, and it happened to me. Wake up call, I guess.
 
Sparrow said:
Bill, “headed back up” almost $10.00 here in the UK, locking caps are fitted as standard :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Yeah, I know we've got it good in the US, even though we're moaning about $3.50 or so for gas prices. Sorry!

Up until a few years ago, cars came standard with locking gas cap covers (the flappy part) that were opened from inside the car on a cable pull. But the desire to lower costs and the frank realization that no one stole gasoline anymore combined, I guess, to make them no longer offered on many cars. My car is a 2005, didn't even have that as an option.

I remember locking gas caps, but it has been since the 1970's that I've seen them. They were terrible things back then - constantly rusting and then being locked onto the gas filler neck, very annoying. And subject to vandalism - some kid puts gum or superglue in the lcok and you have a real problem.

The one I just ordered came in this morning, I hope that they are made to a better standard now.
 
You’re catching-up however this century our prices have only doubled, yours have gone up three and a half times by 2020 it will be more expensive over there.
We got the “vandal magnet” caps in the 70s oil crises, so I know the ones you’re talking about
 
For what it is worth, I heard on NPR the other night that there is a very strange phenomena going on - home burglaries are dropping, but unlike other crime statistics, they don't seem to go in waves of up and down - they keep dropping and dropping and dropping.

They interviewed a guy who used to be a second-story man. He had an explanation - everybody's got everything now, nobody wants any second-hand trinkets. Everybody has a TV, a VCR, a DVD player, a cordless phone and walkman and etc, etc. He says he quit because he could not sell the stuff anymore - no one wants it.

Funny. Kind of.
 
About burglary not paying-
People who used to buy things at pawn shops to save a couple of bucks now shop at WalMart and the like. Consumer electronics and such have just gotten too cheap to be worth stealing, or at least that is my take.
 
Bryce said:
About burglary not paying-
People who used to buy things at pawn shops to save a couple of bucks now shop at WalMart and the like. Consumer electronics and such have just gotten too cheap to be worth stealing, or at least that is my take.
Click to expand...

Yep. That's my take also. I haven't been in a pawnshop in years, but the last one I visited, I could not help but notice - the stuff was all crap, and the prices were too high. eBay had them beat by a mile.

I guess Wal-Mart and eBay didn't just drive the mom-n-pop shops out of business...
 
Last edited:
With the advent of ORVR systems, phased in 1998-2000, they are supposed to be siphon-proof as an EPA requirement. There is a check valve at the bottom of the filler pipe that will have a guard to prevent a hose from going through. If you have been siphoned, it is possible the check valve has been damaged. You can tell if fuel comes back up the filler after a full fill. Watch for this.
 
bsdunek said:
With the advent of ORVR systems, phased in 1998-2000, they are supposed to be siphon-proof as an EPA requirement. There is a check valve at the bottom of the filler pipe that will have a guard to prevent a hose from going through. If you have been siphoned, it is possible the check valve has been damaged. You can tell if fuel comes back up the filler after a full fill. Watch for this.
Click to expand...

The OP said his car is a 1995 model, probably too old to have that system. I have a 1995 car too, a big gas guzzling Chevy Caprice. It gets horrid milage, but its worth it because people are such bad drivers where I live. I have been in 14 accidents, only one of which (when I was 16) was my fault. The others were people who ran stop lights or who pulled out of parking lots into traffic and hit me. My big car has saved me life more than once and it has never been seriously damaged. The people who hit me totaled thier cars!

About gas: prices have more than tripled in 5 years, which is simply outrageous. Nothing else has ever increased in price that much that fast in the US in our history.Keep in mind that oil is pumped out of the ground and the costs of extracting it have not tripled. Are the Arabs gouging us or are the oil companies simply reaping larger profits? This is important because our entire economy can be destoyed by high fuel costs. Its already happening.
 
Chriscrawfordphoto said:
About gas: prices have more than tripled in 5 years, which is simply outrageous. Nothing else has ever increased in price that much that fast in the US in our history.Keep in mind that oil is pumped out of the ground and the costs of extracting it have not tripled. Are the Arabs gouging us or are the oil companies simply reaping larger profits? This is important because our entire economy can be destoyed by high fuel costs. Its already happening.
Click to expand...

It's called supply and demand; the demand has gotten much bigger since China and India began using cars in a big way. That will get only worse (or better, depending on your point of view.)

I read somewhere a couple of years ago that it cost ~$10 to deliver a barrel of oil to the US east coast. (That's pumping, transport, etc.) Everything else is essentially a tax by exporting nations, or profit for somebody (not necessarily the oil companies, but also commodities speculators, etc.) The recent run-up, above $100 a barrel, can mostly be attributed to speculators, as I understand it. This is making the exporting nations nervous, because if prices get too high -- and out of their control -- then there will be a big move to conserve, smaller cars, etc., and prices will begin spiralling down. Their ideal condition is to sell oil at as high a price as possible, without encouraging profit-damaging conservation measures.

The "tax-and-profit" thing is one reason that some economists and politicians have argued that the US needs a big whopping gas tax -- say $1 a gallon. They argue that *somebody* is going to push the price to the edge of sustainability, so it might as well be us. That way, we'd collect the tax, rather than the exporting nations.

Oil (in my view) is the underlying cause of the US involvement in the Middle East; it's a struggle over who will control oil flow. We talk about justice and democracy, but you'll notice that we didn't intervene in the Rwanda genocide of a few years back, when even a very small force of a few thousand soldiers might have broken up the killing in a matter of days or a couple of weeks (as the soldiers from Burundi later did.) We went after Hussein because he explicitly threatened the oil flow when he invaded Kuwait; we confront Iran for the same reason; we fight Al Queda not only because of 9-11, but because they were (and maybe still are) a popular force in Saudi Arabia.

The failure of major importing nations to create reasonable energy policies is one of the most politically unsettling problems in the world. It's not only the US, but the US is a major factor in it. If the US government created a protected coal-to-oil industry, and encouraged more alternative fuels, and combined those policies with a requirement that all cars be plug-in hybrids, and perhaps added an excise tax for cars over certain horsepowers, we could essentially be energy independent in fifteen or twenty years, and between now and then, the prices we pay for gasoline would steadily decline. That won't happen because our political situation is such that we need a crisis before anybody will act, and $4 gas is not quite a crisis.

JC
 
Hybrids.... I'm not saying they're bad, but they're very very expensive for what they are. Go and buy a small 4cyl diesel car. Like a volkswagen golf diesel, a mazda 3 diesel etc etc. In europe the diesels are very very popular, and the fuel economy that they get is equal to, or BETTER than hybrids, while costing LESS and being better to drive, and probably in the end better for the environment.
 
Yeah, I can see a burglar trying to fence my 25 inch RCA TV, or my collection of rangefinders. (The local pawn shops won't even touch film cameras anymore).

Fortunately, my 2005 Nissan Sentra has one of those locking gas caps with an inside release. It's a shame Detroit is run by MBAs who nix common sense ideas to save pennies...
 
Thieves don't siphon out of autos here in Central FL. Instead they take large quantities directly out of the tanks at gas stations by parking a trailer directly over the tanks. With a large tank in a trailer, and accomplice hidden inside, they can get 1,000 gallons directly out of the underground tanks and drive away before anyone figures out.

Why bother stealing 15 gallons retail when you can get 1,000 gallons wholesale?
 
Chriscrawfordphoto said:
The OP said his car is a 1995 model, probably too old to have that system. I have a 1995 car too, a big gas guzzling Chevy Caprice. It gets horrid milage, but its worth it because people are such bad drivers where I live. I have been in 14 accidents, only one of which (when I was 16) was my fault. The others were people who ran stop lights or who pulled out of parking lots into traffic and hit me. My big car has saved me life more than once and it has never been seriously damaged. The people who hit me totaled thier cars!

About gas: prices have more than tripled in 5 years, which is simply outrageous. Nothing else has ever increased in price that much that fast in the US in our history.Keep in mind that oil is pumped out of the ground and the costs of extracting it have not tripled. Are the Arabs gouging us or are the oil companies simply reaping larger profits? This is important because our entire economy can be destoyed by high fuel costs. Its already happening.
Click to expand...

You obviously missed the 1970's where gasoline went from 35 cents a gallon to over a dollar almost overnight. And yes, OPEC is gouging us because they can. There is not enough oil around to allow the Chinese and Indian emerging middle classes to live like the current middle class in Europe and America are accustomed.

And Exxon's profits are only around 10 cents on the dollar. You might look at the profits of Microsoft if you want to see what REAL price gouging looks like...
 
John Camp said:
or profit for somebody (not necessarily the oil companies, but also commodities speculators, etc.)
Click to expand...
:bang::bang:

Goldman Sachs, the other Wall Street oil traders and their ilk are the reason for the high price of oil.:bang: There is enough oil worldwide, regardless of what you hear and read. :mad:

Is it possible there are new profits to be made over a "fake" oil crisis?:eek:

I think so. :D

Regards.
 
You guys think you have smart thieves! here in the Denver area they are, yes sit down for this, DRILLING HOLES INTO THE GAS TANKS!! They are targeting suburban owners of big SUV's and filling up buckets with gas and walking away with it??? what the?!?!
Guess it takes all kinds.
 
A large screwdriver will pop most any locking gas cap off in a few seconds, but it would certainly stop the more casual, opportunistic, dumb gas robber. We have a tandem bike for getting into town and around on Sundays, I have my commuter bike, an E-Zip electric bike w/ a trailer for fetching groceries, and we take the bus (which runs $15 for a monthly unlimited ride pass here in Las Cruces, NM). When we have to we rent a car or truck as needed, but it seldom comes up. Gotta admit, we feel pretty smug about not giving our coins to those thieves at the oil companies, and it's great to say goodbye to insurance companies, friends & associates of dimbulb in the White House, DMV's, vehicle registration fees, traffic cops, highway patrol officers, gas stations, repair shops, tire stores, and more! Charging the electric bike takes 4 cents of electricity, and the regular bikes keep me in good shape. Leaves more money for cameras and film.
 
Well with all that excess ground clearance on them big SUVs, you'd think that gas tanks holding all that precious petrol would be a little less accessible. While they're at it, they might as well make those catalytic converters a little harder to steal too.
 
Okay it was me that took Bill's gas, but I promise to pay it back in a monetarily equal amount of film or pie.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom