DETROIT - Dale Fortin is getting a new kind of customer at his Detroit auto repair shop, customers who have not just been in a fender-bender or had a windshield smashed by a rock.
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The soaring price of crude oil has turned gas tanks into a cache of valuable booty, and Fortin has replaced several tanks punctured or drilled by thieves thirsting for the nearly $4-a-gallon fuel inside.
"That's the new fad," said the co-owner of Dearborn Auto Tech in Detroit. "I'd never seen it before gas got up this high."
While gas station drive-offs and siphoning are far more common methods of stealing gas, reports of tank and line puncturing are starting to trickle into police departments and repair shops across the country.
Some veteran mechanics and law enforcement officers say it's an unwelcome return of a crime they first saw during the Middle East oil embargo of the early 1970s.
Gasoline prices surged just before the long Memorial Day holiday weekend and crept a hair higher overnight Monday to a new record national average $3.937 for a gallon of regular, according to a survey of stations by AAA and the Oil Price Information Service.
Given their height, Fortin said pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles are more vulnerable to the thieves who puncture the tanks and use a container to catch the fuel.
Plastic tanks are typically the target, he said, since there is less chance of a catastrophic spark, and they are easier to drill into.
A design change may also be contributing to the preference for a drill rather than a syphoning hose. The tanks in many vehicles now have check balls, which prevent spills in a rollover accident. They also make siphoning more difficult.
In recent weeks, police in Denver arrested two suspects in connection with about a dozen cases of damaging tanks and stealing gas.
Denver Police Det. John White sees this "new way of siphoning gas" as a bigger problem.
"What made this particular method so dangerous and concerning for us was the way in which they were doing it — using cordless drills to puncture holes in these tanks," he said of the rash of cases his department has investigated this spring. "The heat, friction generated could have easily sparked a fire. It just made for a dangerous situation for the suspects and the community."
Tank puncturing has yet to reach the radar screens of law enforcement organizations such as the National Sheriffs' Association, or the Automotive Service Association, a group that represents independent garage operators.
Still, at least one insurance company has taken notice: AAA Mid-Atlantic issued a press release earlier this month that cited a case in April in Bethesda, Md., involving a thief who broke the fuel line underneath a car and sapped five gallons of gas. Montgomery County police said a bus in the same parking lot had 30 gallons of diesel stolen.
"These are crimes of opportunity," said AAA spokeswoman Catherine Rossi. "Right now, some people think that stealing gas is a way to get rich quick. It becomes a question of whether you're leaving yourself open to the possibility that someone can get to your car without being seen."
The cost of replacing a metal tank on passenger vehicles is between $300 and $400, and the plastic tank common on newer vehicles would be at least $500.
Bruce Burnham said thieves have hit the Budget Truck Rental business he owns in Shreveport, La., about a half-dozen times in the past three years. The thefts started shortly after Hurricane Katrina when prices spiked, then stopped for a while, then restarted about a year ago.
In some cases the gas lines have been cut; in others, gas has been pumped out. He figures he's lost at least a few thousand dollars in stolen fuel, repair costs and loss of rental fees.
Burnham said he has taken "extra measures to protect the vehicles," but declined to elaborate.
Gas and diesel aren't the only fuels being plundered. Restaurants from Berkeley, Calif., to Sedgwick, Kan., are reporting thefts of old cooking oil worth thousands of dollars. Cooking oil rustlers refine it into barrels of biofuel in backyard stills. Biodiesel can also be blended with petroleum diesel, and blends of the alternative fuel are now sold at 1,400 gas stations across the country.
Still, the theft of regular unleaded gasoline — the kind that leaves everyday drivers high and dry — is on the minds of more law enforcement agencies as prices rise.
Troy Police Lt. Gerry Scherlinck said his suburban Detroit department this month received a report of a stored motor home whose tank was siphoned and drained of 50 gallons of gas. They also had several incidents last year in industrial parks where the gas tanks of vehicles were punctured.
"Gas is liquid gold these days, and has been for the last year-and-a-half," Scherlinck said. "I would anticipate seeing more of these kinds of incidents as the price continues to go up."
I remember being a kid during one of that gas crisis in the 70's and people would siphon tanks with a hose to steal gas. It would seem old crimes have returned just with a different method.
TrailerParkJawa wrote:I remember being a kid during one of that gas crisis in the 70's and people would siphon tanks with a hose to steal gas. It would seem old crimes have returned just with a different method.
A different method that's also potentially more dangerous and definitely more destructive. Also more materialistic, using fancy new toys.
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$500 dollars of damage to get $20 of loot in one example. That's even more assholish than smashing someone's window to get their stereo. Consider the risk of fire and you're endangering your own life for less than a hundred bucks a go.
Why don't these fucktards do what my uncle did back in the 70s? He kept a length of 1" bathroom hose (which he called the Georgia Gas Credit Card) and siphoned gas all the time. He told me he made it all the way from Atlanta to San Diego and only had to buy gas once. Sure, he was a thieving dickhead, but at least he didn't vandalize the cars he stole from.
By the way, at $4/gallon, siphoning most of a large tank of gas (30 gallons or more) would be a felony since in most states any theft over $100 is a felony.
This is weird. Gas is very expensive in Europe, but nobody actually steals gas.
There's been plenty of people who made their own fuel and sold it illegally, or organized criminals stealing gas tankers, but no actual petty gas-theft.
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PeZook wrote:This is weird. Gas is very expensive in Europe, but nobody actually steals gas.
There's been plenty of people who made their own fuel and sold it illegally, or organized criminals stealing gas tankers, but no actual petty gas-theft.
This kind of thing is fairly common in Australia, but less so than people just doing the bolt at the gas pump without paying.
Elfdart wrote:Why don't these fucktards do what my uncle did back in the 70s? He kept a length of 1" bathroom hose (which he called the Georgia Gas Credit Card) and siphoned gas all the time. He told me he made it all the way from Atlanta to San Diego and only had to buy gas once. Sure, he was a thieving dickhead, but at least he didn't vandalize the cars he stole from.
By the way, at $4/gallon, siphoning most of a large tank of gas (30 gallons or more) would be a felony since in most states any theft over $100 is a felony.
Apparently new safety features on cars also made siphoning tougher to do:
A design change may also be contributing to the preference for a drill rather than a syphoning hose. The tanks in many vehicles now have check balls, which prevent spills in a rollover accident. They also make siphoning more difficult.
Elfdart wrote:Why don't these fucktards do what my uncle did back in the 70s? He kept a length of 1" bathroom hose (which he called the Georgia Gas Credit Card) and siphoned gas all the time. He told me he made it all the way from Atlanta to San Diego and only had to buy gas once. Sure, he was a thieving dickhead, but at least he didn't vandalize the cars he stole from.
By the way, at $4/gallon, siphoning most of a large tank of gas (30 gallons or more) would be a felony since in most states any theft over $100 is a felony.
Apparently new safety features on cars also made siphoning tougher to do:
A design change may also be contributing to the preference for a drill rather than a syphoning hose. The tanks in many vehicles now have check balls, which prevent spills in a rollover accident. They also make siphoning more difficult.
Heh, heh, Georgia Gas Credit Card. I gotta remember that one.
Anyway, the article never mentioned that it was impossible, only more difficult. And at any rate, a good cordless power drill costs several times more than the gas one could steal from a car, even a big monstrosity with a full gas tank, because so much is going to get spilled and wasted.
The more I think about it, the more I'm like, "Congratulations. You managed to make a crime more destructive AND more wasteful. They use more resources (a power drill is a lot more stuff than a hose, plus the electricity to run it, because I doubt these are hand-cranked drills) while getting less gas and causing lots of expensive damage."
weemandando[/i], Australia doesn't have pre-pay for gas? Most of the gas stations I've seen in the U.S. do that now to keep people from bolting.
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SDNW4 Nation: The Refuge And, on Nova Terra, Al-Stan the Totally and Completely Honest and Legitimate Weapons Dealer and Used Starship Salesman slept on a bed made of money, with a blaster under his pillow and his sombrero pulled over his face. This is to say, he slept very well indeed.
PeZook wrote:This is weird. Gas is very expensive in Europe, but nobody actually steals gas.
There's been plenty of people who made their own fuel and sold it illegally, or organized criminals stealing gas tankers, but no actual petty gas-theft.
This kind of thing is fairly common in Australia, but less so than people just doing the bolt at the gas pump without paying.
Gas is crazy expensive here, and some stations don't make you prepay and I still haven't seen this happening. (Outside of the desert, where they'll also steal anything that can be ripped off with a crowbar).
It's probably attributable (Like most other problems caused by rising
gasoline prices in the US) to the relative rise in gas prices.
You had a lot of (Socioeconomically speaking) "Poor" people with cars in the US, due to how insanely cheap the vehicles and fuel were, and they're more predisposed to, how do they say, "skirting" the law. In addition, the price has relatively risen by more for them and they're used to it, gas doubling isn't the same as increasing 50%, especially when you're used to driving everywhere.
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Mayabird wrote:weemandando[/i], Australia doesn't have pre-pay for gas? Most of the gas stations I've seen in the U.S. do that now to keep people from bolting.
We have the option for it at some of the larger chain petrol stations. I have yet to hear of being mandatory anywhere.
I've heard on the news that there's a movement to have it become more common, as fuel theft becomes more of a problem.
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Thieves don't care about the cost of repairs after they're through causing damage - why should they? It's not their problem.
They're probably using cordless drills, which are rapidly becoming smaller, lighter, and carrying a longer charge.
It's no different than thieves stripping copper out of the walls of the house for just a few bucks profit - they don't care about repairing the damage, only that they're a few bucks ahead.
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PeZook wrote:This is weird. Gas is very expensive in Europe, but nobody actually steals gas.
There's been plenty of people who made their own fuel and sold it illegally, or organized criminals stealing gas tankers, but no actual petty gas-theft.
The only fuel theft I know of is when people drain those all-winter oil tanks, but that's easily €3000+ worth. And it's rare enough for it to be news.
I'm not sure what it says about Americans (and, apparently, Australians) when they start stealing gas when it goes from "dirt cheap" to "slightly less dirt-cheap". What's going to happen when the US is hit with prices that are even vaguely realistic? Armed robbery? Roving bands of oil pirates?
I actually went out and bought locking gas caps for my truck and my wife's car. I guess I should see if our gas tanks are plastic, now. I know that my truck has steel skid plates over all vital sections of the undercarriage, including the gas tanks, but I'd wager that my wife's sedan doesn't. Ah well; at least hers is low enough to the ground that it'd be extremely difficult to get a drill underneath there. And I doubt very much that they're going to be racheting the car up on a jack to get at the sweet, sweet honey--err, premium--inside.
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sketerpot wrote:If this is as dangerous as the cops say, then the problem might just fade away after a few people per city explode themselves while stealing gas.
I gotta admit, I might be entertained enough by someone blowing himself up trying to steal gas out of my car to not be as terribly upset about losing the car. As long as nobody else gets hurt, but that's the problem in a nutshell.
I need to go buy a locking gas cap though I suppose.
