Covering Your Gas

Introduction

It still doesn’t cost as much per gallon as your designer hair products or your daily Starbucks habit...yet. But, is that precious petroleum costly enough to make you clean out your garage so you can park your car in there instead of storing your forgotten treasures? People are getting desperate for the go juice and are stooping to new lows to get it. So, you may want to rethink which of your valuables deserve priority in that two-car storage closet currently occupied by your used bowling ball collection and juniors crib and baby swing — I promise, he won’t be using them now that he’s in college anyway. Nowadays, locking fuel caps and filler flaps are not enough, and below we list the reasons why.

Siphoners Suck

There are plenty of movies about harmless hooligans tapping someone else’s fuel tank to get the shenanigans in the plot rolling. Good news! Many cars nowadays have a check valve or filler screen that prevent these thrill seekers from having a good time at your expense.

But that filler screen doesn’t score you an automatic Get Out of Being Siphoned card. Meant as a deterrent, not a stop-all, determined crooks have figured out ways to get past these devices on certain vehicles. Often the result is damage that makes fueling difficult or prevents the valve from keeping fuel from coming out of the filler neck if the car should end up in any position other than right side up. Bottom line: Don’t count on these devices to save you from having to hoof it to your corner gas pirate with your gas can in hand when you find your tank empty.