There is nothing worse than going out to your car in the morning, only to find out that someone has stripped your gas tank clean. As people find increasingly ingenuous and annoying ways to get out of having to buy fuel of their own, you have an ever-greater need to learn all about keeping your fuel safe from thieves. Following are a few helpful tips to get your started.
It is always a good idea to pay attention to where you are parking the vehicle. If the streets appear to be unsafe, then the gas tank and its contents are likely unsafe as well. Pay attention to your instincts and do not leave the vehicle unattended in an area in which you don’t feel to comfortable for yourself. Keep in mind that it does not really take all that long for this type of theft to happen.
Another factor to pay attention to is the lighting in the area. A good parking space will be bright and well-lit. It should also be populated by other people. Most thieves are reticent to engage in these activities in busy and bustling places. When you have the option of doing so, try leaving the auto in a space that is monitored by a live human attendant or by video camera.
Keep in mind that this may not just be able protecting the fuel stores. You also have to think about the damage that people can do to a car when attempting to retrieve these resources. Remember that their first goal will be to collect the gas without being noticed and without getting caught. As such, they are likely to take shortcuts and to use equipment and other actions that are not in the best interest of all related systems and components.
If you have plenty of strategies for deterring people from attempting to steal the gas stores, you can avoid all of the resulting damage. This is why it is also a good idea to think about having an alarm installed. The best options are those with visible, blinking lights. These noticeable safety features act as a strong deterrent for criminal activity involving the auto. In this way, they are doubly beneficial.
Think about having a lock installed on the door to the fuel compartment. This is definitely a good idea if you have an older vehicle that does not have a very durable, safety covering. In many newer cars, these compartments cannot be accessed without first pulling a lever at the auto interior. A simple lock may be much cheaper than having an alarm installed.
You may want to try shortening automobile trips as well, particularly when taking your car into areas that you are not all that familiar with. This will limit the need to park in spaces that may or may not have high crime rates. This is especially important to do when fuel theft has been a serious problem overnight.
If this is something that you are dealing with in your own neighbourhood, think about paying a bit more money for a covered parking space. Community members can also band together to create a community watch program run by vigilantes who report attempted thefts to the police and try to intervene whenever it is safe to do so. Sometimes coming together is the only way to solve this problem in a long-term fashion, when it has become a serious and ongoing issue in any neighbourhood.
