There are a growing number of people waking up to find their petrol has been stolen from their fuel tanks according to BBC reports.
Anti theft petrol locking caps seems to offer little resistance as determined thieves use ingenious lock breaking devices to simply break right through and siphon off as much fuel as they can carry or simply drill a hole in the petrol tank.
The spiralling cost of petrol and diesel is thought to have “fuelled” (please excuse the pun!) the increase in these type of thefts, and even though both the police forces and insurers across the UK have warned about such activity, it seems to have had no impact.
Thieves are not discrimatory. They seem to be getting more and more daring, and are not afraid to steal the fuel from cars parked on roads, car parks or even from cars parked in peoples’ driveways.
The dilemma for the car owner of course is “Can I?(or shall I?) claim off my insurance policy for the damage?”
Immediate thoughts - look to the question “Can I Claim?”
In short, NO!
Believe it or not, current insurance underwriting does not actually cover theft of fuel or indeed the damage to the petrol tank.
Theft/attempted theft only covers damage to windows and interior damage. A fuel tank is fitted on the exterior of the car and must be replaced – it cannot be repaired.
There is a good case in this instance for car owners to perhaps avoid fitting their cars with locking petrol caps.
Any would be thief would then simply have to undo the cap and siphon it off – the only loss would then be the fuel itself, a lot less than replacing a petrol tank.