With the exception of perhaps major corporation CEOs, everyone is feeling the pinch from the economy these days. Not only are jobs and money scarce, but people are out to rob one-another blind. Car theft has long been a problem. Now rather than steal your entire car, thieves are targeting your vehicle’s gas and catalytic converter.

The Guardian UK reports insurers and car rescue services are reporting a small but rising number of thefts, predominantly from commercial vehicles but increasingly from domestic cars.

Thieves steal gas by cutting through fuel lines, smashing open fuel caps, removing gas tanks or, in some cases, drilling into the fuel tanks and pumping out the contents. Big cars, such as people carriers and 4x4s, are particularly vulnerable because they are higher off the ground, giving easier access, and they have bigger fuel tanks.

Most incidents involve the gas line being cut or the petrol cap being pulled off, and that older vehicles with a key-opened fuel cap were most at risk.

This is very dangerous behavior. Drilling into the fuel tank is another potential access point but is very dangerous and could cause an explosion from one spark.

Red diesel – fuel sold to farms that carries a lower tax duty than standard fuel – and domestic heating oil, another form of diesel, are also sometimes stolen for use in cars.

Figures collated by an insurer specializing in farm insurance, show the value of claims for heating oil theft increased by 153% in the first six months of 2011 compared with the same period in 2010.

Catalytic converters are stolen because they contain precious metals – platinum, palladium and rhodium – which can be recycled. The increase in the metal market is the major reason for the increase.

It is just one more thing to worry about. Perhaps if theft classes were mandatory for all high school children this problem might be curbed.