Gas prices have climbed over $.40 in the past month and reports of gas tank vandalism have climbed to at least 13 in Sioux Falls.
We spoke with Marilyn Buskohl with AAA of South Dakota. She says South Dakota's gas prices have climbed over $.40 in a month. She says our prices are up because crude oil prices are higher. Buskohl says she doesn't expect prices to go down anytime soon. She says refineries will be switching to Summer blends which cost more to produce. She says prices hopefully will top out at the end of April or early May. Buskohl is hopeful we won't see prices go as high as we did in 2011 and 2012.
Buskohl says with prices climbing this high you can take certain steps to make your gas tank lasts as long as possible. She recommends checking your tire pressure and planning trips ahead so you aren't wasting any extra miles by backtracking.
While gas prices continue to climb we've also seen gas tank vandalism on the rise as well. Just this week there were at least six reports of gas tank vandalism in the southwest part of Sioux Falls. That brings the total number of reports to at least 13 since the beginning of the year. Some blocks are seeing multiple incidents.
Earlier this week we spoke with a manager at Tires Tires Tires who told us using a drill on some gas tanks will throw some sparks and heat so it's first of all a very dangerous thing to do. He also said it will leave spilt gas on the ground which can also be dangerous. For the car owner this can be a very expensive problem to fix. Experts tell us the damage can cost anywhere from $400 to well over $1000 dollars to fix. Depending on your insurance, you could very well be paying a big amount of that out of pocket.
Sioux Falls Police say the best thing we can do is to keep an eye out for anything out of the ordinary. Police say keep an eye on your property and your neighbors and really all cars near you on the street. They say if you see someone crawling under a car, it's probably best to just call police.
