My car is a 2008 Hyundai Accent, which I got when it was brand new. Over this time I’ve managed to avoid a significant number of car mishaps that could happen to a car owner, but a few weeks ago I had a minor incident occur, which I’ve finally gotten fixed, and which I figured I might as well blog about.

So, a few weeks ago, right before US Thanksgiving, someone tried to siphon my gas.

The key word here is “tried” – I was at a quarter tank at the time and was planning to fill up on my way home – so that, combined with possibly getting interrupted mid-syphon (there was a gas can right next to my car with the lid off and nothing inside) meant that they gave up before they could get any gas out. My car was generally undamaged – the catalytic converter was where it was supposed to be, and there was no damage to the tire or the windows. However, they had broken the catch on the fuel door of my car. And, as this car is over 10 years old, the dealer didn’t have any doors left, so this became a DIY job.

Here’s a better look at the damage – the good news is that the door itself is pretty easy to replace, once I ordered the parts online. The screws holding the door on are 10mm hex screws – and the little plastic line holding the fuel cap to the door can be removed with forceps.

And it pops right into a similar hole on the new door. Speaking of which, the new door doesn’t match the color of the existing paint job of the car – possibly in the spring, when things warm up, I might pop the door off my car and give it a matching (or somewhat matching) paint job.

I ordered the part from HyundaiPartsDeal.com, and it arrived fairly quickly and well-packaged, and the price was right ($23). Hopefully, I won’t need to replace anything similar on the car again, but if I do, I’m going to keep them in mind.