Do you hate fuelling your car?

[Time40]

I'm quite surprised by the number of MNers who say they absolutely hate filling up their cars. It seems to be high on the list of most-detested tasks. Those of you who hate it - do you know why you hate it? Do you also hate washing your cars, or doing other car-care jobs?

I like filling my car up - I have no idea why I like it, though. I'm not all that wild about washing cars, but I don't hate doing it - it's one of the less awful chores, even though it's a chore.

I never thought twice about it before but with a toddler or baby in the car it’s an annoying faff.

I've literally never put fuel in my own car. My husband always does it. I don't even think about it anymore.

Just buy one from Amazon. I love mine. I'd hate to do my tyres at the garage.

I have one (from Argos). In fact, I used to have two but gave one to my brother.

The one at the petrol station is a bit quicker, and the one in the car is very noisy, so I don't like to use it at home early in the morning or late at night in case it disturbs the neighbours.

I will say that my partner does take mine to the garage to fill up if I am out on foot or the day or whatever, which is v nice of him. Doesn't tell me, just does it! But I usually just do it myself.

For me it was just a job that I had to do, I hate having fuel on my hands and having always driven a diesel it was horrible so I always made use of the gloves. When my DC were small pay at pump didn’t exist but as I worked I was able to fill up when they weren’t with me.

I reduced my mileage over the years from loads (as a sales rep) to minimal as wfh which was handy and now I’m electric which is great as it is clean and on the drive. Even better DH does the charging as we have 2 EVs and it is much easier with 1 person managing this. If I fill my car to 80% it lasts me at least a week.

@Iheartmysmart 😂yes prob best not to blast your car into several pieces!

It doesn't bother me. I don't need it for work so can refuel at leisure when I go to the supermarket.

Ah - it definitely looks like it makes the process easier - watching people filling up at Costco with their huge cars they set the nozzle up and then just walk away from it until it clicks off as full. Most of the pumps here have waste bins and window washer squeegees with glass cleaner to dip into. So they clean their windscreen and back windows, and then go through the car and get rid of any rubbish, have a little stretch all while the fuel is pumping. And I can't make the thingy work so just stand there holding it like an idiot!

I have an EV so take some delight in NEVER having to fill it up. Car gets charged either while I sleep or in the work car park.

The ones at Shell (for example) definitely pump faster than the supermarket. Question is, is the 3p+ per litre and the better quality fuel worth the trade off.

I would like cars that charge themselves as you drive along

I don't know when/if this will materialise, but I believe this is indeed the long-term hope, once all/most cars are electric - to charge them wirelessly (just like you can do now with some phones) when driving down motorways and other major roads - so apart from getting a bill/your account debited every week/month (and doubtless yielding yet more personal privacy), charging/filling up a car will eventually become as obsolete as having to crank a handle on the front to start it.

But you still have to plug it in - so effectively the same action as sticking a fuel pump in it? And, more to the point, you have to remember to do that, so it still occupies space in your mind.

I don’t mind filling them up, apart from the cost, but I don’t do any other car care at all.

But it's not smelly and I don't have to queue. Nor do I pay on the spot. Can't put the wrong fuel in. Can't spill it on the forecourt. Can't pull up on the wrong side for the hose - just easier all round.

@DreamingDaisies Can't pull up on the wrong side for the hose
I don’t know why so many people still think this, you can’t pull up on the wrong side, it will stretch.
Many stations even have signs to point this out now and yet people still won’t move up to the next available pump.

I have to stick it in but I don’t hang around. I just unplug it whenever I need to drive off. It becomes automatic so I never worry about remembering to do it either.

the only exception is long drives when going on holiday when it’s a similar procedure to filling up, except that it takes a bit longer. Which is good in this instance as it usually takes about the same time as it does to get a costa coffee and go to the loo. You don’t have to hang around in the cold, EVER.

Another saying get a portable compressor and do your tyres at home, much easier.

This thread has been a complete eye opener, buying petrol to me is so quick and easy I do it without a second thought and that includes when the DCs were tiny it would never have occurred to me to get them out to take into the shop. Mind you my car only holds 25L so that is partly why it's quick. I don't use pay at pump because it doesn't take apple pay. Hand gel in the car side pocket for afterwards, job done.

This is all true, I will grant you!

That’s OK you don’t mind scratching your car with the hose draped over it.

@Completelyjo if you have a biggish car and you aren't close enough they won't always reach. So then you have the embarrassment of trying to repark while someone else is trying to push in because they think the pump is free . . .

It's just a weirdly physical, messy job, particularly if you have to haul the hose over your car.

It will look bizarre in 50 years

True, but you do still have to make sure you park carefully in the right place to facilitate pulling the hose across in mind, especially if you have a big vehicle and/or if you're quite short/have a short reach.

They do stretch adequately, but there isn't loads of leeway.

Does rubber usually scratch metal?!

I like the smell of petrol & diesel, but what I never realised until I got my first diesel car (ie, now) is that the diesel pump, the bit that you hold, is almost always covered in diesel and it gets all over your hand. I like the smell but I don't want to smell of it myself.

It's not a job that has ever bothered me; in fact, as a teenager I used to love doing it for my parents (and this was in the cash-only days when they'd hand you twenty quid and you'd have to try to get exactly the right amount - the stress of it!)

No pay-at-pumps where I live, but even so I never take my kids out of the car to go in and pay - it seems massively less convenient and less safe to drag them across a busy forecourt rather than locking them briefly into a car that you can keep within sight for the whole three minutes it takes to pay.