When do you fill up your car?

[kakeya97]

Total wrong timing for this post I know. Putting the whole panic buying fuel thing aside. Before all this did you fill up when low or like to keep topped? The whole fuel thing has sparked this conversation with Dp though.

I have major anxiety about my diesel level getting too low. If it starts getting under half a tank I'll fill up, likely before it hits half a tank though. I can't relax until it's done. I just like the comfort on having it. I live rurally. Closest station is 8 miles away and shuts at 6pm!! Longer opening and 24 hours stations are much further afield. There aren't many stations on my most widely used routes so tend to have to make a special journey for it. I like to be prepared at all times. I have two disabled children and I like to fill up so I don't have to stop with them to get it.

Dp will literally run his work vehicle on fumes for a few days before topping up - even though he works right by a station - he often takes my (family) car to work to fill up if I'm stuck too. Most of my friends are the same - they let it get really low first.

I'm all good for now and I can assure you I am not panic buying fuel. I put some in middle of last week before it all kicked off and still got 3/4 of a tank full which should last a while. I think it will really bother me when it gets under a 1/4 a tank but it rarely gets that low.

Do you let it get right down or do you keep on top of it?

Genuinely curious that's all 😅

I never let mine go below half a tank. Just a habit really

I'd get a taxi.

There are four to service the town plus all the surrounding areas, but you'd never get one for school/work rush hour even if you booked it months in advance.

When it gets into the red I fill up. Can’t be doing with back and forward fo the petrol station all the time.

Thankfully I filled up before all this kicked off and on the off chance that this isn’t all sorted before I need more I wouldn’t fill more than half a tank.

@speakout

Where are all these rural places with lots of petrol stations????

I suspect their idea of rural and ours is very different

When light comes on unless I have a long journey planned .

I suspect their idea of rural and ours is very different

I think so.
I have spent most of my life living in rural areas, and petrol stations can be 50 miles apart or more.

@speakout

Where are all these rural places with lots of petrol stations????

Our area is suburban rather than rural but I think the large number of petrol stations reflects how bad public transport is locally. We have no train station nearby and the bus service to nearest towns/cities is pretty poor. Consequently the area relies on car ownership.

Somewhere between a half and a quarter empty

@speakout

I suspect their idea of rural and ours is very different

I think so.
I have spent most of my life living in rural areas, and petrol stations can be 50 miles apart or more.

Yeah, same here.

The big towns here have 2-3 stations, but if you're outside those areas, like you say, it can be miles between stations. Our town has one and the small town 15 miles away has one.

Otherwise it's 30-40 miles to get fuel in pretty much any direction, and most of the stations are closed on Sundays, closed on Bank Holidays and only open 7am-9pm at a push - many have even more reduced hours than that.

@icedcoffees

I'd get a taxi.

There are four to service the town plus all the surrounding areas, but you'd never get one for school/work rush hour even if you booked it months in advance.

Same here. There’s no company in the village and the once in the nearest town are booked up solid in the mornings.

I’m lucky - we have a petrol station with the shittiest shop ever in the village 😁

Our area is suburban rather than rural but I think the large number of petrol stations reflects how bad public transport is locally. We have no train station nearby and the bus service to nearest towns/cities is pretty poor. Consequently the area relies on car ownership.

Ours is the same except we have no bus station but a very limited train service instead. We still have barely any petrol stations

Shop open 8-8 no late nights here and doesn’t open bank holidays a lot of the time (but random but never know if it’s going to be open or not on a BH) and doesn’t open til 9 on a Sunday.

When it gets into the red zone.

On or just after pay day. I’ll do about 3/4 of a tank in a month. I had a couple of longer journeys to do end of Aug/beg of Sept so by the middle of last week I had less than 1/4 of a tank so put £20 in with a view to put more in, but I haven’t bothered. I should have enough to get to the middle of next week and by then hopefully it all should have calmed down.

@Suitcaseseverywhere

Shop open 8-8 no late nights here and doesn’t open bank holidays a lot of the time (but random but never know if it’s going to be open or not on a BH) and doesn’t open til 9 on a Sunday.

That's so familiar!

You can't pay at the pump either so if the shop isn't open, the pumps don't work and you can't fill up.

One of the nearest stations won't even allow you to fill up yourself - someone has to come out and do it for you

When I drive a car that isn't in my name, I'd get anxious if it went below half a tank. I bought my current car two years ago and now I run it into the ground. The lowest it's gotten is 4 miles, and that was at one in the morning about 45 minutes from home 😅

Same @icedcoffees 😂😂😂 and they’d fill up for you if you wanted.

I've got 2 cars both on red and I live near a petrol station 😂😂

It's closed currently

I think the large number of petrol stations reflects how bad public transport is locally.

Surely petrol station reflect demand- rural areas are sparsley populated, petrol stations exist to profit.
Fewer people mean fewer petrol stations surely?
Are we really talking about rural areas here?

When the lights on …if no long journeys planned around 30 miles after the light came on.

Both of us live no where near parents at least a 2 hour journey - this is the first time I’m a bit concerned if MIL needs anything as she on her own. But haven’t panic brought still have 3/4 tank in one and half in the other.

I still remember as a kid my Dad on a Sunday going to fill the cars up as he always brought back us a packet of sweets to share :) He could be running on fumes but Sunday was filling the car up day!

Running on fumes.... I feel like a student again 😂
Coasting down hills and calling people bellends because they keep braking

Light comes on plus two days is usually my formula for petrol filling.

1/4 of a tank as a minimum. I never let the light come on, I'd probably have a bit of a mental breakdown if it did ☺️

I am a 15 minute drive from my nearest petrol station and usually wait until the car tells me I have about 60 miles of fuel left.

Cars are massive drama queens. When they start moaning they've got 20 miles left in the tank there's at least a hundred