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 😅

With the diesel, once the light comes on and the 'miles to go' hits 0, there are still 70 actual miles left in the tank. We like to live dangerously with this car! It normally gets filled once someone asks, how long has it been on 0 miles... £60 a tank and we get 550 miles out of it.

With the petrol, once the light comes on you have 20 miles and then it chugs to a halt. This gets filled as soon as the light comes on (or possibly a day / 10 miles later, if we're pushing it). £50 a tank, about 350 miles - doesn't do much motorway driving.

Why anyone would want to fill up with half a tank remaining, or faff around with £10 here and £10 there, I don't know, it's 15mins to get to the nearest petrol station (rural), who has the time to be pinging back and forth to the petrol station.

I start worrying about needing fuel once I get to 1/4 tank.

DH once used my car and then the light came on as I set off home from work- gave me palpitations until I got to the petrol station which was 13 miles away & near home.

I needed fuel on Friday after work as I was just under 1/4 tank. There wasn’t any which caused me massive stress. Thankfully our PS had been filled up and there was plenty when I was out at 6:30 am on Saturday. I know logically 1/4 is plenty -DH will happily do 20+ miles with his red light on- I just can’t squash the idea I’m going to conk out on the dual carriageway.

Usually fairly soon after the light comes on BUT I usually do very short journeys and the fuel station is very close to where I live, so this isn't an issue. I think I have cut it very close (running on fumes) a few times though.

If I am doing a longer journey then I will fill up before I go unless I have more than half a tank.

I never let it go below a quarter as DS had various health problems when he was little and I often had to rush him to A+E. He is grown up now but it’s a habit I can’t break.

When the light comes on! Or, if we are going to do a big journey then will fill up before / early in the journey.

It's on the light now though... and no petrol locally. I drove past stations on friday beginning to get a queue and I had half a tank. So drove on, didn't want to be a panic buyer. However, I wish I had just filled up now....

When the light comes on and then I only put half a tank in (about 30 quid) but I don't rely on my car for work.

Normally before the light comes on, mainly because the accompanying sound siren is dreadful and gives me a heart attack even if I'm expecting it.

Ordinarily until the car goes 'ping' and the light comes on. I know I have a good 30 miles left before I'm in trouble but don't want to push my luck.

Currently though I don't like to have less than half a tank because my father is very unwell and I've had more than one 2am call where I've had to rush the 60 miles to my parents or the 80 miles to their nearest hospital. The last thing I want to do when I get those phone calls is figure out where the nearest 24 hour garage is on route so I can top up. At the moment that would be an even bigger nightmare because of the panic buying.

I always keep my car topped up, and never let it go below half full. I live very rurally though and I need the car for work. I usually fill up every Friday evening when I go food shopping, at the supermarket petrol station, it's my normal routine.

Our intention is always to keep the car filled up each week. Basically replace what we have used that week but it never normally happens. I have been getting better at remembering to do that recently. I always use Apple Pay and never have my card on me and the pay at pumps don't accept Apple Pay so that's the usual reason.

I filled up at the start of last week when we hit the red and topped up again on Saturday because we have a few long journeys this week to hospital in another city so didn't want to risk having to cancel them because people are going insane and filling up loads of Jerry cans when they usually drive 50 miles a month!

We've pretty much always let it run down to 1 'bar' then filled right up. I hate driving with the red light on so rarely let it get that low.

I'm glad OH managed to fill up late the other night, I need the car to get to work so would've been stuck!

DH is the only driver but he hates it getting under a quarter of a tank, gets rather twitchy in fact 😂 Then we just fill right up.

usually just before the light comes on & fill it up or always before a long journey

When the light comes on. I can do 30 odd miles before I run out. Unless you live super rurally, most people can get to a petrol station before that happens.

It's not economical to drive around with a full tank. If I'm driving long distance I'll fill up but otherwise I'll have max half a tank and will fill back up to that level when the warning light comes on.

My light comes on with around 40 miles left, I usually fill it up at that point but have got as low as 5 miles. Pre-Covid I filled up every 7-10 days but now it’s less than once a month as I now WFH. If I fill the car I always fill it right up, which I had to do Friday as I was going away for the weekend. What’s left should now last a few weeks until I’m going to see my sister.

We never let it get low either, once it goes below half then we generally top up. Not this week, though, and we’ll wait till supplies ease.

When the light comes on

Either the day the light comes on or the next day.

when I'm travelling to see DP, I normally then put in £20 before I go - unless I've recently put £20 because the light had come on, and £40 before I come back (fuel is usually about 4-5p a litre cheaper where he is).

I've never filled my tank right up! Currently sitting on a quarter, that should last a week at least.

Either when the light comes on, or at 1/8 of a tank. I used to get antsy at 1/4 tank, but not so much anymore. We have a lot of stations nearby, so it's not a big deal for me.

I fill up when the tank is somewhere between 3/4 and 1/2 full. I never let it get below 1/2 a tank. I prefer to spread the cost, I don't drive that much so filling up this often equates to once every 3 to 4 weeks.
I do this because my dad advised me never to let the tank run right down as it can mean you're running on 'dirtier' fuel when it gets down low.

I generally fill up when it gets to about 1/4 of a tank, but I don't need to panic if it gets down to red even, as I live in a City and there are several petrol stations within a couple of miles and they are all open either until 10pm or 24hrs. Plus, if ever there were some sort of emergency I am also a named driver on 3 other cars at the house, and I live pretty close to trains and buses, and there are taxis and I have friends who would help out. It is quite a different circumstance from your OP

My fuel indicator has five little oval marks on the dashboard which I call 'dibs' and when it gets down to the last two dibs I'll put petrol in - it preys on my mind if it gets any lower. I'm so relieved it was time to fill up the week before the insane queues as I'm a worrybritches at the best of times.

When the light comes on. If it is nearly empty and I'm at a large supermarket, might fill it up there as the little petrol station in our town is very expensive. But if I've been driving around with the light on for a while I have to go there (not now though as no fuel for days there & hubby managed to get supermarket fuel on the way to its mot this morning - was below 1/4 of a tank)

1/4 of a tank is the lowest I’ll go but I only have to fill up once a month usually as my mileage is pretty regular each month, barring holidays