To have run the petrol down to 40 miles left

[Baby3or]

I recently drove 115 miles on a motorway back to London suburbs. I was watching the petrol number the whole way (it gives it in miles left to go before it’s empty) and at 70 I was considering stopping for petrol (lots of places on the motorway and then lots of places in city suburbs on the way to our house). I decided not to stop as baby was asleep and also our older child was keen to get home after a long journey.

we live less than a mile from a big supermarket with a petrol station and also plenty of other places to fill up.

husband had a go at me saying ‘what would I have done if we had run out of petrol / how had I let myself get in that situation’ I said I was fully aware how much was left and I made a decision not to refuel as on balance it was low but not empty.

AIBU??

See I took the “twenty’s plenty” campaign to also mean filling up 🤭.

How is this even an issue? 40 miles worth of petrol left in the tank is loads. 0 miles is an issue. Anything above is fine as long as it will get you to the petrol station. The warning light isn't an indication that you are about to grind to a halt. It is a reminder to fill up soon. With sleeping/ tired/ hungry whatever kids in the car, I would be heading straight home. If he wants a full tank, he can go out himself to fill up.

As long as you leave enough in the tank to be able to drive away from him when the time is right, that's all that matters.

Your husband is a massive dick. It s a monthly occurrence for me to coast into the garage on zero. I never even think about putting fuel in until I'm around 10 miles left

Getting home with only 40 miles range remaining is incredibly reckless and irresponsible (only if you live in the Australian outback!)

I've literally never heard of filling up at 40 miles still left! What a waste of time. Fill up when it's actually nearly empty.

I once has had so little fuel in when I filled up, I got 35.5 litres into a car with a 35 litre tank.

I travel a lot for work and have a rule that if the light hasn't come on when I pass Wetherby, manchester, Sheffield or the A1 I have enough fuel for the remaining 40 ish miles to my home in Leeds.

This had served me well for decades until I was driving an unfamiliar hire car that oddly only has a range of 30 miles at most and I ran out, fortunately about a minute's walk from the petrol station.

Just read your updates. He sounds like a complete twat. You don't have to stay. Just add this one to the mental list for when you next weigh up the pros and cons. Wishing you the best. x

It doesn't even get exciting till you've been on zero for 10 miles. They build loads of headroom into those gauges.

If you're less than a mile from a petrol station that's plenty close enough to walk with a petrol can if necessary😉

When I worked for Majestic and we all had to take turns driving the delivery van, we had a little game going of who dared to run it the lowest to get the most fuel in. I never won. Always got too scared when I'd been on 0 for 10 miles or so. The others would go loads more.

We have the same DH. My car is Dieael and my DH gets quite irate if ok almost on quarter of a tank and I'm not planning on refuelling. My car goes into the red though at 1/4 of a tank and beeps at you to keep reminding you.

Unfortunately this wouldn’t even make it anywhere near the top 100 on the list.
He hasn’t got a gambling addiction but you can add every other husband problem to the list, all of the serious LTB ones.

I sound like a right sob story here actually im angry and bitter.

and thank you for wishing me all the best! X x

Does your DH have nothing real to worry about?

Ha! He’s very anxious and looks for extra things to worry about

@diddl yes, but we were 30 miles away when the red light came on and we had only bought the car three days before the move, so we didn't know how far it would get us. So, he suggested we keep driving to see if we could make it. Had we run out of fuel miles from our new home, he'd have had to walk to the filling station.

My car only beeps at 40 miles. The only time I'd fill it up at that level is if one of us was doing a long journey with an early start the next morning. Otherwise I fill up at about 10 miles to go (only because the nearest cheap petrol stations are 5 and 6 miles away in opposite directions)

I often leave it till 5 miles left!

Seeing how far I can get once the light is on is one of my favourite games. In my old car with a traditional fuel gauge I could easily do 40miles once the fuel light came on. Latest car has one of those digital ones which estimates the miles which is less fun. It will say 80 miles left, then if you go up a hill it says 40 miles left. Then you stop and when you start again it says 100. No fun at all.

My grandpa used to call the distance you could do on an empty tank “hidden gallons” and was proud of how far he could get on them! This has brought back that lovely silly memory.

He was a good man, life’s too short to be with one who isn’t. xx

Your DH is a bellend and clearly doesn't know much about cars. Sounds like you are in a bad place with him and I hope you get out soon. You deserve better

Often run around on zero usually good for 20-30 miles. Your DH is an Arse.

I used to drive an old 1950’s oval window VW Beetle that didn’t have a fuel gauge.

When I filled the tank with petrol, I used to write the mileage in a little notebook I kept in the glovebox and then guess how much fuel I had left on each journey.

Ah, the good old days. 😂

I think ‘D’H needs to remember that you’re his equal, 40 miles with a nearby garage hardly constitutes him telling you off like a child.

This thread has confirmed that I’m definitely a deviant when it comes to fuel. 25 years of driving and I’ve never seen the fuel light come on, my left eye starts twitching uncontrollably once the fuel gauge approaches half and I have an unstoppable compulsion to refuel. I routinely run out of just about everything else; milk, calpol, bread etc but never petrol…or wine come to think of it 🤷‍♀️

Don’t stand for being treated shabbily, if you accept it then he will do it more, remember you deserve better.

I now drive a PHEV and the petrol gauge is a pure guess-o-metre so I try and fill up when I’m down to a quarter of a tank to be on the safe side, as I live about 8 miles from the nearest town.