Running out of petrol

[jmh740]

So after a discussion with Oh yesterday can I ask how many times you have ever run out of petrol and how many years you have been driving.

Person A run out once in 25 years of driving.

Person B run out 4 times in 30 years of driving.

Person A thinks B is irresponsible and most people have never run out. Person B thinks 4 times in 30 years is not much.

40 years and never, although a couple of very close shaves!

32 years and never ran out of fuel.

Never run out but been close to it more than I’d like to

Once in forty years, past my test in 1984. My first drive in a 'new' company car which turned out to have a faulty fuel gage.

Always keep fuel consumption records old school: fill fuel tank full, zero trip meter. All subsequent times refuel, note the amount of fuel and distance driven.

After a few times, you will have an ideal of the distance each tank of fuel provides and set a 'refuel now' distance.

Now refuel when the tank is one third full

It's funny because it's such a meaningless thing, and the people who are less relaxed about flirting with the end of their reserve are attributing a lot of meaning (and judgement) to something very harmless and insignificant, in the grand scheme of things.

It's definitely a type of personality, but to say it's indicative of intelligence is a bit close minded, IMO.

My first car (mid 80s) had a faulty petrol gauge. I ran out of petrol about twice a month.

Haven't for about twenty years now. Despite my husband regularly leaving his car for me to use with about a tablespoon of fuel in it.

Once was enough to learn to never risk it again.

Been driving for 36 yrs.

Three times in 37 years. No big deal for me. First time was inexperience, second time first petrol station closed and next no petrol. Third time distracted and drove past the petrol station I intended to fill up at.

Once as a teenager when I pretty much used to drive around on fumes most of the time. It does remind me of a story from my childhood in the 70s when my parents ran a succession of old bangers. One car didn't have a working fuel guauge so we'd chalk on the dashboard how many miles we'd done in order to guestimate when next to re'fuel.

48 years and never run out

30 years
ran out once, about 28 years ago

Once in 32 years.

40 yrs and never run out

50+ years and have never run out.

Run out once in 23 years of driving. I’m going to claim it not my fault as well. I’d planned to get petrol on the way somewhere so picked my friend up first, they were running so late that they wouldn’t let me stop
off (I know I should have ignored them but I was 19 and a pushover). Consequently we ran out of petrol and had to walk to the nearest petrol station to buy a petrol can and some petrol and you bet I made her walk with me!

Never, been driving 30 years. I was told as a teenager that no one would come and help me if I ran out of fuel and to consider 1/4 of a tank ‘empty’. I’ve always gone by that so I’ve never run out.

27 years, and once in the first year.

30+ years. Never run out. Had it down to zero miles left on the gauge a couple of times when in sight of a petrol station.

What's the point of all that if a) there is a fuel tank indicator in the car and b) you're going to fill it when it's still one-third full!

@MasterBeth

I like knowing the fuel economy of the cars driving.

50 years driving. Ran out only once in my first year of driving when I had an old banger with a duff petrol gauge

Fifty years driving and never ran out.

My ex DH and me randomly out of fuel in a campervan once. To be fair it wasn’t our fault. In the days before unlimited data on phones. We were abroad. We were following our family who had their car and data package for sat nav on phone. We told them we needed fuel. We followed them past a fuel station so assumed there must be another one ahead. Nope. We had to pull over in the middle of nowhere and wait for them to realise we were no longer following. Eventually they came back and found us and then headed back to the missed petrol station to get some fuel in a Jerry can so we could get ahead to another petrol station. We laughed about it. At the time we were slightly panicked. It was a miscommunication. They assumed we would stop at the fuel station we were passing even though they hadn’t. And that we would catch them up.

It's much easier in an urban area where petrol stations are frequent. My incident was in a rural area where 90% of petrol stations were not 24h and living 8-10 miles from the nearest (with the next nearest in that direction being another 15 miles further). Other direction was 5 miles (very part time with shit fuel) 8 miles and 10 miles (plus another 15 beyond that) or a sideways 6 miles from the 5 miles away one.

When I ran out I passed the 8 miles away one and it was shut earlier than advertised (not unusual) but would have missed advertised closing time for the one the other side of the triangle from home) (9pm Vs 10 pm for other one) so went home - light coming on as I was half way home. Next morning I had an appointment by one of the part time stations but the owners were on holiday so I had to limp to the 3rd one and ran out on the forecourt in the queue for the pump. (Or rather couldn't restart after turning off in the queue...) Car was a ridiculous sports car with a pretty small tank so the 40-45 miles I spent looking for fuel were from just below the 1/4 mark.

I run out electric a bit tighter than as there's no risk of "sludge" in the tank and traffic jams tend to not be bad for range, unlike the big diesels/stupid sports cars I used to drive ... Plus charging at home is so much more convenient assuming I remember to plug in!

Twice. Been driving over 12 years now and both times happened a few years ago.

I have had two cars in my time and the first one would do the usual warning lights and i would top up when needed, all fine.

Then I got a new car and the warning light doesnt come on when its running low so I wasnt used to it. No excuse at all as i can still see looking at the gauge. I dont know what I was thinking.

First time - I was doing a very long drive on the motorway with my DD. Didnt realise how low I was on petrol and hadnt been driving that car for long. The even more stupid thing is I had just been to the Service Station to get food and have a toilet break 😳
The car started juddering and slowing down and even then I didnt click, i was like what on earth is wrong?!! Seconds later i did realise, I had run out of petrol!! I had to get on to the hard shoulder. Honestly, I am not proud of this one at al!

Second time, I had let it go lower then usual due to money issues but I was trying to get to a petrol station when it happened which turned out to be closed, so on my way to another one I ran out, probably about 2 mins away. Again my fault for letting it get so low.

Both were a long time ago and I never let it go low now after those experiences.