Every time I buy a new car, I vow I will not allow the fuel gauge to get below half full. Someone once said this was better for the car, so it sounded like A Good Idea At The Time.
Unfortunately, like all my best intentions, I have never actually followed through. I fill until the pump stops, but never overfill. I drive until the light comes on and then get petrol at the next convenient servo.
During the winter, all of the cars are topped up when the gauge drops to 1/2 full. We may have to idle for long periods during a snow storm/traffic jam. During the other seasons, the tanks are filled when the gauge shows 2 or 3 bars remaining.
In Australia, “gas” usually means Liquified Petroleum Gas, known more commonly in the US as autogas.
When I lived in Australia, the vast majority of taxis, and a reasonable number of vehicles in large business fleets, used LPG. I’m not sure if that has changed since the rise of hybrids vehicles.
I’d say that Gasbuddy is your friend. Mmm-maybe, if you don’t need premium. Because many users will just update regular-while assuming that plus/premium/diesel are the same as they were yesterday, as in they don’t bother to actually, you know, drive up to the pump and check the others (this is for those stations who only display the regular price on their marquee). One local Shell station thus kept showing $2.48 for premium for almost a solid week, when all other Shells in the area had bumped theirs up over $2.60. Finally someone got it to update after several days. That, and their new site is buggy as hell, and, of course, is missing functionality from the old one (which can be found here).
Anyway, my strategy is pretty simple-if prices are falling, I wait until she is almost empty, hoping to catch a new drop before I refill. Then it is only for several gallons’ worth.
If they are rising, I refill early and often, never letting it drop much below 2/3rds.
And after a few too many price shenanigans, I’ve dumped Shell and have gone over to Gate, esp. as I am also convinced that the former’s additives aren’t worth the .50-.60 cent price gouging of premium over regular.
I do know, from how many I can get back in on the refill, that when all bars are gone on the gauge I have about a gallon left.
My habit is to generally fill up when the tank is about one-quarter full, give or take a little bit.
I do, however, go out of my way to fill up during the week rather than at the weekend, because the gas station i use is always packed on weekends. So, if i’m not quite at the point where i need to fill up, but it’s a Friday, i’ll fill up anyway so that i don’t have to deal with the weekend rush, and will also be ready for driving to work on Monday.
I’m lucky in terms of logistics, because i have a job that allows me to work at home at least two days a week. Also, the cheapest gas station in my area is about a half-mile from my house, and is also on my way home from the gym, so that’s usually when i fill up.
I’m happy to get the cheapest gas, but if i’m out of my area and need to fill up, i never waste too much time worrying about comparison shopping. My typical fill-up is about 10 gallons, and even if the gas station i choose is 10c per gallon more expensive, that costs me a buck. If getting to a different gas station is going to take me more than a few minutes out of my way, it’s not worth the effort. I might not be rich, but my time is worth more than that.
In the US, we just call it LPG. I’ve never heard of “autogas.”
They still do.
Huh. I just was going off Wikipedia and a couple of other sources.
I can’t remember ever seeing LPG for sale here in the US. I used to see it all the time when i lived in Australia.
If it looks like gas prices are on the move, I’ll alter my fueling habits a bit. If it look like they’re headed up, I’ll try to keep all the vehicles full. If it looks like they’re headed down (such as right now) I’ll run them until they’re on fumes. On my pickup, which has a ginormous tank but rarely gets driven, I might only put in a few gallons at a time if prices really look like they’re headed down.
*Waiting until your gas tank is almost empty before a fill up can be pricey, could be dangerous and downright inconvenient. “While the cases are rare, there is real potential of a costly mechanical problem,” says Consumer Reports Auto Test Center shop supervisor and certified mechanic John Ibbotson.
The gasoline acts like a coolant for the electric fuel-pump motor, so when you run very low, this allows the pump to suck in air, which creates heat and can cause the fuel pump to wear prematurely and potentially fail. The repair could end up costing a couple hundred dollars to fix—much more than the $4.00/gallon fill up.*
I live near a ton of gas stations (I live by 3 freeway exits) so I fill up when the light goes on. Sometimes it’s on my way home, sometimes on my way out.
I have GasBuddy now so I will be able to figure out which is the cheapest direction in which to travel!
Wait till the DTE (distance till empty) indicator reads — (miles), well maybe not so low every time, but usually after the light comes on which happens at 50-70 miles DTE.
I found that the fuel gauge goes below the empty line quite a bit and have almost gotten it entirely on the vertical part of the letter E.
Usually fill up every 10 days or so, at around 1/4 of a tank. This week its been raining so I let it go until the fuel light came on(62 miles to empty). I usually go to one of two gas stations…the Shell by my work, or the BP in town. I rarely pay attention to the price, since I need the gas anyway, I just get it. My car has an 18.5 gallon tank.
It may be a Commonwealth thing. “Autogas” is a term used in the UK (actually there is an “Autogas Ltd” that’s a subdivision of Shell) although the road-signs at service areas just refer to LPG. Still, we mostly don’t use “gas” to mean “petrol” either.
My fuelling strategy is based around the fact that I expect to get 600 miles to a tank of diesel and this usually fits into my weekly routine to within ten or twenty miles. Until recently Tesco were offering a pence-per-litre discount scheme so it made sense to get as near a full tank as possible (as the discount got used up when applied and had to be earned again by shopping in the store). I’m probably still following that habit even though the scheme’s been discontinued.
Mine’s basically to wait until the gauge reads under 1/4 of a tank, and then find a convenient lunch hour to go fill up. It may be at exactly 1/4 tank, or it may be a little while after the “Need fuel!” light comes on, depending on when I have a chance to fill up.
I usually fire up Gas Buddy and see where’s cheapest and adjust lunch plans/errands to fit.
My daily commuter is an old ford ranger with a broken gas gauge. It gets filled up at the beginning of each work week.
My wife’s car is a hyundai that get filled up whenever it gets low. My wife waits till the gas light comes on, I do it a bit sooner. Unless we’re in a hurry, then we’ll just put in a few dollars to get us where we’re going and back.
I was also going to post about the risk of burning up your fuel pump on some cars if you consistently wait until you’re really low to refill. But if you fill up around a quarter tank, you’re fine.
My strategy is to try to find the best price. I travel a bit for work, and I know which towns typically have the cheapest gas.
[QUOTE=mhendo]
I can’t remember ever seeing LPG for sale here in the US. I used to see it all the time when i lived in Australia.
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CNG and LPG are still rare niche things here, reserved almost entirely for fleets that have their own private fueling stations. Mainly outfits like the local power company and some of the transit operators at this point. I think I’ve seen one or two CNG taxis, but in the US, gasoline is king. Even E85 (85% ethanol / 15% gasoline) for “flex fuel” vehicles is uncommon.
Car need gas?
If yes,
put gas in car
Else
Drive car.
I use grocery store fuel discounts from 2 different stores. One allows the accumulation of 30 “free” gallons of gas. I never use those until I am able, and I use them all. The other store allows up to $1 off per gallon in increments of 10 cents.
So, my primary goal is to fill up when it’s close to empty and purchase around 29.995 gallons of gas for $0.
If I am not at that point, I decide between adding $5-10 at a time or filling up at a Shell with a gift card purchased from the other grocery store and using their fuel points.
I don’t HAVE to drive anywhere on a daily basis. So I have some control over limiting mileage and squeezing the most out of $5. If I am close to broke and/or not really going anywhere other than grocery shopping and similar local errands, that’s what I do.
If I have a little more money or need to go somewhere or would be inconvenienced by a bunch of small gas purchases AND do not have the points for “free” gas, I will go to the lower-perks store and buy a $25, 50, or $100 (depending on budget and goal) Shell gift card. This accumulates more points that can be used immediately and are redeemable at Shell. If the gas is in the lower $2s, I can just about get a fillup for $25 using only the points earned from the giftcard itself.