Going to a different pump, or even the station across the street will help too.
I haven’t paid cash for gas this century.
I used to top off, as that was how my father filled up his car. It just made sense that you put in that last ounce or two of gasoline so that your car can go another couple feet before running out.
But, between having it pop in my face more than once, soaking me in gas, the knowledge that it can damage the return vapor system, and jst laziness, I stopped doing that many years ago.
What I do do, however, (and I consider this good advice, really, try it)is similar to topping off, if you were just watching me pump my gas from a different pump. I reach into part that holds the dispensing handle, and push up the piece of plastic. This shuts off the pump. I then pull the lever on the handle a couple of times. This releases the gas that is still in the handle, which does get you another few grams of gas, but mainly prevents if from spilling out over the side of my car when I pull it out of the tank.
I never top off unless for long trips, just enough only to make sure there is at least 1/4 tank to keep the fuel pump cool/not working as hard. This is more important with newer cars that do not have removable fuel filters for some terribly odd reason. I keep it between 1/4 and 3/4 typically, to let the evaporative system do its thing. When I do top off and use a card, I use the one inside the station for extra-security(hard to install a skimmer there) and which has the added benefit of not putting a hold on $100 bucks in excess of the transaction (if debit). Win win all around.
Maybe I’m missing something obvious, but it seems to me you get to choose to satisfy one of these desires, not both. If you fill to a round dollar amount, the tank is unlikely to be completely full, and vice versa.
Why would a person with stated goals of spending minimal time at the station and desire to not carry extra cash decide to use cash at all? Is it the 15 nickles? Not to mention you either paid too much and have to go back into the place to collect your change (both goals shot) or you didn’t pay enough and don’t truly fill the tank (leading to more unneeded time at the station).
jnglmassiv, let me go over what I do again. I don’t think you understood me. I basically don’t want to have to carry any change or any bills except for twenties (and I essentially never carry any bills over a twenty). I go to the gas station that’s on my way home from work that gives a five cents per gallon cash bonus. I look in my pockets and my wallet and see how much change and non-twenty-dollar bills I have. I always have some twenties, because I’m careful to always have some cash on me. Say that on a particular occasion I get to the gas station and have a dime, a nickel, two cents, a one-dollar bill, a five-dollar bill, and a ten-dollar bill on me, along with a number of twenty-dollar bills. (Unfortunately, although I try to use only my credit card, there are perhaps three occasions each month when I have no choice except to pay cash.) I look at the my car’s gas gauge and the price on the pump. I can now by pure intuition guess how much it would cost me to fill my tank. Say that I look at it and see that it would cost me about twenty-two or twenty-three dollars to fill the tank. I give the cashier one twenty, the one, the dime, the nickel, and the two cents. This leaves me with a five, a ten, and some twenties in my wallet and no change in my pocket. That’s as close as I can get to both filling the tank and getting rid of change and small bills. The cashier sets the pump to dispense $21.17 in gas into my tank. This is close enough that I probably won’t have to go to the gas station again for another week.
I go into my local supermarket filling station at the same time as I do the shopping. I put a card in the slot (the supermarket’s own CC that gives me points), key in my PIN, put the nozzle into the hole and hold the trigger until it cuts off. Park the nozzle, press the button for no receipt required, and that’s it. If I want a record, it will be on my statement the following day; if I want history, I can isolate petrol purchases over a period and add them up.
I haven’t paid cash for fuel since the 80s - in fact, many filling stations won’t accept cash during the night.
Well around here it’s 10 cents extra per gallon for using a credit card. I pull into the gas station on Sunday morning. Go inside and get the Sunday NY Times and hand the clerk $30 or perhaps $40 and say put the rest on pump 2. I have to go in in any case to get the paper so I might as well pay with cash and get the saving.
Of course, I then don’t top off, because the pump shuts down. One trip inside I had to make in any case and more than one dollar saved.
I used to top it off like everyone else. One day I had finished filling and was putting the cap on while the guy on the other side of the pump was topping off his tank. I realised what a paltry amount of extra fuel he was getting for all the effort and said to him, “I guess we would have to be in a pretty shitty situation for that extra cupfull of fuel we top up with to ever come in to play, wouldn’t we?” He just laughed and admitted he’d never thought about it.
I stopped doing it from that day on. As it happens on my current car the manual says not to continue past the automatic cutout to protect the EPA gear and prevent the cabin smelling of fuel.
I calculate the MPG for the previous tankful as well as overall.
By trying to brim the tank I am trying to fill to the same amount each time. Otherwise I would be filing to a different amount each time which would corrupt the accuracy.
Consider this. My tank is supposed to hold about 10 (UK) gallons. Since I heed the warning from the pessimistic red low fuel lights, I rarely put in more than 8 gallons. While filling it will usually take another 1 or even 2 whole gallons after the pump first cuts out.
A variation of 2 gallons in an 8 gallon load would make my figures out by 25%. Or that’s what I tell myself.
Doing a rough calculation, over the life of one of my cars, I’ve saved myself approximately 100 fill-up stops by adding an extra 2 gallons to the tank when the pump first shuts off.
A topped off tank gets me an additional ~40 miles to the tank in suburb/city driving conditions. Not that much range and it’s not the reason I have always topped off my tank to it’s max. The real reason is that topping off and rounding to the dollar is just a silly habit, tbh.
In my youth I worked at a self serve gas station on the overnight shift. After each sale I’d run out and drain the hose into a gascan I kept in my car. Each sale yielded me a few ounces of gasoline, but over the course of my 8 hour shift I’d have enough to pour into my tank.
I rarely had to buy gas, which was $.50 a gallon back then.
I rarely let my tank get below 1/4 full. Topping off really won’t make a difference. I pay by CC and pay off the card every month and get airline miles. I hate having to pay with cash. Figure out how much I need and then go back for the change. Waste of time for me, the clerk and anyone else waiting to use the pump.
Now, back in the late 70’s, I was a pump jockey (yes I would check your oil, tires and wash your windows. Ran my ass off I did). I would round just to make making change a bit easier. Not that it really mattered I suppose.
I’ve had a few times when the pump stopped well short for some random reason, and still had plenty to go, but for actual top off situations, it’s not 2 gallons that are getting in there, more like 2 ounces or so.
If you have an odd tank, that may change things, but I don’t think that’s the case for the vast majority of vehicles out there.
I calculate my MPG by miles driven divided by gas added. I fill till it stops. Then you have the number of gallons you used. Then I look at my trip odometer. I do some quick math (I don’t care about precise numbers, just a ballpark, mostly to see if I am losing MPG for some reason), and get my MPG.
Well, that was all my old cars. Now my car calculates MPG for me.
Anyway, both of you have said that you can put 2 gallons in after the pump cuts out. Is this common? Every car I’ve ever had or filled you could only cram a little bit more into.
This often happens with me, but not consistently. It can vary from one pump to the other at the same gas station. It may be due to inconsistent sensitivity of the automatic shutoff or the phase of the moon for all I know. When the nozzle kicks and pops the flow-set mechanism, I have to squeeze the handle again just to see if it’s going to take two gallons, two ounces, or something in between. I realize that adding 22 versus 24 gallons to a 26 gallon tank doesn’t make that much difference, but dammit! I want a full tank.
And if I’m doing that anyway, I may as well stop at a round number - although mostly I stop at whole or half gallons rather than dollars. That makes doing the mileage math in my head easier.
Well, sensible or not, at home I generally fill up at CostCo where you can’t pay cash so that’s where I’m seeing the thunk-thunk-thunk routine. The question still stands.
As some have mentioned, once in a while the valve will trip while there’s still plenty of room left. I have a pretty good idea how much will fit and if it’s a half-gallon or more, I squeeze the lever to get it in. Generally I can hear the fuel gurgling in the filler neck when it’s done for real and it’s one dose, not a half-pint at a time.
So, basically you were stealing those few ounces from the next customer, who’s expecting the sale to start with the usual already-filled hose. When I was young I had a friend who did that – shutting off the pump, opening the valve, then walking the high point of the hose towards the nozzle to let it drain into his tank. He had the decency to look embarrassed when I cocked an eyebrow at him.