Informal gas pump survey

[dubber09]

It kinda makes sense only if one works for cash and pay is low, then yes, $10 fill ups can be explained. Otherwise, just go to a station with lowest gas price if money is tight and fill up, what's the point of doing it every day or every second day?

 

[vavavroom]

How much fuel I put in depends on several factors and on the vehicle.

Private car:

How much fuel do I still have?
How far do I intend to drive this day?
Will I be able to find a gas station without having to deviate from my route?
How much fuel am I willing to haul?

I usually put in between 20 and 30 bucks but I fill up if I go for a longer drive that day.

Company car:

I don't let the fuel drop below 60%. I top off at a cost of just under $50 now.

 

[wwillson]

I wonder what truck drivers must think when they fuel after I fuel my Tahoe in the commercial lanes? Some bozo truck driver can only afford $40 of fuel?

 

[tburke]

I wonder what truck drivers must think when they fuel after I fuel my Tahoe in the commercial lanes? Some bozo truck driver can only afford $40 of fuel?

Ha! Had the same thought when I still had my LM2 Silverado... especially when buying 4 dollars worth of DEF.

 

[Rmay635703]

I wonder what truck drivers must think when they fuel after I fuel my Tahoe in the commercial lanes? Some bozo truck driver can only afford $40 of fuel?

I miss my 82 2wd diesel suburban at current rates I could potentially have up to a $168 fuel bill but I could potentially drive over 1000 miles on a tank if I took it easy

 

[Shel_B]

I've not surveyed the other pumps, but I gas up at a fairly busy Costco and can watch the folks in front of me filling up. I can easily see six pumps from my usual spot in line. Rarely do I see anything but a full fill-up.

Depending on how I anticipate my upcoming car use, I may sometimes put in $20, $25 worth of gas. Most of the time I fill the tank.

 

[dubber09]

I normally run down to 1/4 or 1/8 of the tank before filling up, I'd fill up or top up sooner if anticipate a busy day/week or longer drives. To me, it's waste of time and gas going to gas station often to get just $10 worth of gas.

 

[Gus_Mahn]

I’d think that cash buyer would be whole numbers. $5, $10, $20…. Even $7, $8, $9… $9.37 seems like a strange number for cash. Really, who wants to deal with change. I’ve always been a fill it full person, but I used to top every off 4 cars Saturday morning. It was my chance to be sure the cars weren’t being abused or neglected. Sometimes my own cars only needed a few gallons. I just thought this YouTube’r had an interesting take. Throughout my life there’s always been $5 on number 2 people. I do think lack of cash is a common motivator for this behavior, but it’s obviously not the only motivator.

 

[Torrid]

I normally run down to 1/4 or 1/8 of the tank before filling up, I'd fill up or top up sooner if anticipate a busy day/week or longer drives. To me, it's waste of time and gas going to gas station often to get just $10 worth of gas.

I always worry about keeping the fuel pump cool at 1/8. My wife used to run it down to the bottom line. I've bought a couple of fuel pumps over the years and it was always her car. I think it's related and if not is a heck of a coincidence.

She's never run her EV dead. I'm starting to think she wanted an EV before the current EV was a thing. I've never had to remind her to charge it. Her other cars wouldn't have gas in them unless I filled them up or she really needed to get somewhere and knew for sure it wouldn't make it.

 

[Dave Hess]

Remember that a majority of people in this country can not pay for a $500 car repair without financing it. Those folks are the ones buying 3-5 gallons at a time. My lady friends 25 y.o. grand daughter is a person that falls into that category. Constantly asking Karen for $20 till payday.

Yes, lots of people barely making it and struggling.

 

[Dave Hess]

I fill up my tank plus 1 gallon at any gas station I go to.

Admittedly I really don’t pay attention to the prices at the gas stations and won’t drive around to save $5 per tank.
I also won’t go to crappy neighborhoods to save money using Gas Buddy app.

 

[fdcg27]

I almost always just fill the tank,
I do try to anticipate lower prices, but since a full tank on the Accord is always at least 500 miles under the worst conditions and well over 700 miles under favorable ones, it's easy to coast through brief price spikes.
Worst case, it only holds a bit over 13 gallons so even if fuel ends up pricey, the cost of a tank is still pretty low.

 

[zyxelenator]

pfff, I fill up our minivan at the same Valero station every weekend since I go there for a carwash. I don't fill up only if I had to go to Costco like 1-2 days prior and get gas there. The max I got at that station was probably half a tank as I remember, but usually it is somewhere 5-7 gallons each time. Don't see a point in waiting until the tank is near empty. On a long road trip I usually fill up while we use restrooms on the way, regardless of tank level, so we don't have to make a separate stop later.

 

[6.7 CTD]

Diesel shuts off at $100 here in PA. Sometimes I have to reinsert my card, to fully top it off, and it only takes another 15 dollars or less. So there’s that possibility? Not likely for the gas scenario though.

 

[Torrid]

Diesel shuts off at $100 here in PA. Sometimes I have to reinsert my card, to fully top it off, and it only takes another 15 dollars or less. So there’s that possibility? Not likely for the gas scenario though.

I think given fuel prices they would have decided to raise that limit to $150 because I'd assume that's a common occurrence with larger vehicles. I regularly hit $90 filling up the 36 gallon tank in my F150 when I had it and that was with 87 octane. I've not paid enough attention to regular fuel prices recently because my GTI tuned requires premium and the other car is an EV so I'm not really in tune with 87 octane prices.

 

[Fitter30]

How does looking at the pump tell you anything without talking to the person filling up? I drive very little and regularly fill up at 2/3 tank of fuel. It's like $10. Would you assume I was on hard times if you saw my pump?

My scooter holds 2 gallons. I fill up around half tank. If you saw $3 on the pump would you assume someone was destitute?

Gas can for lawn mower

 

[andrew_j]

I watched a short where the guy walked around the gas station and looked at what was on the pumps to try to understand his community’s financial state. My last trip to the station I did the same. Of the 8 pumps at this station, only two appeared to show full tank fill ups. The rest were $5-$20. What do you see at your stations?

Full tanks when I peek at pump and people filling SUVS and trucks.

My old town inland I moved from was a popular $5 of gas for pickup ($2.50/gallon) , cigarettes and 6 pack of beer paying inside.

 

[GSCJR]

I rarely fill up, usually I only fill up during road trips.