Shell petrol pumps

whatmichaelsays

Come to my local Shell.

I have no problem getting the pump to land on the number I want it to.

anewman

Laxey wrote: »

I am capable of calculating my mpg without filling up.

It's difficult to know how much fuel has been used without using the brim method. MPG displays on the dash can sometimes be inaccurate.

newbie007_2

Just pay £10 if you've gone over by 1p, petrol garages dont have a problem with that.

mysterons

What's being described isn't any kind of petrol company conspiracy but simply mechanical wear on the pump. Although displays are electronic these days the innards of the pump are still mechanical driven by an electric motor.
99% of customer fills are to the round pound and constantly stopping the pump on this point causes a 'wear ring' to develop in the chamber. This requires a little more effort to pump past so the pump jumps to the next penny.
People suggesting 'just fill the tank' arent taking into account the added cost of needlessly lugging the weight of all that fuel about.

Inactive

mysterons wrote: »

People suggesting 'just fill the tank' arent taking into account the added cost of needlessly lugging the weight of all that fuel about.

Minimal compared with the time wasted constantly topping up.;)

forgotmyname

Non issue??? Tell that to my missus who goes in and finds herself a couple of pennies short.

She thinks i do it on purpose, Well maybe sometimes. lol

I have stopped the pump at say £20 then put it back for it to notch up that extra 1p.

gardner1

Laxey wrote: »

I've been noticing at my local Shell petrol station it is impossible to put petrol in to a round figure. I have searched and found another thread on the forum about pumps being inaccurate and I realise that it is difficult to measure such a small amount of petrol to a round figure.

My point is that I can stop the pump at about £19.70 and upwards at 1p intervals but as soon as you get to £19.99, it jumps suddenly to £20.01. (it also happens on other round figures not just £20) It happens every time I go to Shell. Is this a con to make people carry on putting petrol in to the next round figure? In future I think I'll only put £19.99 in and make them give me the penny change but I would imagine a lot of people will end up spending more than they intended!

Has anyone else noticed this? Do you think it's an issue for Trading Standards?

women driver by any chance;)

Laxey

mysterons wrote: »

What's being described isn't any kind of petrol company conspiracy but simply mechanical wear on the pump. Although displays are electronic these days the innards of the pump are still mechanical driven by an electric motor.
99% of customer fills are to the round pound and constantly stopping the pump on this point causes a 'wear ring' to develop in the chamber. This requires a little more effort to pump past so the pump jumps to the next penny.
People suggesting 'just fill the tank' arent taking into account the added cost of needlessly lugging the weight of all that fuel about.

Thank you very much for your explanation. This certainly does explain what has been happening.

[Deleted User]

No matter which station/pump I use, I can never get it on a round pound figure. I always end up stopping at x.97, .98, or .99 then give it a little press and still manage to go over to xx.01

My last fill up I just stopped altogether at 19.99

olly300

Deleted_User wrote: »

No matter which station/pump I use, I can never get it on a round pound figure. I always end up stopping at x.97, .98, or .99 then give it a little press and still manage to go over to xx.01

My last fill up I just stopped altogether at 19.99

To be honest if you are just under by a few pence then just stop. There is no legal or logical requirement for you to get to the nearest pound as a litre of fuel is sold in factions of a penny.

I have no problem as a woman topping up my car to the nearest penny at any Shell or Sainsburys petrol stations plus one Esso I use but I do have a problem with the other stations I use because I rarely use them.

The only issue I have with Shell is they have recently changed some of their pumps to the more expensive fuel saver stuff meaning I can't use half the pumps.