Charged for filling diesel van with petrol

Hintza

colino wrote: »

At only £270 you've got a bargain. Accept it and move on before they work out the real cost.

I agree with this, sounds cheap. Especially since around £100 will be for re-fuelling the vehicle.

gilbert_and_sullivan

You should have drained the wrong fuel out, refilled with Diesel returned the vehicle and kept schtum.

There'd have been no charge then, and you might have been able to use the drained fuel gradually over a few months by mixing it with fresh petrol or Diesel depending which way the ratio of mixture lay

If you returned the vehicle freshly contaminated then as others have said you didn't do too badly, they've had to arrange draining and refilling and the vehicle couldn't be hired out again till done, be thankful the bill doesn't have another zero attached, new pump, filter, injectors etc.

slyracoon

I agree with most of the others, maybe they didn't tell you the fuel type and keyrings/labels were missing but at the end of the day you took a 50/50 gamble on which fuel to put in, you should have phoned them to confirm iff you weren't sure.

EdGasket

Whether the charge is reasonable or not, I do not think that companies should get away with just helping themselves to people's money by charging their card without prior agreement. I think the OP would be within his rights to demand the money back from the card company as it is an unauthorised transaction.

Tilt

You say there was no sticker on/near the filler cap. That in itself I find strange. Also, arn't the pump nozzle/filler neck apertures supposed to be different?

Foxy-Stoat_3

You cannot put diesel in a petrol car, but you can put petrol in a diesel car as diesel nozzles are larger.

£270 isn't bad considering as others have said.......move along !

maninthestreet

Surely the paperwork you were given when you hired the van would indicate whether it was petrol or diesel? What make/model was the - van - did it have any badging that may have indicated it was diesel engined?

Foxy-Stoat_3

Indications would be, noisy rattly engine & short rev range. If you drove a diesel van you would know about it, unless it was an unserviced petrol engine with a blowing exhaust!

OP probably used to filling their normal car with petrol and didn't think when filling hired van.

Normally though, hire vehicles have a "DERV" sticker somewhere near the filler car, more so on newer diesel cars as some drive a lot like petrols.

vikingaero

I can't think of anywhere I've ever used that has rented out a petrol van.

Buellguy

vikingaero wrote: »

I can't think of anywhere I've ever used that has rented out a petrol van.

Transit size and above do they even make petrol vans????