Petrol station - Cheaper to walk to it or to drive

js225

Hi MSE Forum,

I currently live around the corner from my cheapest petrol station according to petrolprices.com.

Now I can walk to it as it is 0.1 miles from my house. It wouldn't make much difference if I could drive straight to it but because I can't turn right I have to drive around which turns it into a 0.9 mile drive along with a few traffic light stops along the way.

Is it worth the 2 minute walk to get petrol and fill up a petrol can or will the short trip not cost me much in petrol to drive to?

Any advice is much appreciated.

Thanks,

Js225

PasturesNew

As they say "if I were going there I'd not start from here"....

A thinking person would go to the garage when they were already passing it, not when they're sitting on their sofa scratching their nutz and pondering going out to buy fuel as the sole purpose of a journey.

Deastons

You can only legally carry 5 litres in a plastic can or 10 litres in a metal one. The average petrol tank is around 60 litres, so you're going to have to make 6 or 12 trips.

You might have to walk nearly 2.5 miles just to fill your tank. That's around 250 extra calories.

So you'll probably eat an extra 250 calories. What is the carbon footprint of that extra food you'd eat? And the cost. You might buy a Dairy Milk at the mini mart to give yourself the energy to walk back and forth. That'd be around 70p you wouldn't have otherwise spent.

And if you had to do that every week, that's an extra 130 miles of walking a year. 5,850 miles over a 45 year working life. What's that going to do to your knees? You might then need knee replacement surgery once you retire. The NHS might not exist then, so that would be £45,000 to have it done privately.

Not to mention the £1,638 on Dairy Milks. And that's just based on today's prices. In 45 years, Dairy Milks could cost £5.

I'd say just stop in there on your way somewhere else. Easier, cheaper and there's no risk of you spilling fuel all over the road.

facade

It is obviously going to be cheaper to walk there (most people throw their shoes away before the soles wear through), but some petrol stations won't let you fill petrol cans, and it is going to be rather tedious making a dozen trips with a 5 litre can (or 2 if you fancy one in each hand)


Better to swing in when you pass by, which is why my car is getting near empty- I haven't passed by one of these "Petrol Stations" for a while now...(in The Olden Days they used to be everywhere)

js225

That was an excellent response thank you :rotfl:

Your point you made about the petrol can restrictions is a very good one and one I hadn't thought about before. I'll get petrol only when passing as that could keep my costs down.

Js225

Herzlos

The odds are you'll be passing/almost passing a petrol station at some point before you need to refuel, in which case the travel to/from it non-existent. It may mean filling up earlier than you'd planned to but you'll use the fuel up anyway.

DD265

Deastons wrote: »

Not to mention the £1,638 on Dairy Milks. And that's just based on today's prices. In 45 years, Dairy Milks could cost £5.

I'm glad it wasn't just me who was immediately thinking about the chocolate bar I'd consume on each trip :rotfl:

rsvtoddy

And don't fill the car up too much as the extra weight means you will do less mpg.

HTH

Vet

Deastons wrote: »

You can only legally carry 5 litres in a plastic can or 10 litres in a metal one. The average petrol tank is around 60 litres, so you're going to have to make 6 or 12 trips.

You might have to walk nearly 2.5 miles just to fill your tank. That's around 250 extra calories.

So you'll probably eat an extra 250 calories. What is the carbon footprint of that extra food you'd eat? And the cost. You might buy a Dairy Milk at the mini mart to give yourself the energy to walk back and forth. That'd be around 70p you wouldn't have otherwise spent.

And if you had to do that every week, that's an extra 130 miles of walking a year. 5,850 miles over a 45 year working life. What's that going to do to your knees? You might then need knee replacement surgery once you retire. The NHS might not exist then, so that would be £45,000 to have it done privately.

Not to mention the £1,638 on Dairy Milks. And that's just based on today's prices. In 45 years, Dairy Milks could cost £5.

I'd say just stop in there on your way somewhere else. Easier, cheaper and there's no risk of you spilling fuel all over the road.

Jesus. What have I just read?!
JUST DRIVE, DONT STAND UP.

Robisere

Vet wrote: »

Jesus. What have I just read?!
JUST DRIVE, DONT STAND UP.

Absolutely! A contender for the most irrelevant, inapplicable, unnecessary response this week.

prowla

I thought the post was rather amusing...


But the advice not to make a special trip to fill up (unless you are preparing for a trip and want a quick getaway) is good.