Who pays the petrol in a courtesy car?

oldagetraveller1

Are you Royalty?

Ace321

sammyjammy said:

Ace321 said:

la531983 said:

Surely this is no different to how it works with a hire car. Return it at the same point it was when you got it.

It is not always an exact science with petrol. There is petrol remaining in the courtesy car more than I actually used, having filled up from empty. My point is, the next customer who uses the car will be getting this petrol for free and won't need to fill up. 

I doubt it, they probably use it/empty it so the next customer gets it empty too, if they don't they'll have to return it with the same amount in it.  As has been said, no different to a hire car.

Thanks. I was wondering about that and you have answered my question. I'll put a little bit less petrol in next time. You learn from experience, as they say! 😂

Desmond_Hume

njkmr said:

It's a bug bear of mine this.
they usually say bring it back with same amount of fuel in it as there is when you take it, so top of back up when returning it.
It's a gamble really as many a time I have used a courtesy car with almost no fuel in, drove home say 5 miles and then drove it back and not topped it up.
I'm sure they leave it like this so you don't drive around in the car all day at their expense.
You have little chance of them saying" oh thanks for fuelling here's the money back " I'm afraid.
But good luck.

I suspect that’s exactly how courtesy cars end up empty. Many people doing a few miles and just handing it back. This isn’t a criticism of you, I’ve also done it. 

Anyway, fuel is for the customer to provide in my experience. More fool you for putting in extra. Lesson learned. 

Veteransaver

You need to top it back up really. Trouble is on a lot of cars now when you top them up with a small amount, Eg 5 litres or so, it doesn't register on the fuel guage or range estimate so looks like you haven't topped it back up!

Nasqueron

2 years ago I had a courtesy car - drove to work and back (about 20 miles) but was running late with heavy traffic (allowed 75 minutes for about 40 minute drive) so had an ETA close to closing time so they just said to return it as is. Last year I put £7 in before returning in as it seemed fair and boosted the range to more than it was when I got it

stuhse

The day before you are taking your car to the garage plan what journeys you are going to need to make whilst you have the courtesy car and calculate the total distance (google maps/directions makes this very simple to do).  When you collect the courtesy car , check what mpg it does, ..a quick calculation will tell you how much fuel you are going to use. Pop to the nearest filling station and put that amount in.

la531983

Ace321 said:

la531983 said:

Surely this is no different to how it works with a hire car. Return it at the same point it was when you got it.

It is not always an exact science with petrol. There is petrol remaining in the courtesy car more than I actually used, having filled up from empty. My point is, the next customer who uses the car will be getting this petrol for free and won't need to fill up. 

Well surely its swings and roundabouts. You may be the beneficiary when you collect a car that says its half full but in reality its 53% full, and then you return it saying its half full on the needle but in reality its only 47% full.

Just put a fiver or a tenner in a time then.

Mildly_Miffed

Friend of mine used to run a garage with a few courtesy cars.

If he got one back with the fuel light off, he'd use that car himself.

Car_54

Ace321 said:

I decided to be sensible and fill up the car with petrol .... I had put 10 litres in the car. 

Was this a particularly small car, or is "fill up" a gross  exaggeration?

Ace321

Car_54 said:

Ace321 said:

I decided to be sensible and fill up the car with petrol .... I had put 10 litres in the car. 

Was this a particularly small car, or is "fill up" a gross  exaggeration?

It was a Skoda Fabia. 10 litres of unleaded brought it from red to half full. The needle was dead on half tank full. So half a fill up. 😀