Rented Or Borrowed Car - How Can You Tell Which Side To Pump Gas?

[Seacrest]

Most rental cars I've ever driven have a little arrow next to the gas cap.

[OWC Jamie]

and you thought all the cameras in the station were for security purposes. :-)

[lost in space]

If there's a release lever, the door will USUALLY be on the left.

If I happen to remember it, I'll sometimes look in store windows I'm passing by to see if I can see the filler door.in the reflection. I also get to see how I look driving a car I could never afford!

[Jem]

lost in space wrote:
If there's a release lever, the door will USUALLY be on the left.

If I happen to remember it, I'll sometimes look in store windows I'm passing by to see if I can see the filler door.in the reflection. I also get to see how I look driving a car I could never afford!

Except on our Subaru Outback Wagon where it's on the right...

[Mac1337]

Nobody has argued where the cap should be. I am always frustrated when it is on passenger side.

[MacMagus]

'Last rental car I drove had a sticker on the visor that indicated which side the gas cap was on.

[papercup]

Dakota wrote:
Nobody has argued where the cap should be. I am always frustrated when it is on passenger side.

The automakers intentionally stagger the left/right fueling, or pulling into gas stations would be very difficult with everyone vying for the same side of the filling station island.

[OWC Jamie]

I'll bet all those Lesbaru owners don't have trouble finding holes in thier cars.

[Bimwad at remote location]

papercup wrote:
The automakers intentionally stagger the left/right fueling, or pulling into gas stations would be very difficult with everyone vying for the same side of the filling station island.

There are a number of design considerations used to determine the filler location, but such an objective is not among them.

Doing so would call for an attempt to predict and account for an infinitely random pattern, as well suggesting that some measure of coordination exists inside the industry as to how and when design decisions should be made to accommodate for such a pattern, with no engineering payback whatsoever for the automaker. What about the areas where refueling takes place from roadside pumps and no islands exist?

Not that it would matter anyway. The first and foremost consideration for most drivers when they refuel is to choose the shortest queue, whether it is a station that has pumps with hoses long enough to reach the offside, or not. There are plenty of folks who can't even be bothered to commit to memory which side the filler port is on the vehicle they own. Spend any length of time at a gas station and watch the shuffling and struggles of the absent minded.

[graylocks]

Not that it would matter anyway. The first and foremost consideration for most drivers when they refuel is to choose the shortest queue, whether it is a station that has pumps with hoses long enough to reach the offside, or not.

definitely not true for me. i've pulled up to too many pumps hoping the hose was going to be long enough only to discover it wasn't, which means i had to get back into the car and move. long ago i decided to get in my correct fuel door line and just chill a bit; takes less effort.