Range indicator in rental car seems way off

[y_p_w]

Originally Posted By: SeaJay
When the gas gauge drops to between a quarter and a half, fill er up, problem solved. or do it just after it drops below a quarter. Otherwise, pay your money and take your chances at the roulette wheel.

Well - this situation was where I wasn't paying for the rental at all. All I needed was a driver license to pick up. I was encouraged by the corporate travel agency to just return it and they had a negotiated rate for the fuel. If I had to add fuel myself, it would have come out of my per diem.

It would have been pretty bad if I had received the car with a less than full tank. I was counting on having the full range without needed to pay for my own gas out of my per diem. I noticed a lot of people were told that they were receiving a car with the tank only 5/8 filled. They just had to return it at about the same level. I think there might have also been people who would return it filled because they couldn't time it, and that's basically buying the rental agency fuel.

I wouldn't say it's a scam, but while I was there waiting I saw the hard sell over and over. The whole thing about having "cheaper fuel" through a full tank prepaid rate, which still nets them money because few people return a car on fumes to the point where they come out ahead. And then there are the ones picked up not full, because the previous renter didn't fill it up. I'm pretty sure they're counting on making some money from people who return it full (or with more fuel than it came with due to difficulty timing the pump) anyways, and they don't offer any credit.

 

[ecotourist]

I think there's some sort of misconception of the purpose of the range indicator. It's sure not designed to tell how much fuel is in the tank.

I think it's designed to tell how far you can go before you're likely to run out if you keep driving the same way you have been. That's useful on a long trip where you're trying to figure out whether you should fuel up at the station right in front of you or whether can make it to some other center.

The projected range adjusts constantly, based on the recent rate of fuel usage. The projected range is useful as long the driving conditions stay the same.

It could even be useful if you've been driving pretty fast and decide you would like to make it to some place before you fuel up. By slowing down to some new speed for a while you can see whether (under those new conditions) you can make it to the place you'd prefer to fuel up (assuming you know how far it is). In western Canada that's generally the first place over the Alberta border! Our fuel prices are high and vary a lot between provinces - and are generally lower in Alberta.