Men get it wrong: research
Men are more likely to put the wrong fuel in their car – and more likely to run out of petrol while on the road, according to recent research by roadside rescue company Green Flag.
More than one in ten accident-prone Brits have filled up their car with the wrong type of fuel according to new research. Half of those caused so much damage to their vehicle it took on average of £125 to repair after the cock-up.
And if we Brits aren’t putting in the wrong type of fuel – we aren’t putting any in at all – almost half of us have run out of petrol or diesel according the survey of 4,000 motorists by Green Flag.
But men are more likely to put diesel in a petrol car or vice versa, according to Green Flag. A preoccupied 14 per cent of blokes admitted to putting in the wrong fuel compared to only ten per cent of females.
Blokes are the worst culprits for not filling up in time too – 52 per cent have confessed to breaking down after running out of fuel compared to only 42 per cent of women. An incompetent nine per cent of male drivers have run out of petrol three or four times. And it’s no surprise why, when more than one in twenty Brits use every last drop of fuel in the tank and gamble on how far they can travel with the petrol light on.
At the other end of the scale – a paranoid nine per cent fill up as soon as the petrol gauge reads half a tank, just to be on the safe side.
Other spurious gender differences: two-thirds of women have been left embarrassed on the garage forecourt after struggling to get the petrol cap off, but to combat such problems a third of females leave re-fuelling to their other half.
A third of folk said they would hit the roof if their partner ran out of petrol and 86 per cent said they would be really embarrassed by the mistake.
Nigel Charlesworth of Green Flag said: "It’s surprising so many people are still running out of petrol, when most modern cars have indicators that warn we are running low. Filling up with the wrong fuel is more common than you would think, as this research shows. It’s a costly mistake so, even if we are in a rush, we should pay attention at the service station. More than 20,000 Green Flag call outs each year are down to motorists running out of fuel."
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