Notes when refueling your car

Choose the right fuel for your vehicle

To avoid confusion, drivers should first understand the type of fuel the vehicle is using to operate. Currently, most cars in Vietnam use gasoline or diesel engines. Therefore, if you are new to owning a car or renting a car to drive yourself or borrowing a car from friends or relatives... before refueling the car, you should know whether the car is running on gasoline or diesel.

In addition, when entering a gas station, you should ask the sales staff whether the vehicle uses gasoline or diesel to avoid getting the wrong fuel.

Locate the gas cap to park the car.

In order to not waste time and not have to spend a lot of time moving the vehicle at the fuel pump station, the driver should determine the location of the fuel tank cap on the left or right side of the vehicle by observing the dashboard and paying attention to the arrow that comes with the fuel tank symbol. If the angle of this arrow is facing in which direction, the position of the fuel tank on the vehicle body will be in that direction.

You also need to pay attention to how to open the fuel tank cap, because each car model will be designed with a different opening mechanism. Some cars are often designed by the manufacturer with a fuel tank cap opening button integrated at the foot of the driver's seat or below the dashboard in the driver's position. Some other cars just need to press the cap to open.

Turn off the engine before refueling.

Many drivers wonder whether they need to turn off the engine when refueling their car. In fact, many drivers have the habit of leaving the engine running while refueling. This is extremely dangerous because it poses a risk of fire or explosion.

During the refueling process, gasoline will escape from the pump nozzle. Gasoline vapor is very flammable, so if the car engine is still running at this time, it will continue to generate heat (due to the combustion of the fuel and air mixture), which can easily cause an explosion. Therefore, the best way to refuel a car is to turn off the engine before refueling to ensure safety.

Do not use mobile phones

At each gas station, there is usually a sign prohibiting open flames. Therefore, drivers are not allowed to smoke in this area and should not use mobile phones while refueling their vehicles. This has been warned, but in reality, in Vietnam, some drivers still subjectively sit in their cars and use their phones while the vehicle is being refueled.

This action poses a high risk of fire and explosion because gasoline has a concentration of about 5% gasoline vapor in the air. When using a mobile phone, strong phone waves can easily emit sparks, increasing the risk of fire.

Therefore, you should be at least 50 meters away from a gas station before using your phone.

Choose a reputable gas station

When you need to fill up your gas tank, choose a familiar, reputable and branded gas station to buy from. These locations often have guaranteed fuel quality, a standard measuring system (or not too inaccurate), a gas pumping process and a clear price list on an LED or LCD screen on the gas pump for buyers to easily understand.

When you have to fill up on unfamiliar roads, according to the experience of experienced drivers, choose gas stations with many trucks and taxis filling up. Taxi or truck drivers often travel, so they have a lot of experience in choosing gas stations.

You should go fill up with gas early in the morning.

Gasoline is in liquid form, so it also expands strongly depending on the outside temperature. Experienced drivers say that it is more beneficial to fill up when the temperature is low, such as at night or early morning, than when it is hot, such as noon or afternoon.

Also, do not fill up when the tanker is pumping gasoline into the gas station's tank. This is the time when the pressure in the gas station's tank increases, causing the gasoline to expand and evaporate. At that time, we will accidentally have to spend money to buy a small amount of gasoline vapor.

You should fill up the tank according to capacity, avoid buying "full tank"

Gas prices are usually quite odd, so many people often buy gas in even amounts like 500,000 or 1 million VND for convenience. However, this way of buying will create favorable conditions for fraudulent behavior by gas station employees, because "stealing" at gas pumps is often programmed according to the amount of money.

To avoid being “pickpocketed” when filling up gas, users should buy by capacity such as 10 liters, 20 liters... depending on the vehicle's gas tank. Then, the pumps will pump the correct amount of gas in liters because this capacity has been regularly inspected and the ratio is almost absolutely accurate.

In addition, professional drivers say that when buying gasoline, you should not buy a "full tank" because the pumps always have a reverse suction mechanism to avoid spilling gasoline. However, the gasoline has already passed through the meter and the buyer still has to pay for the gasoline that is sucked back.

Besides, you need to calculate the amount of gasoline needed to buy the right capacity, you should not buy too full tank, it is easy to lose and also makes the car have to "carry" more weight, the car will consume more gasoline.

Suggest to change to "0" on gas pump

At some gas stations, in order to help sell quickly, they will arrange for 2 people to operate together, one person holding the pump and the other person standing to control the meter panel. However, this is a type of gas sales that is very easy to cheat because the "trigger" person can easily lock the gas, and we can hardly observe both at the same time, so cheating is very easy to happen.

In addition, although condemned, some gas stations have a "connected" gas selling style. That is, when coming to pump gas, the meter does not return to "0", this is also an act prohibited by the gas business regulations because there is always an error in the calculation of the price subtraction between the two pumps. Therefore, it is necessary to have an opinion immediately when a gas station arranges people in such a way to avoid risks.

Do not do personal business while refueling

You should pay attention and observe carefully the operation process of the staff as well as the amount display on the gas pump instead of being busy with your own work. When observing, you can detect suspicious behavior of the gas station staff, and at the same time know whether the gas meter has displayed enough or not, whether the number has jumped or not.

Some gas stations have the “trick” of deliberately extending the fuel pump line far away or hidden from view so that customers have difficulty observing the meter. Then you can move your car closer and choose a suitable observation position. When gas station employees see that customers seem to be paying attention, they will be less likely to resort to fraudulent tricks.