How to fill a car with fuel

The fuel guage.

The fuel gauge has a picture of a petrol pump and a little arrow. The arrow points to the side of the car where your fuel cap is, where you need to put the fuel in.

When you used to go to a petrol station, you'd have to make sure that the fuel pump is on the side where your fuel cap is. But these days at most modern petrol stations, the petrol pump hose is long enough to reach either side of the car so it doesn't normally matter which side the petrol pump is.

Entering the petrol station.

The petrol station normally has an entrance and an exit. If the petrol station is on the left then the entrance is normally the first turn. If the petrol station is on the right then the entrance is normally the second turn.

Make sure that you drive to the furthest available pump in the line so that another driver can use the one behind.

Drive reasonably close to the pump but leave enough room so that you can walk between the pump and car.

Once you've secured the car. Switch off the engine and bring your car key or fob with you and some kind of payment method.

With some cars, you might need to pull a catch to open the petrol cap or you might need to unlock it with your key.

Unleaded or diesel?

You need to know if your car requires unleaded or diesel fuel. You mustn't put in the wrong type of fuel. Check the car manual or sometimes there might be a sticker inside the fuel cap telling you which fuel to use.

E5 is a premium unleaded fuel and there's also a premium or super diesel fuel. Premium fuel is normally more expensive. With ongoing use it claims to clean your engine, restore and maintain engine power, deliver a smooth driving experience, reduce the risk of unplanned maintenance, improve vehicle efficiency and take you further between fill-ups.

You won't hurt your car if you put in the premium fuel by accident.

If you need to fill up with unleaded then you need to check if your car will run on E10 or E5 or maybe either. Most modern cars that require unleaded will be OK with E10 but check in your cars manual or with your car manufacturer to be sure.

If you want to use disposable gloves then they're sometimes available. Sometimes they're on the side of a bin along with some paper towels for if you spill any fuel on your car.

Using the pump.

Lift the nozzle up a little and pull it out.

Although your pump probably hasn't been turned on yet, be careful not to squeeze the trigger just in case. Keep it upright as there's normally a drop of fuel left in it from the previous customer that wants to spill out.

Push it in as far as it goes. You might hear the fuel pump get activated and now you can squeeze the trigger to pump fuel. A bit like the accelerator pedal, the tighter you squeeze the trigger the faster the fuel will come out.

You'll see on the display how many litres of fuel you're pouring in, the price per litre and probably more importantly how much it's costing you. If you only want to put in for example £10 of fuel then ease off the trigger as you get closer to the amount you want and then release it.

If you want to fill it up all the way then the pump will stop once the cars full. To take out the nozzle, lift and shake any fuel off and again keep the nozzle upright so that no fuel drips on the car.

Push the nozzle up into the pump a little then down so that it stays on.

If you've spilt any fuel on your car then wipe it off with a paper towel as it's not good for your paintwork. If you've spilt some fuel on the ground then it's important to tell the person in the petrol station. Because it's slippery and especially dangerous for motorcyclists, they will put some sand down on the spill to soak it up.

Now screw the fuel cap back on if you've got one, lock it if it needed, close it and lock the car and pay for the fuel.

You'll need to remember which number fuel pump you've used as you'll have to tell the person inside which one you want to pay for.

Before you move off and as you drive towards the exit, it's important to look around for other people, especially other drivers pulling away from their pump at the same time as you. Look over your blind spots and be careful.