A blog by Jorge Garcia.

Monday, January 26, 2009

Speaking of Gas...

I'm so proud.
This is the gas gauge on my rental. The reason I'm so happy about it is, I prepaid the gas. 

Pre-paying is like a gamble you take against the rental car company that you'll drive enough to empty the tank. Usually they win, with a quarter of the tank still unused. But this time I pulled in on only fumes. 

However I did ask a friend of mine to follow me there in case the car didn't make it. 

36 comments:

shar said...

That's awesome, I've never been brave enough to try that.

Laura said...

That is what my gas tank looks like now -- unfortunately, it is not a rental and I do not have a friend following behind me when I drive. Apparently, this is how I live life on the edge.

Meg said...

Haha! My boyfriend always see the low fuel light as a personal challenge, too! Congrats!

Blake and Lucinda said...

haha, you won!

Bostan said...

I can agree to that. And i can't even legally drive yet.

Tasha Who? said...

I'm sure they found another way to "win". Rental car companies are the devil!

redelf said...

Awesome! My husband did pretty much the same thing last time we rented a car.

electrictree said...

Wow...usually I try to do stupid stunts and donuts in rentals...now I know there is a way to take the rental rebellion even further! I can myself swaggering in, tossing the keys on the counter and proclaiming "In your face rental man!" (which would be even better if it was a woman...)

bethanne said...

It's like that episode of Seinfeld where Kramer talks the car salesman into testing the limits of the gas tank.

Excellent gamble.

Nikki said...

That's awesome! We just had to use a rental while my car was getting repaired and had to make a pit stop to fill it up on the way over. They never offered us the pre-pay thing. Will have to check it out next time!

Jason Paul Tolmie said...

Looking at your pic, I reckon you still got another 10 miles of fuel left. Thats gotta be loads of dosh! Once, I filled a petrol can up (about 3 litres) and just drove around until my car ran out. It took ages after the fuel light came on before I finally spluttered to a halt....on a very busy main road in the dark surrounded by nothing but woods full of creepy animals and birds that seek out folk who have run out of fuel on the roadside! I don't recommend trying it! If it weren't for the petrol can, I'd be at the top of a rather large pile of mutant owl's poo pellets by now!

Jules said...

I did that once on a rental and felt immense pride. I also really need to get some new hobbies.

Julie said...

I hate rentals. Especially moving vans. A few years ago they made us fill up the tank completely but then on top of that charged us $60 for fuel fill up. How does that work? We also got charged 70 cents per/km instead of the advertised 29 cents per/km.

Eventually we got our money back....

Nostalgic Rain said...

I love LOST and I love your blog!!

Best wishes from Spain! =)

Jodi said...

I drive on fumes weekly. LOL!

Please Type Legibly said...

HAHAHA.....you did it, Jorge! That's like when you do the perfect pump at the gas station....you know the one, where you pump exactly $10 of gas?

Summer said...

It's nice to know that man kind won against a big bad beast known as the "rental car companies"! Job well done! *thumbs up* :)

Cindy Lou Who said...

Way to go! I never prepay because you always lose in the deal. And I'm scared I'll run out if I chance it!

Angela said...

Good for you. The last time I rented, I ended up returning it with at least a half a tank after prepaying. And, that's when gas was $4.75/gallon in LA.

Movie Star Wife said...

Yikes it gives me anxiety just thinking about it. I hate getting below a quarter tank. I think it goes back to my teenage years when my boyfriend would run out of gas. We'd be in the middle of nowhere, trying to flag someone (a stranger) down. But I'm glad that YOU are brave enough to stick it to the rental agency!

Malea said...

Way to live on the wild side.

Erica said...

Yeah, good for you! Glad I came across your blog! I LOVE it!

Filmi Girl said...

That's a pretty sweet feat.

Also, I just found your blog and I think it's very funny! I will certainly be checking back... :)

I do Bollywood related one - which I'm sure you have no interest in ;P

http://filmi-girl.livejournal.com

electrictree said...

Did you know that you can often continue driving after your car sputters to a halt? Just try starting it up again! I remember one time in highschool it took about 6 tries to get up this hill because everytime we drove up it the angle of the car made it so the engine didn't get any gas...so we'd start it up and take another run at it...good times...

mama t said...

Que Bueno, Jorge...You are the Champion!!!!

Ty said...

I did that last time I was on the Big I! It makes that long plane rid back to the mainland just a little bit sweeter!



www.helbachphotography.blogspot.com

Robbi said...

Great Job!!!!

I have not gotten mine down quite that far yet...

I will have to challenge myself...

Lynn Faruque said...

See, the problem with me doing that is that I have always been afraid I would be on a job where I know NO one. I'd then of course run out of gas and be stuck like chuck in a strange place.

So yep, the rental car company would always win. I guess I'd figure better that, than forgetting to stop and get gas (moi) on the way back to the airport and paying out the wazoo to make up for it.

Anonymous said...

I have a Chevy Silverado long-bed pick-up which is mostly used to run hay and feed for the horses and sometimes salt licks for the cattle in the winter. One day I drove the truck into town from our cattle ranch to run some errands and I ended up leavin' the lights on. Now this truck is a 1984. Yes, it's 25 years old and runs like a dream. Anyway, I thought it'd never start and I fired that baby up and it never missed a beat and still got me home on fumes, especially since it's 5 miles from the house to the paved highway.

Julie said...

My first car (a '78 MG, ah, good times) didn't have a working gas gauge and I ran out of gas ALL the time.

But you probably had at least 10 or 15 miles left on that tank. They did a story on 20/20, driving cars with the gas gauge on E and you get to drive a lot farther than you'd think!

But don't let this take away your glory of delivering your car on the E.

Greetings from the land of Super Bowl Fever (P-burgh) - Julie

Capcom said...

Way to go! Maybe you should play the lottery now. :o)

Ty said...

I spent alot of time costing down the mountian from Volcano to the Hilo airport to save on gas so I could make it in:)

Sim1 said...

Well, I was not so lucky. You know how in your OWN car, when its on E, you know how long you have until you have to stop for gas? Well, I was in the rental and totally miscalculated and the car died right in the middle of traffic. I freaked out! I was going 40 then all of a sudden the steering wheel locked up and I panicked.

I pulled over on some side street, facing the wrong direction, looking like a friggin fool! Some nice guy went and got be a bottle of gas and filled it up for me. Never again. At least not in the rental. lol

James Hernandez said...

Jorge,

You rule the road dude!!!!

Momof4 said...

LOL! Your thriftiness is entertaining. Especially since you had to involve a friend to help you out on that one.

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