Out of Gas

[thtdon]

This is not a gripe.  I just want to make you chuckle!  I have carried the same 5 gallon gas can in my service truck for several years.  I have always carried $5.00 worth of gasoline in it.  The reason that I carry only $5.00 worth of gas is there are so many people that run out of gas, because they have no money.  And their motor club coverage doesn't cover the gas.  I can't bring myself to just drive away and leave them there.  So I give them the gas.  Anyway, $5.00 worth of gasoline in a 5 gallon can looks like spit.  When I take out the can, the customer can see how much gas there is in the translucent can.  And their reaction is always "That's it?  That's all I get for $5?  So I'm going to get a smaller can.  It's all about the optics!

[Stubborn66]

I cant leave them sit either

 

It still amazes me how many calls we get for "fuel delivery".  I had one Saturday night at 11pm, for a lady on her way to work, then two back-to-back Sunday morning starting at 6am.  They were all covered for the gas.  The last one I am pretty sure I have taken gas to before in a different town, and I think she may be living in her car.

[ESC]

We stopped delivering fuel.   We tow it to a gas station.  We stopped doing clubs all together a while back, but we do get the occasional out of gas call.  The problem I have found is people sometimes just assume they are out of gas.  We get there, waste time trying to get gas in the car on the side of the road only to find other issues and the car still wont start.   I have found it much easier to just load the vehicle quick and get to a gas station.  I let them fill it up and if it starts, unload in a safe place and get them on their way.  If it doesn't, we can talk about where to tow it too in a safe place rather than mess around on the side of the dangerous roadway.  Sometimes, adding a splash of fuel would be easier, but it seems like every time i gamble on that, i lose.

Edited February 22, 2022 by ESC

[Stubborn66]

We take a little different approach.  My rates for fuel delivery are profitable, hell I would run fuel around all day.  But, if we go out for a fuel delivery, we take a service truck, generally an S10.  Once we put the fuel in, we tell the customer to cycle the key three times to activate the pump and get the fuel up, then start it.  If it does not start due to a dead battery, then we add a fee for the jump start.  If it does not start at that point, the customers diagnosis of no fuel is incorrect. There is no further diagnosis on our part, it needs to be towed.  At that point, since I do not have a tow truck with me, the customer has to call in for an additional service, sometimes we get it sometimes we don't.

I have been asked by both the clubs and the customers why I did not bring a tow truck.  I politely tell them that I will not run a tow truck that only gets 9mpg for a fuel delivery and someone other than I made the diagnosis that the car was out of fuel.  I "read" the customer, if they are reasonable, we tell them we can help them back at the shop, if they are not reasonable, we simply tell them our shop is booked and we can't get it in for a few days.  Either way it works out, we have been paid for our time and the service we had been called for.  I also have a younger guy working for me that I can send on these calls when I am backed up in the shop, I don't send him out with rollbacks yet.

 

We do the same thing when a club calls for a jump start / possible tow.  We tell them it is one or the other, we cannot send out a rollback @ 9mpg to jump start a car.  If the customer is not certain it is just a dead battery it should be towed rather than waste time.  Again, sometimes we get them, sometimes we don't.

[mooresbp]

We only carry 2 1/2 gallon can, AAA pays for $7.00 on plus or better customers. That is what we put in.

[thtdon]

When Swoop got up and running a couple of years ago, and we were working out the rates, they priced a fuel delivery call the same as a jump start, a flat tire, and a lockout.  When I asked about who pays for the fuel, I was told that the cost of fuel was all-inclusive in the call.  In other words, I was expected to provide fuel to the customer at no cost when it was appropriate.  But they would not pay me for that fuel.  The last conversation that I had about it changed nothing.  So I make all Swoop customers pay for the fuel. 

 

Speaking of fuel, what are you all doing to cope with the rising cost of fuel?  I raised the fee that I charge people who request road service and tows and pay for the service themselves.  I went up an added $20 per call across the board.  I had not gone up on my cash call prices in several years.  I fear that the price of fuel is not done going up.  Anytime that I have approached a motor club about coming up with some extra coinage to take the edge off of higher fuel prices, I have been told to get lost.  For now, I think that will decline to send a truck a long distance for any motor club without a fuel surcharge. 

 

Due to the accident damage to my fuel tank, I only put 15 gallons at a time in the tank of my flatbed.  The fuel tank got hit while back.  Despite the huge dent, it does not leak.  It was half full when it got hit.  And I do not fill it to the neck, for fear that it might leak.  I have a new tank, and all the other parts I need.  It is too tight to do a job like that inside the garage.  I will change the tank outside when it gets a little warmer.  A few days ago, I put in 15 gallons.  The next day, I put in 15 more gallons.  The price of fuel went up 40 cents a gallon overnight.  I expect that diesel fuel will cost over $5.00 a gallon by next week.

[Stubborn66]

we are adding a 4% fuel surcharge to our billing for retail.

 

I was able to get two clubs to raise the rate a bit in January, the 2 others won't budge so we are taking a close look at the calls and only running those that will be profitable.