Saturday, Jul. 19, 2008

The hidden problems of driving on empty

High gas prices mean boom business for tow-truck drivers.

More drivers are finding themselves stranded on the side of the road without gas. The most common excuse the tow opera-tors hear is that customers thought they could make it to the next station. “It’s sad,” said Ronnie White, owner of a Youngsville, N.C., towing service, who has not seen it this bad in his 24 years in business. “They are trying to get to a station to pay 3 cents less (per gallon), and they end up paying me $50 for one gallon of gas.”

A lot of people are apparently driving on empty. AAA Carolinas, which has 1.6 million members, reported a 4 percent year-over-year increase in calls from S.C. members needing gas.

Damage control: For repeat of-fenders, the damage can be ex-pensive. Driving on low fuel can seriously damage your car.

Sediment — rust, dirt and other debris — collects at the bot-tom of the fuel tank. When you run low on gas, the sediment can clog up the fuel pump and dam-age the fuel injector and fuel filter, AAA Carolinas’ Carol Gifford said. “It can be very expensive and very hard to fix,” she said.

White just replaced a customer’s fuel pump. The cost was nearly $700.

Pumped up: Jeff Lenard, a spokesman for the National Association of Convenience Stores, says some people need to adjust their fueling habits.

People who typically pay cash for their gas tend to spend the same amount of money — say $40 per visit — but at current prices, they are getting less fuel.

It’s like forgetting to adjust your clock for daylight savings time. You’re always late — or in this case, out of gas.

People who pay with credit cards have a similar problem, he says. “They used to be more likely to fill up. But they are now shut-ting off the pump before the tank is full,” he says. “It’s the sticker shock of seeing $60 or higher on the gas pump. That number is causing them to pause.”

Blame the corn?: There’s another reason, he says. People who buy gas with 10 percent corn-based ethanol may be getting worse gas mileage. Lenard says ethanol — while arguably good for the environment — is less fuel-efficient.

“If you get 20 miles per gallon on regular gas, you might get 15 miles on ethanol,” he says. “So that person who thinks they might be able to get that extra mile or two may come up short.”

Avoid additives: Some drivers are also pouring fuel additives and other gas-savings products into their tanks, hoping to stretch out the fuel.

But the Federal Trade Com-mission has warned consumers to be wary of such claims. Its Web site states,

“Even for the few gas-saving products that have been found to work, the savings have been small.”