Over a third of drivers believe cars run out of fuel 20 miles after the warning light comes on, yet new research says most can do twice the distance.
The comparison website, Compare the Market, who surveyed 1,000 Britons, compared 96 best-selling cars from 29 manufacturers to discover how far drivers could travel once the warning light came on and those that run out fastest—the difference in range is surprising.
Light roulette
Not only did Compare the Market’s study show that most popular models would keep going twice as long as the average driver expected, they found a few vehicles continue to run almost four times as far, such as the Volkswagen Passat—with a reserve range of a little over 75 miles.
Of all the 96 cars tested, the one with the shortest reserve range was the BMW M3, travelling only 32 miles after displaying the warning light.
Best-selling cars with the shortest reserve ranges
- BMW M3: 31.99 miles
- Kia Picanto: 32.14 miles
- Fiat 500: 37.14 miles
- Mini Cooper: 37.52 miles
- Mitsubishi Shogun: 38.23 miles
- Jaguar XK: 38.38 miles
- Citroen C1: 38.76 miles
- Peugeot 108: 39.14 miles
- Nissan Juke: 40.84 miles
- Ford Fiesta: 41.07 miles
Best-selling cars with longest reserve ranges
- Volkswagen Passat: 75.02 miles
- Volvo V40: 70.6 miles
- Ford Mondeo: 70.02 miles
- BMW 5 Series: 68.33 miles
- Toyota Prius: 66.62 miles
- Mercedes E-Class: 64.02 miles
- Audi Q5: 63.82 miles
- Range Rover Sport: 63.35 miles
- Mazda 6: 62.97 miles
- Audi A6: 62.06 miles
Your car’s warning light will illuminate when there’s around less than 10% of fuel left in the tank. Yet, according to research done in 2015 by the insurer, Liverpool Victoria (LV), the reason for over 800,000 drivers breaking down each year is because of empty fuel tanks caused by ignoring the fuel light. Two-thirds of the drivers running out of fuel were under 35.
LV’s study also found that two-thirds of drivers surveyed never fill their tank to the top. A little under a third put in just £5 worth of fuel to keep them going and high petrol and diesel prices may well be the reason. Over 50% of LV’s respondents confessed to having passed a filling-station despite running on empty—holding out for the possibility of a cheaper place to buy fuel.
Empty threat
Although you may be one of those motorists driving with your car’s fuel warning light lit up, most mechanics recommend you stop to get £10 worth of fuel. This prevents the risk of spending, say, hundreds—or more—on repairs from potential damage caused by running out of fuel.
You can cause problems for your vehicle if you drive with very low fuel reserves. The fuel pump of an empty tank can suck in tiny particles from the bottom of the tank. This can clog the pump, the fuel filter, and may get into the engine. In addition, damage can occur to the catalytic converter.
In cars where the fuel pump is in the fuel tank, the fuel works like insulation and lubricant. Constantly running the tank empty can overheat the pump, resulting in premature failure. With certain diesel engines, you can face further complications if you drain your car’s tank dry, requiring manual restarting of the pump.
Each car has a different range and fuel gauges aren’t exact because they’re still measured using a float. This alters its reading depending on whether you’re on an incline, for example.
Newer vehicles that display the miles you can drive on your current tank of fuel are only an estimation. Your tank’s reserve range depends on your car’s performance, how much weight your vehicle is carrying, your driving style and whether you’re sitting in traffic, on the motorway, etc.
Stop at nothing
In 2015, data from the AA showed that 4% of drivers stopped on the hard shoulder because of an empty tank. The Highway Code (Rule 270) states:
‘You MUST NOT stop on the carriageway, hard shoulder, slip road, central reservation or verge except in an emergency, or when told to do so by the police, traffic officers in uniform, an emergency sign or by flashing red light signals. Do not stop on the hard shoulder to either make or receive mobile phone calls.’
So, if you run out of fuel, it’s a legitimate reason to use the hard shoulder.
That said, you can receive a fine and points on your licence for ‘leaving a vehicle in a dangerous position,’ (MS10). The police could also charge you with ‘driving without due care and attention,’ (CD10 and CD30) if you knew or should have known you were low on fuel.
If you break down because of lack of fuel and need to call your breakdown provider, remember; your provider takes any call-outs into account, which can mean higher premiums when it’s renewal time. If you don’t have breakdown cover and need to pay to get your car recovered, you’ll face another hefty bill.
Keep your fuel tank at least a quarter full—half full is ideal. Fill up before long journeys in case of traffic and to avoid paying motorway service station fuel prices. Don’t waste time and fuel searching for a cheaper filling-station—become a PetrolPrices member or download our free app to find the cheapest petrol or diesel wherever you are.
Do you always fill up your tank when the warning light comes on or do you make sure you’ve always got plenty of fuel? How far can your car go after your warning light illuminates? Tell us in the comments.
Why isn’t the price finder working yet?
I’m driving 450 miles tomorrow. Why isn’t the price finder working yet for Windows Laptops?
my car app will do 30mile when the light comes on i don’t risk it i keep my tank at quarter full
Interesting to read the data on fuel tank levels. I had thought I had 35 miles on average. Usually I fill up on 25%.. Recently, I’ve been broke so I have left it later (contracts dried up due to Brexit my customers tell me – thanks a bunch, Nigel). I also keep an eye on oil prices because if they go up, prices will immediately go up at retail fuel stations. Obviously, there is a more significant lag if they drop. I see from PetrolPrices.com data that my local supermarkets charge more where I live than they do six miles away. The prices on this site are not always correct so I wonder how they gather the data.
So you can stop on the hard shoulder for an emergency but you can’t use your mobile phone to report this emergency!?
Tulip, was that a serious question or is that your humour? I would have thought that you only need one legal reason to stop and once you have stopped you can use your phone.
Tulip, just to clear it up it means that if your phone rings whilst you are driving or that you need to make a call then you can’t stop on the hard shoulder. If on the other hand you breakdown and need assistance, then of course you can use your mobile
Although if you break down on the motorway I think they recommend that you still use the emergency phones rather than your mobile as they can pinpoint exactly where you are.
I don’t think they mean that. Of course you can call if you’ve broken down. They mean to make or answer routine calls
Is it true a half full tank may degrade sooner as a result of a larger area of condensing air at the top of the tank?
It takes on average over a year to degrade and I wouldn’t leave fuel in an unused car for that long anyway.
I usually guess at 50 miles once the reserve on my diesel Leon comes on,
I have owned 3 Honda Jazz and all have done over 70 miles when the low fuel warning light came on. Not recommended but have never run out of fuel.
I also have a Honda Jazz (2004 automatic). They reckon there are 7 litres of fuel left when the warning light comes on, so even in the worst heavy, slow-moving traffic and very low mpg it should last at least 25 miles. In free-flowing conditions, it could last up to 3 times that far. When I’m commuting round town I wait until the amber light is on or nearly on, but am more cautious when going long distances – especially when driving abroad.
Typically get 40 – 50 miles on diesels, never run out in 15 years of driving diesels (or petrol before that).
I HAVE BEEN DRIVING DIESEL CARS SINCE 1984 AND FOUND OUT ACCIDENTALLY MANY YEARS AGO EVEN IF THE ENGINE STOPS HAVING APPARENTLY DRAINED THE TANK DRY, AFTER SEVERAL MINUTES SWITCHED OFFF THE ENGINE WILL START UP AND YOU CAN A FEW MORE MILES. THIS CAN BE DONE SEVERAL TIMES AND A SMALL DIESEL CAR I MANAGED TO GET A GARAGE SELLING DIESEL AT 2.30 A.M. SOME 7-8 MILES FROM WHERE IT FIRST STALLED. HOWEVER I NOW NEVER RUN LOWER THAN QUARTER FULL AND MAKE SURE 1) I HAVE A FULL TANK BEFORE GOING ON A MOTORWAY AND 2) CHECK SUPERMARKETS WITH FUEL STATIONS JUST OFF THE MOTORWAY ON MY ROUTE.
A GOOD EXAMPLE GOING FROM WEST LONDON TO THE WEST COUNTRY IS JUNCTION 17 M5 AT BRISTOL WHERE MORRISONS HAVE SUCH A SITE3.
I had a 2009 eclass most i have done on reserve was 80 miles. I think i was driving on fumes at the end of it (if you can have fumes with diesel) only to glad to get to a garage.
Chasing a petrol station for a couple of pence cheaper is pointless nowadays with the cost of fuel, 60 litres at 2 pence a litre is only £1.20 that doesn’t get you a litre of fuel with today’s prices.
But around here the cost differential can be up to 15p a litre over available stations on my daily commute (normally only 10p though) that’s at least £6 for your 60 litres.
Most cars will still do 15-20 miles when the needle hits empty. Except my old MGB – when the needle hit empty, it was empty. Even once I discovered this the hard way I still got caught out twice more…
In my student days I often ran out of fuel. Equally often I had to get out of my Morris Minor to hit the petrol pump with a hammer as one of the features of that model was that it often jammed. Another was wooden floorboards, through a hole in which I could see the road surface… Such simple days. I don’t think I could find the fuel pump now, even with the manual to help, it’s so densely packed under the bonnet. Ever since then I have always carried a spare can of fuel, which means I can run on to empty if I feel like it, though that really isn’t advisable with my current diesel. I always fill to the top, push the trip counter, and run it till the display tells me I have 30 miles or so left, so I can get a running comparison of mpg.
I had a Morris Minor too and that was a common problem with them. The petrol pump was electric and lived somewhere underneath the dashboard and contained a set of contact points which clicked open and shut every few seconds as it pushed petrol through to the engine. You could hear it clicking as you drove along but if the clicking stopped you knew you were in for a bit of pump whacking time. I was fortunate – it didn’t happen to me.
‘Tiny particles’ are there, full or empty, with fuel, being moved about, so just as likely to get ‘sucked up !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is true
Also the pump always pulls the fuel from the bottom of the tank…
I only ever put Shell V-Power in my car, I always fill it up to the first click, and don’t like to let it get under half a tank. If I get down to 1/4 of a tank I will even goto the expensive station which is near to me, whereas usually I would go to the cheaper ones which are 5-6 miles away.
Unless your handbook says otherwise, buying high-octane fuel is a waste of money. Your performance is identical and there is no harm on the engine on regular.
If your handbook calls for 98, buy 98. For the vast majority of us, 95 is absolutely fine.
Matt: I disagree. Tests on my petrol cars showed that they were consistently 9.5-10% more economical when running on Tesco’s “Momentum 99” petrol than on the standard 95 octane fuel. As Momentum 99 was 5p/litre (3.5%) more expensive than the 95 octane fuel at the same filling station, Momentum 99 was saving us 6-6.5% on our fuel costs. That’s with the same three drivers and no changes in our driving styles.
Pretty pointless article. Manufacturers always used to use a gallon as the reserve amount. Some now do a gallon and a half. So if you know how many miles per gallon your car does with your driving habits, it’s quite simple to work out how many miles left.
Sounds about right. As I understood it, manufacturers in the “old” days when Britain made all their own cars used a gallon stroke gallon and a half as that would be enough on the motorways to get you to the next service station to refuel if the light came on. Service stations were placed at decent intervals, though I am not sure if you leave M6 onto the M42 and then the M40. There is a long stretch there of no service stations motorway-side.
“You can cause problems for your vehicle if you drive with very low fuel reserves. The fuel pump of an empty tank can suck in tiny particles from the bottom of the tank. This can clog the pump, the fuel filter, and may get into the engine. ” Is this an urban myth? I’ve heard this do many times but is it really true? Fuel is constantly being pumped from the BOTTOM of the tank. With vehicle movements, the fuel is constantly being churned. How can particles settle in the bottom of the tank where fuel is being pumped from? It doesn’t make sense. With the constant movement of fuel, any particles would be sucked up by the fuel pump anyway before the fuel level gets low.
CONDENSATION CAN OCCUR IN THE TANK AND AFTER A NUMBER OF YEARS THIS CAN FOOL YOUR FURL GAUGE. WATER UNFORTUNATELY SINKS BELOW THE FUEL AND DESPITE A REASONABLE ALLOWANCE BEING MADE INTHE TANK TO ALLOW FOR THIS, OVER TIME WATER CAN BE SUCKED IN TO THE FUEL LINE. WHILST PETROL CARS CAN ‘SPLUTTER AS A RESULT, IT IS MUCH MORE SERIOUS FOR DIESEL ENGINES
How far can you go in a EV if the warning light comes on? I typically drive 400/500 miles Bristol to Scotland overnight. Many motorways are being converted to ” Smart Motorways” with no hard shoulder, what do I do if my battery runs out of charge? Will the AA/ RAC come & charge my battery?
I keep 5 extra litres of diesel in the wheel-well in the boot. Completely removes the range anxiety, because I know I have an extra 40+ miles sat there if I need it.
I use it and refill it roughly every 6 months.
Very very rarely see the fuel warning light come on. Perhaps 4 times in my 50 years driving. Like to refuel when tank is quarter full.
As usual the reported figures take no account of either the engine sizes or fuel of the stated vehicles – which means there could be substantial variance on the reported mileage reserves. Another report without real substance (other than the underlying message “don’t risk running out” which it appears too many people disregard!)
I have a Hyundai i12 petrol. When the low fuel warning light comes on I fill the tank until the pump klicks off. The handbook says the tank holds 45lr. (10 gallons). I can usually only get about 36lr. (8gallons) of fuel into the tank. This means there is about 9lr. (2gallons) of fuel in the tank before filling. With my style of driving this equates to about 100 miles (50 MPG).
I would never run out of fuel to test the theory!!
Always make sure I have at least a quarter of a tank
Of course, having a low fuel warning light can be the height of luxury. In the dim and distant past, my motorcycles didn’t even have fuel gauges! I’d brim the tanks, run them until the engines spluttered, switch to reserve and stop at the next filling station – or face a long walk. Like another correspondent, I’d reset the trip milo at each refill. I got caught out twice: once when I forgot to switch the petrol tap back to normal after a refill (I thought it was going a long way…) and the other when my bike needed reserve half-way through an overtake on a single-carriageway road…
Generally I fill the tank when I refuel, and start to think about refueling once the fuel gauge shows 1/4 full and try to fill before it drops below 1/8 on the guage. Obviously I look for apetrol station with a low pump price and on main roads on the same side I am driving.
Once the fuel warning light is showing I will try to put some fuel in at the very next petrol station. Unless I know I am within 20 miles of a reasonably priced fuel station, wghen I will proceed directly to that fule station.
On occasions when I have driven with the fuel gauge “on empty” I do get progressively more concerned about fuel and suspect this detracts from my driving concentration. Many years ago ome Sunday returning from the Forrest of Dean I realised I was low on fuel just after we set out but failed to find an open petrol station until I reached Reading!. There I filled up and put in 1 and 1/4 gallons more than the nominal tank capacity. The last few miles must have been done on the fumes!
My Citroen’s warning light comes on when the range drops below around 65miles. I have never let it count down to below 30 miles before refilling. Also I very rarely fill more than half full as I see no reason to lug the extra weight around At 12 miles per litre half a tank will take me over 300 miles..
We fill up before warning light comes on
Fuel weighs a lot. My V70 holds about 65 litres, which weighs 50 kg (about 110 lbs). Lugging that about can seriously impact your mpg.
For long journeys, I find cheap fuel near the motorway (e.g. Bath to Perth, use Asda off M6 Junc 23 by 500 metres). Just add fuel for mileage to next planned stop, based on 32 mpg and a safety margin.
For daily use, I do £20 whenever I see the gauge close to E.
Exceptions are (a) fill when the price is expected to rise, (b) fill when you will be somewhere like Scottish Highlands where prices are always high, (c) fill when you might have a crisis like illness in the family.
I normally fill up after 300 miles or just under quarter of a tank. Technically my manual says I can drive for 55 miles but have never tested it out. I mentally prepare for 30 miles once the warning light comes on and usually if this happens I fill up as soon as I can and well within the 30 mile limit I have set for myself, not withstanding the first sentence above though.
I have an old first Edition Mercedes SLK AMG.
An interesting article. I nearly alwsys run the tank low and often fill up when the light first comes on. I will fill up more frequently now.
I drive a Prius hybrid bought from new in 2008. I always fill my tank to the brim and never run oon empty. On long trips , having been to Germany and Portugal, I always fill up as soon as warning light comes on, which gives me plenty of time. I don’t understand the mentality of just having to run to petrol station and putting £5 or £10. In my book that is waisting time.
Where are the Skoda’s in this list?
My Mini Countryman S alerts you at the estimated 80 miles left. If you reset the warning and drive a lot more conservatively, your range can go up (say 100 miles). When it passes the 80 mile limit it goes off again.
It’s fairly accurate with estimated mileage if you’re consistent, so I can trust it. The problem is when you hit a traffic queue, and MPG goes from 50 down to 30 and your estimated distance drops suddenly too!
I got 620 miles on my 1.9 Oil burning VW (2002). That is to when the red light came on. In the VW, you effectivly have 3 warning. the first is when you see you are in the red. Than the red light comes on, and if you ignore that when you are running on fumes the dash fashes fill up now. I have never deared to go beyond the red light. But I think I can get 100 miles before it starts to splatter and die.
Don’t forget, some diesel cars also use something called Pat / EOLYS Fluid. It injects a small amount of this fluid into your DPF everytime you open the fuel cap to help with regeneration and prevent clogging of the DPF.
If you only put a fiver in everytime you fill up, you will be opening your cap a LOT more often then if you were running it from full to empty before refilling. The cost of having this fluid replaced can run up to £800 so even factoring in the extra weight of a full tank of fuel, its still more wallet friendly then having to refill this system prematurely!
Back in the days before electronic complexities, fancy fuel injection, etc, I drove a Renault 5 in which I was careless enough to run dry twice, both times whilst testing just how long i could go after the warning light came on (the second time just as I was driving up the ramp to a filling station – literally 50 metres from safety). I used to routinely run 60 miles after the light came on and it would not run dry until nearer 90 miles after the warning. – and this in a car with a tiny 40-litre fuel tank. Typically when refuelling I could never get more than 37 litres in the tank, even after 60 miles with the light on. In more recent times, running a diesel Clio, I don’t dare test the limits – 20 miles after the light comes on is quite enough to make me uncomfortable. In one instance I ran to 30 miles and caught the engine having a cough when still a couple of miles from safety.. Incidentally, the car’s computer changes the range indication from showing figures to just showing 3 dashes when the range has dropped into the 60-80 mile region, presumably to scare drivers.
On a different tack, concerning refuelling, I always fully fill the tank and it’s a 55-litre tank, so I know that I have been ripped off at the pump when the pump tells me it has dispensed over 56 litres (I have even seen 57) into a tank that I know still had a good 5 litres left in it. People say “oh no, the pumps are always correct”, but I recall reading a long time ago that garage operators are free to set their pumps to overread by upto 8% and I can say with certainty that my local ASDA sets one particular pay-at-pump dispenser to overread by typically 4-6% more than the other – and then just to catch out the canny, occasionally they switch about the settings to rob me at the pump I use predominantly. These are pumps I have used consistently since they were installed, I am a boringly steady driver and I am also consistent (to within a few miles) in the point at which I refuel after the light comes on. Typically the pump I use serves me 51-52 litres to fill up, but occasionally it suddently shows nearer 54 litres and then I have definitely been ripped off a few times when the high-set pump shows 55-plus – always when the car still had a good 5 litres in it beforehand. Yes, I know that there is always a reserve capacity so that a quoted 55-litre tank will actually take a little bit more, but I am calling out the inconsistencies I have seen that offer proof to me that these pumps are set to overread by an amount of upto 8%. Far be it from me to suggest that supermarket filling stations might be offering relatively low headline prices to entice customers and then getting the price undercut back by overcharging for the fuel dispensed. Many (most) people do not notice it happening, which is why nobody makes a big fuss about it.