Avis misfuelling.. any experience?

matt100

matt100

matt100

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So, short version is I've just given back an Avis car in Morocco, when we first filled it we just let the guy at the pump do his thing and he filled it with diesel, it was petrol.

5 minutes down the road we broke down, check engine, recovery, taxi blah blah. Next day they sent another car 5 hours to us, all good.

No we didn't take the insurance (do have 3rd party insurance however) whatever, lesson learned we can afford the mistake thankfully.

Anyway, we dropped it off and they just charged me an extra £60 for a replacement tank of fuel. I was expecting thousands.

Anyone any experience of this? I know diesel in a petrol is nowhere near as bad as the other way round but would it be fair to assume there's a bill following us home?
 
Don't they just drain the tank and then run some kind of cleaner through it?

I'd put the expect cost less what you paid on roulette - I mean, it is already budgeted right? :D
 
Ha ha I guess, I was bracing for like £2-3k

I figured seeing as we drove off the fix would be more expensive than a simple drain, plus all the extra messing they did for us, I mean of this is the cost they've got a customer for life.
 
Yes I know I did that too nearly 20 years ago but thankfully didn't start it.

The boggling part is surely if nothing else there's a bill for the recovery and the taxi (nearly an hour's worth) and then the fact the new car was driven 5 hours to us?

I mean, we got some brownie points by giving their guy a 3 hour lift back in the right direction but still...
 
They couldn't, for starters they don't know where it is as they never asked and I haven't told them, I'd driven away when it stopped, I paid cash and on reflection I got what I asked for.

I thought he said gasoline which I assumed to be petrol, I didn't realise here they call diesel gasoil.

I had a murky feeling when he used an orange hose but again knowing it was petrol I figured he likely couldn't put the diesel hose in and the cap says unleaded/95 etc and.. it's his job and all.

But then I was on the edge of the Sahara, he was old etc etc.

But it happened on Thursday, they know exactly what happened to it and the guys in Marrakech spoke good English so I was saying "ok, and that's it? We're done? No more charges?" Which they agreed and then cancelled the balance of the deposit hold minus the £63 for a replacement tank of fuel.

Soooo....
 
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The bit where he said it was going to be 800 I was like, phew... At least it's only 3 figures. Then realised he was talking about Moroccan Dirham and worked it out as £63 and wanted to run.
 
Kind of wondering how it was mis-fuelled.

Aren't diesel nozzles wider than petrol to stop them being inserted to a petrol car tank - and then a diesel car tank has a clever thingy on to stop it from being fuelled when the too narrow petrol nozzle is inserted ? I'm sure this was explained to me ages ago by the nice Jaaag salesman when I picked up my first ever diesel car.

Cars in Morocco would be mostly on EU specs surely ?

(If I'm talking bull poop, then happy to be corrected by someone !)
 
peterwalkley said:
Kind of wondering how it was mis-fuelled.

Aren't diesel nozzles wider than petrol to stop them being inserted to a petrol car tank - and then a diesel car tank has a clever thingy on to stop it from being fuelled when the too narrow petrol nozzle is inserted ? I'm sure this was explained to me ages ago by the nice Jaaag salesman when I picked up my first ever diesel car.

Cars in Morocco would be mostly on EU specs surely ?

(If I'm talking bull poop, then happy to be corrected by someone !)
Click to expand...
Mate my wifes mum literally squirted diesel into the tank from a small distance when the pump didn't go in :cry: :cry: :cry:
 
peterwalkley said:
Kind of wondering how it was mis-fuelled.

Aren't diesel nozzles wider than petrol to stop them being inserted to a petrol car tank - and then a diesel car tank has a clever thingy on to stop it from being fuelled when the too narrow petrol nozzle is inserted ? I'm sure this was explained to me ages ago by the nice Jaaag salesman when I picked up my first ever diesel car.

Cars in Morocco would be mostly on EU specs surely ?

(If I'm talking bull poop, then happy to be corrected by someone !)
Click to expand...
Yeah it was a brand new nissan qashqai so I was thinking much the same but it definitely died, at sunset, in the desert.

That bit of the experience and the waiting until 9:30 on the side of a road with literally not another building in sight whilst the odd taxi driver stopped to offer help in languages I don't speak are burned in :)
 
peterwalkley said:
Kind of wondering how it was mis-fuelled.

Aren't diesel nozzles wider than petrol to stop them being inserted to a petrol car tank - and then a diesel car tank has a clever thingy on to stop it from being fuelled when the too narrow petrol nozzle is inserted ? I'm sure this was explained to me ages ago by the nice Jaaag salesman when I picked up my first ever diesel car.

Cars in Morocco would be mostly on EU specs surely ?

(If I'm talking bull poop, then happy to be corrected by someone !)
Click to expand...

Yeah that is right. Been in the trade 15 years and only ever seen diesel in a petrol once, and that was a Defender that was originally a diesel and had an LS swap so still had the original diesel tank and filler neck.

Drained the fuel and put petrol in, just had to clean the spark plugs for it to fire up, was a little Smokey but soon cleared and no harm done.
 
job's comforter - in the bill, they acknowledged the whole misadventure ?... the £63 isn't just for the replacement car/petrol, and, the other bit pending
 
Well there's no narrative but it shows car out, car in, car out again from a different place, car back in. A refuelling charge and no damages etc and ends thank you goodbye?
 
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