A fair assessment is that 50% of all Pumps indulge in ‘under-dispensation’. There are any number of instances when an unsuspecting M-800 Owner has been ‘Pumped-in’ with over 30 liters of Petrol, when it’s Tank can hold only 30 and he had at least 5 liters already in it! How they do it is quite simple:

1) ‘Fix’ the Dispenser – done usually with the connivance of the various Staff, including those of ‘Enforcement’ Agencies. Other ways are:

2) Not start delivering with Meter at zero.

3) Distract you while doing so.

4) Keeping the Pipeline empty.

To counter this menace, you can exercise your right by asking for a Demo in a ‘Weights and Measures’ Certified ‘Can’, which all Pumps are obliged to keep.

Tips to counter

1) Always check Zero.

2) Stay alert. Don’t wander while your Car is being filled, to get the Bill/Credit Card signing and the like.

3) Watch the Dispenser-Pipe carefully. The give away is when one Attendant holds the nozzle and the other switches the pump on.

4) Always fill from half to Tank full. This will not only give you an accurate idea of the mileage but also prevent overnight condensation of humidity into your Tank/build-up of Vapour pressure and sucking up of sludge into the Car’s fuel lines from the bottom of its own Tank.

5) Do not fill-up from Highway/High Traffic Pumps, where you cannot get back easily to complain if need be.

6) Avoid filling upto to the brim. Use automatic dispensers. There are plenty of them around now.

7) Remember that though you buy by the ‘Litre’ BUT burn by the ‘Gram’. So try and fill early in the morning when the fuel in the Pump’s Storage Tanks is at its lowest possible Temperature!