What happens when you fill up less often, or put just a few dollars of gas in the vehicle at a time?

You are at higher risk for running out of gas.

It’s happened to me three times – each occasion was when I was driving an unfamiliar vehicle. The first time I was barely two feet from the gas pump in my parents’ van; luckily the fuel hose could reach. I didn’t realize how close the warning chime was to when you really did need gas in that vehicle. The next two times, I had borrowed my brother’s car to get to work when my vehicle was in the shop. His fuel gauge wasn’t accurate and he got around that by just putting gas in every few days. I had to walk to a gas station a couple of blocks away to borrow a gas can.

Associated Press has this story, posted at the Detroit News today, that Drivers are putting less gas in the tank, then running out. (WTOL TV 11 also had the story on its news broadcast this morning; and it’s on page 5A of today’s print and e-editions of The Monroe Evening News.)

A snippet:

In the Philadelphia area, where the average price for a gallon of regular broke $4 on Friday, calls from out-of-gas AAA members doubled between May 2007 and May 2008, from 81 to 161, the auto club reported.

“The number one reason is they can’t stretch their money out from week to week,” said Gary Siley, a AAA mobile technician.

“Some of them are embarrassed. … They say, ‘I was trying to make it till Friday,’ and they couldn’t do it,” said Siley, who has assisted numerous out-of-gas motorists.