Did you know that topping off your gas tank is actually a horrible idea? Yeah. Seriously. It was a surprise to me too, if that helps. I mean, I always try to get the number to an even one – instead of $19.42 I’ll try to get it to $19.50 or $20. Nice and clean, right? Well, like I said before, it’s actually a bad idea. Here’s why!

First of all, it can overwhelm your vehicle’s evaporative system and either break something or cause a leak because of built up pressure. If your gas tank is too full, the pressure builds up past the safe level when the gas heats up as your car is moving along. If there’s too much fuel in the tank, that gets sent to the evaporation system, and if you habitually overfill your tank, then you pretty much kill your evaporation system much quicker than normal.

The second thing is that you’re literally throwing money down the drain. Modern gas stations have systems at the pumps where if there’s too much fuel going into your vehicle’s tank, it’ll just go right back up the hose and back into the station’s tank. The cents on the screen go up, but you’re not actually getting that gas. Even if it’s just a few drops, with the price of gas what it is you’re potentially wasting a lot of money over time… on gas that’s not even going into your car.

Let’s all try to break the habit of topping up – when the handle releases the first time, just let it be. It’ll be hard, I know, but I think we can do it – and save ourselves money at the same time!