CHESTERFIELD, Va. (WWBT) – On the road, drivers always try to find the best deal for their wallets when filling their gas tanks.
One day, Daniella Muir stopped at a gas station and noticed a cheaper option in front of her: flex-fuel.
“I thought it would be great for the environment, and it was cheaper than the rest, so I put it in my car,” she told NBC12.
Two days later, Muir found out her car was incompatible with flex-fuel, also known as E85.
“My car lights all started flashing,” said Muir. “Something that would’ve cost me 20 cents extra cost me over $500 to fix my car.”
Muir’s situation was one of at least six cases Moyers Automotive Service along Hull Street Road has seen for more than a month.
“A little bit more digging into it, that these customers were using the E85 pump instead of the regular gas, and your car cannot burn E85 if it’s not flex-fuel compatible, which was leading the cars to break down, drivability problems, hard starts in the morning,” Moyers told NBC12.
Moyers believes one reason for the trend is the cheaper price tag for flex fuel.
“A customer gets to a new station, and they see the cheapest price of fuel. That’s what they’re going to pump in,” said Moyers.
An option Moyers tells us will work, but only if your car is flex-fuel compatible.
“This is E85, which you can see is a tremendous amount more of alcohol in it, and because of that volume of alcohol, that’s why some cars just cannot run on it,” he told NBC12. “There are several warnings on the gas pumps that will say, if your car is not designed to run E85, do not run it. Engine damage will result.”
Before you get behind the wheel, Moyers encourages drivers to double-check if their car can take flex fuel.
“If the car specifically says flex fuel, a lot of GM’s and Ford’s do, then they’re capable of running it,” he said.
The advice also echoes for drivers across the central Virginia area.
“Cheaper is not always best, and then I guess, I didn’t know there was a thing called flex fuel,” she said. “Just see what your car takes and put that in it.”
If you’re still unsure about what your car takes, Moyers encourages drivers to double-check the owner’s manual for their vehicles.
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