When a Money-Saving Item Ends Up Costing You

I have a friend who is pretty frugal (he rivals even me in this category -- maybe even better/worse than I am depending on your perspective.) He does a good amount of driving for work (which he gets reimbursed for.) A couple years ago, he purchased a diesel-engine car so he'd get great mileage and save a ton (for himself) on business trips (he still received the same per mile allowance he got when he was driving his gas-guzzling truck.) Needless to say, making this switch did save him a boatload of money (he gets something like 40 mpg with the car) and it was a wise choice to make.

But the funny think about diesel-engine cars is that they like to be filled with diesel. If they somehow get filled with gasoline, they aren't nearly as happy. I think you all know where this story is going.

A few weeks ago my friend was on a trip with some of his friends to a college football game. They stopped to get fuel and all were outside the car chatting. My friend grabbed the green-handled hose (which is usually the color designated for diesel fuel) and filled his car. When they all got back into the car and drove the final few miles to the college. They thought the car ran rough/sounded differently but didn't think much of it.

After the game, my friend tried to start the car to no avail. It's at this point he had a sinking feeling. He looked at his credit card receipt and discovered he had put gas into his diesel-engine car. It was a big no-no.

To make a long story short, it cost him $400 to have the tank, lines, and engines emptied of gasoline. Then there was another $200 for a fuel pump that was wasted as a result of gas going through it. And the car may have more problems -- he's still sorting through those issues as of this writing.

So what was once a great money-saving device ended up losing him a boatload of money rather quickly. And it was the thing that saved him the money (diesel engine) that also ended up costing him more (because it was so unique/different than most cars.) I don't think there's really a learning here (other than be sure to put diesel in your diesel-engine car -- duh) but it was interesting to me that what he planned as a money saver wasn't as much as it could have been because of the accident.

As for that station he stopped at -- turns out all their hose handles are green. Ugh.

Comments

[Infinite Banking]

Next article. When a 401k matched plan starts costing you...

Sometimes buying inexpensive is just plain buying cheap.

[Curt]

You didn't name them, so I will - BP! That always worries me when I'm there because of a mixup I once had (I don't drive a diesel):

I was home from college for the summer and borrowed my mom's car for a night out with friends. On the drive home, I stopped to fill up (like a good son should, I always returned the car full of gas)...and accidentally put 5 or so gallons of Diesel in a non-diesel Suburban. DOH! As soon as I realized it, I topped it off with Premium and got home just fine (after everyone else was asleep). I had driven about an hour after the mishap without any problems, so I thought I was good. Except for the next morning my Dad asked me what I had done that made the car drive like a tank. We actually were able to clean it with fuel additives and filling up frequently to dilute the diesel, but still probably ended up spending around $50-$75 on additives and driving around just for the sake of driving to clean it out. Now it's fine, but it sure was scary for a bit.

[mdb]

I am surprised by the second comment, usually diesel nozzles won't fit in a gas car. Also diesel has only 1 selection remove the nozzle and start pumping, whereas newer gas pumps require you to select the grade (older pumps still have gas grouped in threes, diesel pumps are solitary, you'd have to go to a really old pump for there to be similarities). I can only see these mix ups occurring if you aren't paying attention, and that has a high probability of costing you with anything. Of course, nobody pays attention all the time, so mistakes happen and this was a costly one.

[jim]

The thing that actually cost him money was the accidental mistake of putting the wrong kind of fuel in his car. I wouldn't blame buying this accident on the money saving diesel. People who drive gasoline engine cars could do the same thing by putting diesel in their cars.

[Matt]

My father decided to keep a high mileage vehicle and put some money into it. Full tune up, complete with changing belts, hoses, brakes, tires, exhaust you name it he had it checked and if it needed to be replaced he did it. Probably put $2000 into the car to make sure he would not have any problems becasue he wanted to keep it.

A month later he was driving down the road and an 80 old driver pulled out of no where and totaled the vehicle. My dad only got blue book value which did not include his investment to keep the vehicle.

I don't think you could avoid that seeing it could happen any time.

[Zach]

One good idea I saw one time, On Ramit Sethi's "I will teach you to be rich blog" is to make a "Stupid Mistakes' sub-account (either real or imagined for yourself. If you set aside a few bucks a month to cover any stupid mistakes, it's not as painful when you get that speeding ticket, ruin a shirt with a burst pen, or maybe put unleaded in a diesel engine.

I thought it was a great idea. you can read his full post here:
http://www.iwillteachyoutoberich.com/blog/automation-add-a-stupid-mistakes-sub-savings-account/

[Greg]

I agree with Zach here... our emergency fund is also our "We are idiots" fund. When my wife forgot to get glass coverage for the car and a giant piece of ice crashed through the window... $300. When I played with my neighbor's RC helicopter and bust it... $40. Inspection sticker out of date... $40 ticket. Even little things: I forgot my lunch... $8. She ripped a pair of hose while at work... $5. So many big and little mistakes add up fast.

Future incidents I expect to happen: Moving violation (my wife is a very aggressive driver), me ruining a pair of slacks or jeans (I spill and rip pretty easily), pair of headphones or something similar chewed up by cat, our 11 year old car exploding (seriously, it's creeping me out that it is still working so well), one of us breaking a cell phone (oh man I hope not!)... I could go on for a while. I'm not worried, just foresight helps you roll with the punches. And laugh about it... we do still laugh about the ice/ window incident. Ice all over the car, not melted because it was so cold!

[mbhunter]

Ouch. If I recall correctly the diesel nozzles are bigger than the gas nozzles, because I remember one time having that work to my advantage as I tried to pump diesel into my gas engine.

Unfortunately, that means that gas nozzles fit quite easily into a diesel tank.

[texashaze]

Recently bought a roof for my house. Got 3 bids and went with cheapest. Firm appeared reputable but ended up doing change order when roof was about finished that brought cost above the others. Tried to fight it but couldn't (long story). Anyway lesson was to not always go with cheapest bid. Cost me about $500.