

Ask HN: Would you pay a monthly subscription for automatic gas? - benigeri

Would you pay a monthly subscription to have your car tank filled up automatically when its running low?
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Piskvorrr
Define "automatically" - where? how? I don't quite see the use case.

In a city (where gas stations are abundant): indicator lights up, hey look,
I'll be passing (any) gas station within five minutes. Outside a city, let's
say I'm an hour's drive from a gas station - now what, a gas truck drives up
to me? That might be somewhat expensive...

Now, if this included periodical check-ups (lights, various fluids, pressure
etc.), this might be interesting.

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eduardordm
There are uses cases, see: My wife works in an office building and the parking
lot is paid monthly. She HATES going to gas stations and once a week I do that
for her. I would easily pay +10 bucks on that parking 'subscription' to have
them fill the tank for me. They already do this kind of service for car
washing.

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bryan11
Exactly. My wife hates going to gas stations in the winter.

This could be a workplace option. Find a large business, present this as a
benefit, sign up all the people too busy to stop by gas stations.

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johnyzee
I might depending on the price. Even though I live in the city, it still takes
ten-twenty minutes to swing by a station and fill up, and always at the most
inconvenient times of course. Add additional fill-up/check of fluids, tire
pressures etc. and it gets interesting.

But it would have to be absolutely automatic, zero-touch, f.ex. I wouldn't
give anyone my keys and I wouldn't want to instruct anyone about where my car
is parked at any given time.

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eduardordm
I do that on an airplane. It's included in the parking services.

You are probably thinking on putting a movable gas station (read: truck)
inside a private parking lot (where people pay monthly). I think that would
work great in NYC.

But I see this as more of a feature.

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UnoriginalGuy
Can you describe exactly how this "filling up automatically" would work?

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RahCom
There is definitely a cost-benefit analysis to run. How much is my time worth
to me, how much gas do I use up in a month, what is the price of gas, and how
much we this service cost?

I think that there certainly is a market for this sort of service, however I'd
need to know a little bit more about the specifics to give a better answer.

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UnoriginalGuy
All of that PLUS if you fill up my car too often then it is going to consume
more gas (since you're using up gas by carting around a full tank all of the
time).

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drharris
That extra cost can be considered negligible.
<http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/eng99/eng99630.htm>

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dear
You can't access my tank without a key. The indicator won't show unless the
car is on. How do you know my gas is running low and fill it without my key?

