Am I liable for putting the wrong gas in a rental vehicle that was not labeled for its gas type?
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Am I liable for putting the wrong gas in a rental vehicle that was not labeled for its gas type?
My wife rented a vehicle that was a pickup truck. When we went to put gas in it, there was no indication on the gas tank or the gas gauge what type of gas it required. When we looked at the owner’s manual, most everything referred to a diesel engine. After filling the tank and breaking down a few miles down the road, we realized that the engine was not diesel. Rental company is charging us $1000 in repairs.
Asked on January 19, 2012 under Bankruptcy Law, Colorado
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 12 years ago | Contributor
There are two theories under which you could be liable:
1) If the rental agreement with the car rental place stated that you are responsible for all damage that occurs while you are renting the vehicle, that agreement would be enforceable; you should double check the agreement to see what its terms were.
2) If there was no agreement, you could still potentially be liable if it was negligent, or unreasonably careless, to put diesel in the engine. The fact that the owner's manual referred to diesel engines would be a fact in your favor; but since the vast majority of light trucks are gasoline powered (one study I saw indicates that only 4-5% of light trucks are diesel), it still could be the case that it was negligent to use diesel fuel. Given those statistics (if they're accurate), if you were sued, it might be hard to persuasively argue that non-definitive references in the owner's manual made it reasonable to use diesel fuel.
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