Out here, empty means stranded
In a city, running out of fuel is embarrassing and inconvenient. On Highway 290 between Dripping Springs and Johnson City, or on US 281 through Blanco County, it means you are a long way from a pump, with no footpath, no shade, and traffic that is not expecting a pedestrian. The gaps between services on these roads are real and people misjudge them constantly, particularly visitors who are used to a station every mile.
Wimberley Towing brings you enough fuel to reach a station. Call (512) 375-1215, tell dispatch where you are and whether the vehicle takes petrol or diesel, and stay with the vehicle rather than walking.
Please do not walk
It is tempting, and on these roads it is a bad idea. There is often no shoulder to walk on, the traffic moves fast, and in July the heat is not a joke. People die walking for fuel in Texas every year. Stay with the car, keep your hazards on, and wait.
Petrol or diesel, and why we ask twice
Because putting the wrong one in is a vastly more expensive problem than an empty tank, and it happens more often than you would think, particularly with a rental or a borrowed truck. If you are not certain, the filler flap usually says, and so does the handbook. Tell dispatch you are unsure and we will check on scene rather than guess.
If you have already put the wrong fuel in
Do not start the engine. Do not even turn the key to the ignition position if you can avoid it, because on many modern cars that runs the fuel pump.
If the engine has not run, the wrong fuel is sitting in the tank and it is a drain and a clean, which is annoying but survivable. If it has run, the fuel is through the pump, the lines, and possibly the injectors, and it becomes a workshop job that can run into thousands. Either way the car goes on a deck rather than being driven, which is flatbed towing, and the single most useful thing you can do between now and then is leave it switched off.
Diesel in winter, and other edge cases
Running a diesel completely dry can introduce air into the fuel system, and some vehicles need bleeding before they will restart even once fuel is back in. If your diesel has run fully empty rather than just low, mention it, because the job may not end at pouring fuel in.
What it costs
Fuel delivery is priced as a roadside call rather than a tow, and dispatch gives you the number before anyone drives out. You pay for the fuel and the call, and the figure does not change on arrival. See towing rates.
Part of our full roadside assistance service.
What fuel delivery costs
You pay for the call and the fuel, quoted before anyone drives out, and unchanged on arrival. It is a roadside call rather than a tow. If the vehicle will not restart afterwards, which happens with a diesel run fully dry, that becomes a separate conversation and we will have it honestly. See towing rates.
Plan the Hill Country roads on fuel, not on hope
The single most useful piece of local advice we can give a visitor: fill up before you leave Dripping Springs heading west, or before you leave Blanco heading north. The stretches beyond both are long, beautiful, and short of petrol stations, and a quarter tank that would comfortably do in a city does not do out here.
Call (512) 375-1215 if you have misjudged it. It happens to locals too.
Electric vehicles run out too
An EV that has run flat is not a fuel delivery job, because there is nothing to deliver. It needs a flatbed to a charger, and it needs one that knows not to tow it with the drive wheels on the road. If you are out of charge rather than out of fuel, say so when you call and it will arrive on a deck. See flatbed towing.
Range estimates are optimistic in the heat and on the hills, and the Hill Country has plenty of both. It catches people out on the run west from Austin more often than you would think.
What to do while you wait
Stay with the vehicle, get it as far off the pavement as you can, put the hazards on, and stay out of the traffic side of the car. In summer, stay in the shade and drink something. In a Texas July the heat on a shoulder is the actual danger, not the empty tank. Call (512) 375-1215 and we will tell you a real window.