You're not the first. Wrong fuel in a hire car happens every day.
We'll talk you through what to do, right now on the phone.
We come to you: the terminal, the rental return or the servo.
One call and we handle everything. Most airport jobs are done well before your flight, start to finish.
Tell us your vehicle type and where you are.
Quick ETA confirmation, usually within the hour.
Drain, flush the lines, refill with the right fuel.
Running cleanly, report emailed, you drive away.
What happens, what we do and why the next few minutes matter.
Airport misfuels almost always come down to the same thing, an unfamiliar car and a driver in a hurry. You have just picked up a rental you have never driven, or you are rushing to drop it back before a flight and you do not actually know if it takes petrol or diesel. Half the modern rental fleet is diesel utes and SUVs that look identical to their petrol versions, so it is an easy mistake and a common one.
The single most important thing is what you do next. If you have not started the engine, the wrong fuel is just sitting in the tank and has not reached the pump or injectors. Drain it, flush the system and refuel and the car drives away with no lasting harm. Start it, even just to move it off the return lane and you begin circulating the wrong fuel through the parts it can damage, which is where bills climb.
We come to you wherever the car is, the rental return, the terminal precinct, the airport servo or the roadside if you got that far. A qualified technician drains the wrong fuel, flushes the lines, refills with the correct fuel and checks it runs cleanly before you leave. No tow truck, no depot drama, no guesswork and you are not stuck missing your flight over it.
Whether it is petrol in a diesel or diesel in a petrol, the fix is the same and we carry everything to do it on site.
We get a lot of airport calls and they have all got the same flavour. Someone has landed after a long flight, grabbed a rental they have never driven and pulled into the servo on Sir Donald Bradman Drive to fill up before dropping it back. The dash does not say petrol or diesel, the cap does not always either and half these fleets are diesel HiLuxes, Rangers, RAV4 diesels and Euro wagons that look exactly like the petrol ones. Wrong pump and they only realise when they see the receipt.
Best thing you can do is not start it. Call us before you turn the key and we will come to you, drain it, flush it and refuel so the car is right before you hand it back. Rental return, pickup lane, the airport servo, a hotel car park, wherever it is. We deal with the mess and the disposal, you make your flight.
If you have already driven it off the airport before the penny dropped, still fixable on the spot, just takes a bit longer. The reason we push so hard on not starting it, a diesel's high pressure pump needs the fuel to lubricate it and petrol does not lubricate anything, so every minute it runs on the wrong fuel is wear you do not want. Most cars come good after a proper drain and flush, but sooner is always better.
One tip if you are ever unsure at the pump, check the inside of the filler flap or the handbook before you lift the nozzle, it will tell you petrol or diesel. And if you have already done it, do not stress about the rental company, just call (08) 7083 9699 and we will sort the car before it ever gets back to the depot.
Straight answers about wrong fuel in a hire car at the airport. If yours is not here, call and ask.
Don't start the engine and don't turn the key. If you can move the car clear of the pump safely, push it, don't drive it. Then call (08) 7083 9699. We come to the terminal, the rental return or whichever servo you're at, drain the tank, flush the lines and refuel on the spot. Typically inside the hour across the airport precinct, exact ETA quoted on the call.
Wrong fuel is almost always the driver's responsibility under a rental agreement and if you hand the car back misfuelled the depot will charge their own callout plus a draining fee, often a lot more than we charge. Getting it drained before you return the car is usually cheaper and faster. We give you a plain English invoice with EPA Licence 52359 for your records or your insurer.
Tell us your flight time when you call and we'll give you a straight answer. Adelaide Airport is about 15 minutes from the CBD and we're fully mobile, so airport jobs get priority. Typical response is inside the hour, exact ETA on the call. If it's genuinely tight, we'll tell you honestly whether we can make it.
All of them. Hertz, Avis, Budget, Europcar, Thrifty, Enterprise, SIXT, East Coast, the lot. We don't need to involve the depot, we just drain the wrong fuel, flush the system and refuel so the car is right before you return it.
Petrol in a diesel is the more urgent of the two, but the fix is the same either way, don't start it and we drain and flush on site. The rental fleets are full of diesel utes and SUVs like the HiLux and Ranger and plenty of small petrol hatchbacks, we drain both every week. See our petrol in diesel and diesel in petrol pages for the detail.
From $400 for a metro Adelaide callout. That covers the drain, flush, EPA compliant disposal and refuel. You hear the exact number on the phone before we dispatch. No fix no fee, no card surcharge, no surprises on the invoice.
No. If you drove a bit before the penny dropped, it's still fixable on the spot, it just takes a little longer. Stop driving, pull over somewhere safe and call us. The sooner we get on it, the better.
Wherever the car is. The rental returns, the pickup area, the airport servo, a nearby hotel car park, or the side of the road if you got as far as the freeway. We're fully mobile, you don't need a tow.