Gazole and Diesel
Having spent a few days with the rental car, I was happy to see it returned without issue.
We had not rented a car in France before, so we were mentally preparing ourselves for all manner of possible problems, paperwork, or hidden extra fees.
As I drove back towards Avignon’s expansive TGV train station we needed to top up the fuel. Failing to do so would incur the penalty fuel rates of the car hire company. We asked the navigation box to direct us to a fuel station that sold diesel.
We had done our preparation, we had confirmed the car was diesel and double checked with the car hire staff to look out for diesel pumps; all in French.
When I pulled up to the pumps though we could not find diesel. One was diesel but which one. In France, or at least in this region or in this fuel station, they had trade names for the different fuel types.
Our choices were:
- super sans plomb 98 (super without lead 98)
- s.p95 e10
- gazole
Gazole seemed the most likely but making a mistake could ruin the car’s engine. The fuel station was empty when we arrived. I backed out and we chatted over our next steps.
Then another car pulled in. Megan took her chance, hopped out, and approached the other car on foot. She chatted with the friendly driver for a while. Walked back smiling, Megan reported “gazole” is definitely diesel.
We pulled up at a pump and filled up the car.
I was relieved to reach the arching train station and have half an hour to wander around before our train back to Lyon.
