By dint of drawing on the reserve, at some point, there is no more. While a growing number of service stations in France are experiencing difficulties to get fuel, convenience stores saw their activity increase significantly. In question, motorists who have run out of fuel trying, at all costs, to find gasoline. A hassle that can be very expensive for the customer if he has only skimmed over the small lines of his auto assistance contract.
Despite the small gesture from Total Energies to try to put an end to the social movement, which affects several French refineries, the strike was renewed on Monday morning. Suddenly, the difficulties of supplying the service stations of the territory persist and the gauges of the gasoline tanks of the users of the road drop. And motorists in Hauts-de-France, the region most affected by the “shortage”, who intended to fall back on the train on Monday, had the unpleasant surprise of seeing many trains canceled, due to a strike by signalmen. of the SNCF. Even without that, some die-hards have mistakenly bet on their lucky stars to find a stocked station: “For the past week, we have had several interventions a day for fuel shortages when that hardly ever happens” , explains to 20 Minutes the manager of Buisine breakdown service, in Bois Grenier, in the North.
“5 to 6 interventions for dry breakdown” each day
And this professional is far from being the only one. “It does not stop”, we recognize at Dekeister, in Lille. “We are at three or four repairs of this type each day against one per month in general”, we are assured at Van-Laecke, another Lille repairman. In Pas-de-Calais, the situation seems even worse with “five to six interventions for dry breakdown” every day at the moment according to a convenience store in Beaurains. And, unlike the rare cases that happen in normal times, professionals intervene everywhere: “On the motorway, it sometimes happens to run out of fuel, through inattention or thinking that we will hold on until the next station, continues the manager of Buisine troubleshooting. There, we intervene for people who have broken down in the middle of the city, it’s a first. “At Van Laecke, we are still surprised to have been called by a motorist who has broken down… at the service station: “The person fell stranded while queuing and when his turn came, the station was empty” , assures the convenience store.
In all these cases, the professionals had been contacted by the motorists’ insurance companies. But the phone call to his assistance can also hold a bad surprise. This is because your breakdown assistance contract may contain an exclusion regarding running out of gas. The Matmut insurer itself recommends “checking the extent of your Assistance guarantee in the General Conditions”. Not only for the management of this type of incident, but also if there is “a deductible in the event of a breakdown within 50 km of his home”. Depending on where you are, the day of the week and the towing distance, it can cost you between 120 and 300 euros. Without counting the fine of 75 euros incurred if this hassle happens to you on a motorway, stopping on the hard shoulder in the event of running out of gas is not considered a case of force majeure by the Highway Code.