Morning All. I have lurked in the background on this forum for a few years now, reading various posts with interest. This is my first post, so I am hoping somebody can give me some helpful advice on a situation I have got myself into.

I hired a car in Spain last week and when returning it to the airport, the tank had to be full. As I drove around the outskirts of the airport, pretty much every garage I could find was closed (it was in the middle of the Spanish Siesta period). Eventually I found a garage on an industrial area that had card payment so it could be used 24 hours.There were 3 pumps at this garage, one marked 'Diesel', one 'Gasoleo' and the other 'LPG'. Knowing that the hire car ran on unleaded, I stupidly assumed that if one pump said diesel and one LPG, then the Gasoleo pump must be unleaded. The pump nozzle fitted into the tank okay (I thought diesel nozzles were larger?) so I went ahead and filled the tank up with no further thought.

I then drove the car for approximately 800m upto the main road. Just before I got there, the car had started to misfire and judder slightly. Alarm bells started ringing so I pulled over and switched the engine off immediately. Taking the filler cap off and smelling the tank, I could clearly smell diesel and not petrol. I called the assistance number for the car hire company and within an hour they had sent a tow truck and taxi to take me to the airport. The last I saw of the car was when it was being putting on the tow truck. I then flew back to the UK.

I contacted both Europcar and the hire agent when I returned to the UK, but until the car has had a garage report completed, nobody knows what I will be liable for. I did purchase the addtional Damage Excess Refund insurance, but this excludes misfuelling (as I thought it would).

So it looks as though I will be liable for any damage caused (which is fair enough, as it was my mistake), but I am having sleepless nights wondering what kind of cost I am going to charged for this incident. There is lots of information available on the web for putting petrol in a diesel, but it seems fairly unusual for somebody to put diesel in a petrol (probably because of the filler nozzle size). Does anybody know how much damage I am likely to have caused to the engine by running it for several minutes? I am assuming that the best case scenario is that the tank is drained and refilled, and the worst case scenerio is a new engine. Is it likely to come to this?

Before this weekend, I always thought I would never misfuel a car, but the fact that one pump was notated 'Diesel' threw my thinking. I have since found out that 'Diesel' in Spain is lower grade diesel for older cars and 'Gasoleo' is diesel for modern cars. 'Gasolina' was what I wanted, so two letters difference could prove to be an expensive mistake!

I know that it is my responsibility to pay for the repairs, but what is to stop the hire company telling me that the car is ruined and needs a new engine? I am happy to foot the cost for draining and cleaning, but I cannot afford a bill for thousands of Euros. Has anybody had experience of putting diesel in a petrol car and the costs to rectify it? Thanks.