Out of gas in Dallas? Fuel brought to you.

Fuel delivery is not a fill-up. A driver brings enough fuel to get the car running and to the nearest gas station, where you fill it properly. It is the cheaper alternative to towing a car that has nothing wrong with it except an empty tank.

It sounds basic, but it is the one detail that has to be right. Putting the wrong fuel in a tank causes far more trouble than running out did. Tell dispatch whether the vehicle takes regular gasoline or diesel.

If the car is still rolling when the gauge hits empty, get it off the highway — onto the shoulder as far as it will go, or better, into a parking lot or onto a side street. Turn the hazards on. Stay in the vehicle with your seatbelt on if you are stopped on a busy road, or out of it and well away from traffic if it is safe to do so.

Sometimes the car runs out of fuel and something else turns out to be wrong as well, or the gauge read empty because of a fault rather than an empty tank. If the car will not start after fuel goes in, a modern engine may need a few tries to prime the fuel lines — but if it still will not catch, do not keep cranking until the battery dies too. At that point it is a tow or a jump, not more fuel, and since it is the same dispatch, the driver who is already there can tell you which.