This bit of info below was sent to me by a friend. I went and looked at my truck, and there was even an arrow pointing to the side the fill hole is on! I can't believe I never noticed this! I pasted it here as service to other dummies that might have overlooked this helpful info.

Ned

"Quick question, what side of your car is your gas tank filler? If you are anything like me, you probably can't remember right away. My solution is to uncomfortably stick my head out the window, strain my neck and look. If you don't do this in your own car you definitely have done it in a borrowed or rental car.
Well ladies and gentlemen, I'm going to share with you my little secret so you will no longer look like Ace Ventura on your way to the gas station or put your neck at risk of discomfort or injury.
If you look at your gas guage, you will see a small icon of a gas pump. The handle of the gas pump will extend out on either the left or right side of the pump. If your tank filler is on the left, the handle will be on the left. If your tank filler?is on the right, the handle will be on the right (see photo above). It is that simple!
I don't know how you feel right now but when I found out this morning I felt cheated!
Why don't the dealers share such importnant information with car buyers? ?I don't understand why this isn't in the drivers ed manual? ?I don't get why any mechanic I have ever been too or know has even thought of mentioning this to me? ?The only possible explantion can be that all these people probably don't even know themselves!"

Interesting! I'll have to check that out...

I wonder what the icon shows if the gas cap is in the back of the car???

Not sure Susan - I would have to check one out. I haven't had to fill a car with the fill hole on the back lately. I have already been told, by my sister-in-law, that her Honda had the handle on the right and gas filler on the left. Maybe this is a most of the time thing.

Ned

Hey Ned,
It must just a be a co-incidence type thing.
I have an Izuzu Pickup truck, handle and gas tank on the passenger side.
My wife's car is a Ford Escort, handle on passenger side, gas tank on drivers side. It sure would have been great if this really worked all the time, maybe we should write Detroit!
Darren

Darren,

I can see that I would have been wise to check this out better before posting it in the forum, and fowarding the email! On the plus side, I have been enlightened to the fact that a lot of vehciles have indicators to let you know which side the gas tank is on, something I was not aware of before.

Ned

Ok, so I had to check it out. I have a gas pump icon in middle of fuel gauge & it has the pump handle & arrow pointing to passenger side where the filler is. I have an '02.
Thanks Ned, that was interesting.

OK, we finally left the property- fuel nozzle is on the right of the icon and my fuel tank is on the left of the car.
That would be a great idea, though.