Why Traffic Goes Only One Way At Costco Gas Stations

We've all been a part of that gas station shuffle where you have to figure out the best way to pull in so you can get a pump that's on the same side of your car as the fuel tank. Costco does things a bit differently — you'll notice that Costco's gas stations have one-way traffic. Doing this ensures that vehicles can pull up and fill their gas tanks a lot faster, making the process more efficient and reducing wait times. 

Costco's gas stations also feature extra-long hoses that can reach either side of your vehicle, eliminating the need to pick a lane or pull in a certain way. This is all part of Costco's ongoing effort to make errands as convenient as possible, which includes extended hours as of February 2025. You can even get free nitrogen tire refills and other tire maintenance. Getting everything done in one place as quickly as possible is a huge benefit to Costco members.

A lot of drivers — especially non-Costco members — find it quite frustrating to figure out where to pull in at gas stations. Why aren't fuel tanks all on the same side? Wouldn't that make it easier? IDriveYourCar found that 78% of cars sold in 2020 had fuel tanks on the left side (the driver's side) while 22% were on the right side (the passenger's side). Only 1% of Toyotas and 2% of Fords had right-sided fuel tanks, while Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Dodge, and many other carmakers didn't have right-sided fuel tanks at all. Meanwhile, all Land Rover, Porsche, and Volvo vehicles sold in 2020 had their fuel tanks on the right side. 

Fuel tank placement is an important part of a car's design, and thought does go into it. Speaking to Marketplace.com, former head of research at Mercedes-Benz Group AG, Bharat Balasubramanian, explained why Mercedes-Benz cars, for example, tend to have gas tanks on the right side. German traffic drives on the right side of the road and its highways tend to only have right shoulders. For this reason, Balasubramanian noted that people don't want to fill their gas on the left side of the car where all the traffic is whizzing by. That's why a lot of Mercedes-Benzes have fuel tanks on the right side. Uncertain about your car? Here's how you can tell which side your gas tank is on.