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Singaporean motorists are not running out of ideas anytime soon on how to extract ever more cheap Malaysian petrol from Johor Bahru.

From car jacks to a dedicated four-man car shaking team, a new contender appears: The wheel chock.

Vehicle elevated with wheel chock

A Singapore-registered Honda Freed was recently spotted at a petrol kiosk in Johor Bahru, Malaysia with the DIY-looking wooden device lodged under the left rear wheel for extra elevation.

The petrol kiosk in the background is a Petron stationed at Taman Pelangi, according to a keen-eyed observer on the SG Road Vigilante Facebook post on May 4 that put up the photo.

A wheel chock is a wedge-shaped object typically placed against a vehicle's wheels to stop the vehicle from moving accidentally.

In this case, the extra elevation is thought to tilt the car's fuel tank at an angle so that more petrol can be filled.

Motorist's apparently does this, even in Singapore

According to the Facebook post, the wheel chock was provided to the Honda Freed by the petrol station.

However, a commenter who apparently knows the Honda Freed's owner personally offered a different account and said the owner had been practicing this technique for "years".

The commenter added that the owner has done this "since the beginning days when he bought the car", be it in Malaysia or in Singapore.

Another commenter chimed in and said they had seen the owner of the same car doing the same thing in Punggol.

Does the technique work?

TL;DR: It most likely does not.

The motorist's action has drawn a lively debate in the Facebook post's comments section, which primarily discussed the viability of tilting a car in order to get more petrol.

According to the commenter who said he knew the Honda Freed owner, this method has apparently been successful in adding more fuel to the car's limited tank.

He said the Honda Freed owner has him beat in terms of fuel consumption and mileage, despite also driving the same car.

According to The Straits Times, whether this strategy enables for more fuel to be added to a vehicle's tank depends on the "vehicle's attitude".

If favourable, this technique may result in an additional few millimetres of petrol, but the capacity of a vehicle's tank is ultimately limited.

More often than not, however, the petrol is wasted and drains away in the form of spillage, and this cost is unconsciously borne by the over-eager motorist.

Behaviour drew flak

The commenter who said he knew the Honda Freed owner also defended the Honda Freed owner's actions and said there was "zero issue" as the car owner was not exploiting the subsidised Ron95 petrol.

However, other commenters were not as forgiving and said the Honda Freed owner's behaviour was a "disgrace".

Malaysian petrol, boleh

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Top image from Facebook of 8World News and SG Road Vigilante – SGRV