When getting gas, I always use my bank card at the pump. Over the past few weeks, I’ve gradually accepted the rising prices as a cost for loving my gas-devouring beast. However something new happened the other day—the pump stopped at $60 flat. My tank wasn’t full, and I wasn’t able to milk anymore gas from that transaction. I decided to look into it.
Who did it
There are three suspects for why the pump stopped when it did.
Me. This could be my fault if my account was empty. But it wasn’t (at that moment, anyway), so I ruled this out.
Wells Fargo. In the almost 10 years I’ve used Wells Fargo, this has never happened. What’s more, the week prior I paid over $65 at another station.
The station. This was my first time at this station, so I have no experience to compare. Therefore, rightly or wrongly, it’s getting the blame.
Before these charges can stick, I need more evidence. So I turn to a very accurate and trusted resource: The internet.
I immediately stumbled onto City-Data.com, a site that collects and analyzes data about US cities. Oddly, the forum posting that was the most useful mainly discussed gas in the UK. But hidden in the petrol talk was the snippet that solves it all:
The gas station owners have to find a middle ground between how much people usually get and how much they can put a hold on those funds in the account. When you swipe your [debit] card neither the station or your bank knows how much you are going to spend, so they put a “hold” on a set amount of funds in your account. If they set it too high, and there isn’t enough to cover it, the card will be denied and the pump will not authorize and turn on. Most lately have been set at $50 or $75. Generally enough for average sized tanks and not too big of an amount that the [debit] card will not work.
Thanks Bydand.
At peace
Credit cards don’t have this issue. Also, depending on the program, many credit cards feature rewards or cash back programs for filling up. I use a Discover Open Road credit card that offers cash back on gas and maintenance on my ever-hospitalize Jeep. This, or other gas cards,can help the hurt.
But as traumatizing as my weekly 17 gallons are, at least I don’t have the 26 gallon Escalade, the 32 gallon H2 Hummer, or the (gulp) 40 gallon Suburban.
This happened to me about 2 weeks ago. While pumping gas, all of a sudden the pump stopped at exactly $50.00 and my transaction was ended. Luckily, it filled up most of my tank so I just screwed the gas cap back on my car and drove off. I figured it was the gas station setting a limit on how much gas each person could buy. I was using my debit card. Maybe I’ll switch over to using my credit card so I don’t have to worry about this happening again.
Comment by mrcredit — June 11, 2008 @ 9:33 pm
Same thing happened to me. Made me stop to wonder - at some $ amount, “gas and dash” turns into a more serious crime… Not that I would. I don’t know that there are even any stations where you could any more. Most now require payment in advance. But way back when…
Comment by THowell3 — June 11, 2008 @ 9:35 pm
Check out the gas prices for nj very high
Comment by steve mckoy — September 1, 2008 @ 6:46 am