They're really making an effort now.

[MadMike]

Although, I still pine for the "20 dollars fills your tank" days, you know?

I can remember when $10 would usually do it.

One day, way back when I still had my first car, I stopped to fill the tank, and it stopped at $6.64. Just to be a smartass, I squeezed 2 more cents into it. When I went in to pay, and the lady at the counter brought up my pump total, I thought she was going to have a heart attack! I'm not sure if she thought I was the devil, or my car was.

[BeenThereDoneThat]

The authorization holds on some cards do suck bigtime. Some banks are good about releasing them ASAP and others aren't. I use a credit card to prepay so I don't have that issue but I've dealt with enough customers complaining about auth holds to know what a pain they are. (Mostly this was back when I took calls for a jewelry company and people used debit cards a lot...the store I work for now rarely gets debit card customers...that's a lot of money to put on a DC!)

[Racket_Man]

in responce to the fast rising drive-off epidemic I think that my city or the county is trying to pass a statue so that all gas stations go pre-pay.

that would sort of hurt me as I fill up most days using my debt card( I like a full tank to start off my delivery shift) the hold placed on my account would suck.

[Shalom]

Would it make a difference, if instead of filling the tank, you purchased a set amount and had them charge that much before pumping? As I understand it, the hold is because they don't know how much you're going to be taking, and they don't want a customer to pump the gas and then have the card decline: what would they do then, syphon it back out of the tank? This way, they've already got their money, and shouldn't need to hold the funds against the card.

(I've been assuming this is a debit card we're talking about? If it was a credit, the held funds shouldn't matter unless you were that close to your credit limit that the hold would put you over.)

[EricKei]

The Hold -- which is typically more than that value of the fuel that ANY vehicle short of a Semi can contain -- is to make sure that your card will not get declined after you pump, so it doesn't matter whether it's credit or debit. It sets the money aside for their use, essentially. The problem is, most gas stations put ALL of their card transactions through over the weekend, so if you get gas on Monday...>_<

Gas stations that do cash pre-pay will generally both take, say, $30 and have the pump automatically stop at $30, or if you gave them $40 and only needed $35, you go back in and they will give you your change.

[Jester]

There's nothing you can do to stop a really determined thief.

When it comes to gas, pre-pay does wonders to prevent the vast majority of would-be gas thieves. Between Florida and Arizona (the two places I've driven the most the last few years, between living in one and visiting the other one frequently), I cannot recall a single gas station that did not require pre-pay. Since I always pay for gas on my card, this has never been a problem for me....not having to go in the store is usually a great convenience, to be honest, especially if I'm on a road trip and trying to make tracks.

It never occured to me to throw a fit because "they're treating me like a criminal! Waah!"

I love this mentality. They're treating you like a criminal because they're requiring you to pay for the product you are purchasing before they actually allow you to have the product. Gee, where else do they do that? Oh, yes...

Every retail store.
Every fast food restaurant.
Every car dealership.
Every real estate agency.
Every airline.
Every bus line.
Every cruise ship line.
Every funeral parlor.

Here is where you pay for something after you get it:
Restaurants.
Bars (sometimes).
Taxis.
Hotels (sometimes).
Medical services, and even that's not true across the board.

With the exception of taxis, these places are doing you a favor by letting you run up a tab before you pay them. A restaurant COULD force it's customers to pay upon ordering, of course--the only thing stopping them is custom. Hell, if you think about it, taxis really could pre-charge you, at least the bulk of your fare....or even more than your fare, and return your change upon delivering you to your destination.

To these "they're treating me like a criminal" asshole dipshit whiners, I suggest going into a clothing store, taking the clothing you want, leaving the store with it, and then tell them you were going to pay for it after you finished your shopping at the mall. See what happens.

One day, way back when I still had my first car, I stopped to fill the tank, and it stopped at $6.64. Just to be a smartass, I squeezed 2 more cents into it.

At my very first restaurant job, when I was 16, there came a time when I had a table whose tab was $6.66. Their table number was 13. I made a point of telling them both of these facts.

They ordered another iced tea.

[Primer]

The Hold -- -- is to make sure that your card will not get declined after you pump, so it doesn't matter whether it's credit or debit.

I don't use debit, so I can't comment on that, but on all of my credit cards, the authorization hold is for only $1. At least that's what I see online when I check recent activity. I don't know if that's the bank's policy across the board, or if it has to do with my credit rating.

[wolfie]

Oh, and regarding the OP ... I remember the days of the second gas crunch, when there were nationwide shortages of gasoline, long lines at the stations, and NYC instituted odd/even gas days. If your license plate ended in an odd number, you could only fill up on an odd day of the month, and vice versa. Someone shot pictures of a guy actually changing his license plate while on line so he could get gas when it wasn't his day, and the New York Daily News ran them on the front page. What an outrage that triggered...

That guy probably got into some serious trouble - after all, at least one of the plates didn't belong to the car in question. A bit O/T, but back in the '70s I saw a story about a gang of bandits who set up their alibi based on a gas station near their target opening at a certain time, and the lineup being around the block 10 minutes later (they'd arrive just at opening after pulling their robbery, and it would look like they'd been waiting a long time and therefore couldn't have pulled the heist). On a trial run, they had the wrong plates. On the day of the actual robbery, the pump clicked off at a small amount, and as a second offender the gas station attendant brought in the cop who was there for crowd control. I believe the title was "The odds are even".

One day, way back when I still had my first car, I stopped to fill the tank, and it stopped at $6.64. Just to be a smartass, I squeezed 2 more cents into it. When I went in to pay, and the lady at the counter brought up my pump total, I thought she was going to have a heart attack! I'm not sure if she thought I was the devil, or my car was.

While it's unlikely your first car was a Lamborghini Diablo, might it have been a Dodge Demon (the Dart variant)?

Gas stations that do cash pre-pay will generally both take, say, $30 and have the pump automatically stop at $30, or if you gave them $40 and only needed $35, you go back in and they will give you your change.

Found out the hard way (fortunately I had the extra cash) at a Husky in B.C. that some will just turn on the pump. I put down $40, expecting the pump to kick out at the pre-pay amount. When it had been pumping a while, I looked, saw it had reached around $46, and shut it off manually.

[EricKei]

The thing about scammers switching plates to get more gas reminded me --

I was in Mississippi after Katrina, when aid organizations, the military, etc were giving out free food/water/diapers/baby formula & food/paper goods etc. There were people who would come into the parking lot (big lot, but still within view of the workers if they were being watched) with an infant in the car. They would go thru the line (with the kid), get their free stuff, and then move the baby to a different car, and go through again. And again. And again... you get the idea. They made sure to get as much baby stuff as allowed, so they ended up with a disproportionate amount of each, even causing the aid places to run out sooner than planned....

On the one hand, I would be willing to give them the benefit of the doubt; they *could* have just had lots of babies at their various homes and decided to take only one out (hey, it was really hot!)...on the other hand, they got caught and arrested, as several of them were already being watched for selling baby products at absurdly inflated prices to people who could *not* easily get out to get them for free, either due to gas shortages or due to not having a car because of the storm x.x ...Or, say, to people who had waited in line only to find out that the aid place had run out.

I put these lovely people right up there with the landlords down here who were charging people three grand a month for two-room apartments that were non-storm damaged...

[DGoddessChardonnay]

I can remember when $10 would usually do it.

Tell me about it.

I cried two weeks ago when I spent a total of $35 to fill up my Toyota Corolla.

And I'm still crying over it. I don't own a Hummer, for Pete's sake.

Come to think of it, I'd hate to think how much it's gonna cost to completely fill up the 1999 Chrysler van. Mom and I are too afraid to find out just yet.

[MadMike]

Well, I have good news and bad news.

The good news is, I was able to fill up for just under $10 today.

The bad news is, it was my gas can.

[EricKei]

The bad news is, it was my gas can.

edit: Curse you, ten-character minimum!

[Becks]

... and starts playing "Duelling Banjos".

What's wrong with "Dueling Banjos"?

[Teefies2]

Tell me about it.

I cried two weeks ago when I spent a total of $35 to fill up my Toyota Corolla.

And I'm still crying over it. I don't own a Hummer, for Pete's sake.

Come to think of it, I'd hate to think how much it's gonna cost to completely fill up the 1999 Chrysler van. Mom and I are too afraid to find out just yet.

I have a 1999 Dodge Van. Put $50 in it last week and it was only to 1/2 full.

[wolfie]

Tell me about it.

I cried two weeks ago when I spent a total of $35 to fill up my Toyota Corolla.

And I'm still crying over it. I don't own a Hummer, for Pete's sake.

Come to think of it, I'd hate to think how much it's gonna cost to completely fill up the 1999 Chrysler van. Mom and I are too afraid to find out just yet.

Be glad you don't have to fill up the Peterbilt of Natural Selection. If I'm running really low, it takes a bit under 1000 litres (roughly 250 gallons).