$100.00 worth of fuel, please

[Bigmau]

Not sure if this has been discussed before, but if so, don't know where to find it.
On 4 occasions, last one yesterday, I could only put in my RV $100.00 worth of gas. The pump shuts off after that. Twice I went in to report to the attendant but he said it's my CC. No way. I called the bank later, and was told no, that was not the case. My CC has plenty of credit and I made several purchases over $100.00 (not gas) with no problem. So, is the pumps programmed to only deliver up to $100.00 worth of fuel? Yesterday, after putting in the $100.00, I re-inserted my CC and got a message " Sorry, this card not valid at this time". Weird... I had to use another card to finish filling up.
Anyone encountered this problem???

 

[SLOweather]

All the time. Depends on the station, and/or the card. Sometimes, the pump won't accept the card, and you have to go inside to prepay.

 

[darsben]

Some stations have a limit at the pump.
Go inside and pay will cure the problem

 

[NY_Dutch]

Many stations limit the pay at the pump maximum charge per swipe to the limit the CC company will reimburse them for fraudulent card use. In most cases, simply reswiping and continuing to fill works. A few stations limit it to a single swipe, but that's rare.

 

[LarsMac]

Not sure if this has been discussed before, but if so, don't know where to find it.
On 4 occasions, last one yesterday, I could only put in my RV $100.00 worth of gas. The pump shuts off after that. Twice I went in to report to the attendant but he said it's my CC. No way. I called the bank later, and was told no, that was not the case. My CC has plenty of credit and I made several purchases over $100.00 (not gas) with no problem. So, is the pumps programmed to only deliver up to $100.00 worth of fuel? Yesterday, after putting in the $100.00, I re-inserted my CC and got a message " Sorry, this card not valid at this time". Weird... I had to use another card to finish filling up.
Anyone encountered this problem???

Yup. Several times. A lot of fuel stations have that limit. Some still have a $75 limit.
so, carrying two cards is a good idea, just for such an occasion.
I'm surprised that a clerk at the station would not know that.

 

[Bigmau]

Glad it's not only me. Yes, I have to use 2 CC, since the first one can only be swiped once.

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

It's actually a combination of a couple policies, one each from the two credit card companies involved and another from the station itself.  Dutch summarized it neatly.  The station typically limits pump swipes to what the credit card issuer and processor will pay on a charge that has no signature or other verification.  That's to protect them in the case of fraudulent card use. The actual amount, e.g. $100 or $75 is determined by the limits set by the card companies. It has nothing to do with your credit score or anything else personal - just the amount of money the card companies are willing to gamble on possible fraud. 

Yes, fraudulent credit card purchases at the gas pump really are common. It's one of the easiest ways to use a stolen credit card.

If you go to the cashier to pay, using the same credit card, the transaction gets approved by the card companies. Once that happens, the station is guaranteed to receive the full amount of the transaction, so the unverified swipe limit no longer applies.

 

[PJ Stough]

If there are others in line waiting, please use another credit card instead of going inside to get you card reauthorized. 

 

[John From Detroit]

I have seen many pumps limit me 70 75 and 100 are common limits.
The Station folks say "It's the card company"
The fact is not all stations limit so it can not be the card company less they limit on a station by station basis.

 

[UTTransplant]

Happens to us all the time if we aren?t using Flying J. We generally just rerun the first card and life goes on. Rarely we have to use a second card. It is just part of the anti-fraud protection between gas companies and the credit card processing companies.

 

[NY_Dutch]

I have seen many pumps limit me 70 75 and 100 are common limits.
The Station folks say "It's the card company"
The fact is not all stations limit so it can not be the card company less they limit on a station by station basis.

The pay at the pump limits are set by the station management or card processor, and are commonly set to the limit that the credit card issuer will reimburse the station for fraudulent card use. So it could be said that both are determining the limit.

 

[SargeW]

I have a 150 gallon tank on my Bus, and while I don't usually go below 50% when I refuel, I sometimes do to stretch the distance traveled.  Especially if I can get in and out of Ca without buying fuel. Since their taxes are so high on fuel it can make a $100 difference in the price of a fill. 

I just go to the fuel counter and preauthorize a specified amount in advance, higher than what I know I will need. Then I fill up and whatever is left of that amount goes back to the card. Just one trip.

 

[Dragginourbedaround]

Happens to us all the time if we aren?t using Flying J. We generally just rerun the first card and life goes on. Rarely we have to use a second card. It is just part of the anti-fraud protection between gas companies and the credit card processing companies.

Same for us, except a few years ago when gas was around $4 a gallon. Sometimes we would need to use a second card or do as SargeW suggested.

 

[Joezeppy]

If there are others in line waiting, please use another credit card instead of going inside to get you card reauthorized.

It's amazing how expectations change with improvements in technology. Now that pay-at-the-pump is the norm, you feel put out by waiting an extra 2 minutes for someone to pay in the store or get a card authorized?

 

[PJ Stough]

It's amazing how expectations change with improvements in technology. Now that pay-at-the-pump is the norm, you feel put out by waiting an extra 2 minutes for someone to pay in the store or get a card authorized?

I am not necessarily put out, but in this day and age it is simply not necessary. Also, most of the time it is longer than two minutes.

 

[NY_Dutch]

It's amazing how expectations change with improvements in technology. Now that pay-at-the-pump is the norm, you feel put out by waiting an extra 2 minutes for someone to pay in the store or get a card authorized?

I guess you've never waited in line at a fuel desk for your turn to pay. It's usually a lot more than 2 minutes...

 

[Lou Schneider]

Not sure if this has been discussed before, but if so, don't know where to find it.
On 4 occasions, last one yesterday, I could only put in my RV $100.00 worth of gas. The pump shuts off after that. Twice I went in to report to the attendant but he said it's my CC. No way. I called the bank later, and was told no, that was not the case. My CC has plenty of credit and I made several purchases over $100.00 (not gas) with no problem. So, is the pumps programmed to only deliver up to $100.00 worth of fuel? Yesterday, after putting in the $100.00, I re-inserted my CC and got a message " Sorry, this card not valid at this time". Weird... I had to use another card to finish filling up.
Anyone encountered this problem???

It's due to the way credit card authorizations are handled.  When you swipe the card, the approval request covers the maximum amount of the charge - in this case $100.  This places an authorization hold of $100 against the card's credit limit to ensure there's enough credit to pay for the gas you pump.

https://www.thebalance.com/how-does-a-hold-on-a-credit-card-work-4586647

The problem is the hold doesn't get released until the funds are actually transferred into the merchant's account.  This usually happens quickly but may be delayed until the merchant reconciles his account at the end of the business day or in some cases it may take a couple of days until the hold is released.

The pump limit has to be set low enough so the typical purchaser is not inconvenienced with excessive holds against their credit limit.  Yes, motorhomes may take more than this amount, so the answer is to go inside where the attendant can manually process a higher hold amount.

If the pump limit is set too large, vacationers in cars with smaller tanks who make multiple, small purchases on a road trip may find their credit cut off due to the hold amounts even though they haven't yet hit their credit limit on actual purchases.  If they buy $20 worth of gas each time, after 5 fill-ups they've purchased $100 worth of gas but have $500 worth of holds on their account.  That's $400 worth of credit they expected to have but can't use until the holds are released.

Increase the pump hold to $200 so the motorhome guy can fill his tank with one swipe and the vacationer's problem multiplies.  Now those five $20 gas purchases can wipe out $1000 worth of their available credit.

 

[Joezeppy]

I am not necessarily put out, but in this day and age it is simply not necessary. Also, most of the time it is longer than two minutes.

I guess you've never waited in line at a fuel desk for your turn to pay. It's usually a lot more than 2 minutes...

Didn't know my random choice of "2" minutes would cause such a stir. Don't get me wrong - I shake my head when I see someone baffled by the pay-at-the-pump technology or when I'm in the grocery store and think "really, you're writing a check?". My point is, where do we draw the line for the necessity of gassing up vs. our convenience? Should I not fill up my pickup's 34 gallon tank or should you not fill up your 100 gallon tank (random guess - don't take offense if yours is not exactly 100 gallons 8) ) if there is a Mistubishi Mirage next in line? How dare we inconvenience her by making her wait for me to fill up my ridiculously large tank. After all, RVs are not "necessary".

And in case you're wondering, I picked the Mirage since my daughter has one - it has a 9 gallon tank.

 

[Lou Schneider]

I think it's interesting how the fueling experience has changed over the years.  Back when I first got my drivers license (in the late 1960s) we literally had a gas station on every corner, and it was unusual to see more than one or two cars at a time at the pumps.  You'd drive in and stop at an open pump and an attendant would come sprinting out, take care of everything and you'd be on your way inside of a few minutes.

Then environmental regulations increased the costs of of maintaining the underground storage tanks and forced the smaller, corner gas stations out of business.  Larger, multi-aisle, multi-pump stations in fewer locations replaced them so the owner could spread the costs of maintaining the underground tanks over more volume.

Now there are a lot more customers per gas station, along with more pumps to serve them.  They're often arranged with 3 or 4 pumps in a row, so not only do we have to wait for a pump to open up, but also the ones before or after them so there's a way to get to the open pump.

Ain't progress wonderful? 

 

[Joezeppy]

Ain't progress wonderful?

As full-serve gave way to self-serve, my mother had fewer and fewer places to fill up. She refused to learn how to pump gas herself. If my sister or I were with her, that was our job. Eventually she had to learn (or maybe she always knew how but just did not want to!).