Getting Around The Credit Card Max. Limit On Fuel Fill-ups?

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ButchW

ButchW

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Joined
Apr 14, 2021
Posts
568
Location
La Mirada, CA
Ok.. How do you do it? .... Or do you do it?... I know I can go inside the station, and pay up front, but it would be nice no to be able to do it at the pump.. Costco only has pay-at pump, as far as I know... Do you just keep sticking in your card, until you get your fill?.. My motor home holds 80 Gal of gas... So at the present CA fuel prices, I would have to do many transactions... Is that the only way? I've done the multi fill ups with my 32 Gal GMC pickup, but the newer MH is 80, so more transactions...
Butch
 
I generally opportunity fill, i.e. get gas when I'm stopped somewhere anyway vs letting it get anywhere near empty. So the number of times I've had to double swipe has been very few. Just using the "top half" of the tank is usually within the single preauthorized limit anywhere I've been.

Mark B.
Albuquerque, NM
 
According to my son who is in middle management of a good-sized credit union, this is a function of the credit card processors. Your financial institution is not the one doing it so talking to them won’t help. The easiest way is to go inside and let them hold your card. Sometimes they pre-authorize it for an amount your tell them to. Make sure you over-estimate; they won’t charge you more than the pump amount. The other option is to just keep running the card. If you have a diesel, get an Open Roads TSD card. You only run that once plus it is a high speed pump (truck lanes only).
 
That will be the day I let someone hold my card while I’m pumping. I usually go in and prepay with my card for a bit more than I need and I keep my card with me. The only downfall is that if I want a receipt, I have to go back in to get it.
 
When I was working at the University I was involved in setting up the cash registers/card readers at the dining hall. The limit is placed by the vendor (the university in this case) along with whether or not a signature is required. Kinda crazy that the limits are there on fuel pumps, these days. Even running on the top half of an 80 gal tank will get you doing two transactions to get full.
This last trip I ran into one station that allowed $150.00/transaction.
 
I see the biggest problem is the fuel price is way to high! If they would lower it down enough we could fill 80 gallon tank with one swipe!..oh well…
 
Pump operators can set their own limits, and it's typically equal or less than the card brand limit. For example, Visa used to charge higher fees on fuel transactions over $125 at the pump, so a lot of stations set their cutoff at that amount. Earlier this year, Visa increased their limit to $175. The arbitrarily low amount has to do with fraud liability and EMV transactions without signature.

So until you have a commercial fueling card, you'll be running multiple transactions on your personal card to get the tank filled.
 
I seem to remember that at Flying Js if you have one of their cards you can just pump away until full.. (?)
 
I would rather swipe a card two or three times rather than going inside, and it bugs me when people in front of me in line go inside, stand in line to get authorization, come back out and fill up, then go back inside, and stand in line again to settle up, if necessary. I dont even go inside to get a receipt if the pump doesnt provide one. I just take a pic of the pump reading.
 
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The problem is swiping at the pump sets a credit hold on your card for the maximum amount and this can take a day or two to be removed. If this limit is set too high it can be a problem for someone like a family on a roadtrip who top up their tank with small purchases several times during rest stops on the way to their destination. Then their card is declined when they check into a hotel that night because the large holds have eaten up all their available credit.
 
Lou Schneider said:
The problem is swiping at the pump sets a credit hold on your card for the maximum amount and this can take a day or two to be removed. If this limit is set too high it can be a problem for someone like a family on a roadtrip who top up their tank with small purchases several times during rest stops on the way to their destination. Then their card is declined when they check into a hotel that night because the large holds have eaten up all their available credit.
Click to expand...
I thought holds were only placed on debit cards, but not credit cards.
 
I used to pay at the pump but I had an incident where there were "skimmers" placed on the pump machines and my card was compromised. This happened 3 months ago. Now, that was a PITA to straighten out. Now, I always go inside and told my wife to do the same. The extra effort is worth it to me. This happened close to home, I can't imagine if this had occurred while driving on vacation and having to unwind the mess.
 
ButchW said:
Ok.. How do you do it? .... Or do you do it?... I know I can go inside the station, and pay up front, but it would be nice no to be able to do it at the pump.. Costco only has pay-at pump, as far as I know... Do you just keep sticking in your card, until you get your fill?.. My motor home holds 80 Gal of gas... So at the present CA fuel prices, I would have to do many transactions... Is that the only way? I've done the multi fill ups with my 32 Gal GMC pickup, but the newer MH is 80, so more transactions...
Butch
Click to expand...
My 2022 RV also has an 80-gallon tank. I don't find it to be a big deal as it takes a long time to full up anyway. But I usually use a different credit card each time. The CC companies set those limits and the allowable limit can be different at the same pump with a different card. So make sure the ones that have lower limits lose by having such and then maybe someday it will change. They probably have no limit at all if you go inside the station, but I almost never do that unless it's a place where you can save a lot by using cash.

-Don- Auburn, CA (headed back to Reno in a few minutes)
 
I've run into situations where (on the same trip and even on the same day), I'll reach a limit and simply swipe again. Then later, will be at a different station and the number of gallons may be even greater than the first time, and definitely the total at the second pump is more, and it never "limits". I think it's the gas station or the credit card service they use that does the limits. If it were my bank, then the limits would happen the same, everywhere. And that just does not happen.

To answer the OP. I just do a second transaction. Yea, its annoying, but there's really nothing you can do about it. So, why fret?

And just an FYI ... right now, in Central Indiana, the price of road diesel is nearing double the price of 87 Octane gasoline now.
 
PJ Stough said:
I thought holds were only placed on debit cards, but not credit cards.
Click to expand...
If you check on-line, you will often see a dollar charge for a hundred bucks worth of gas plus the hundred bucks. The one dollar is to check the card, which will disappear as a temporary hold in a few days. The hundred bucks could stay as a hold, even if you only put in fifty bucks. Difference credit cards could do it a bit differently, but AFAIK, they all have a hold.

There is a small hold on credit cards which will be that hundred bucks, even if you didn't use it. That could be a problem for some with low credit limits. But most of my credit card limits are very high, some as high as 30K$, yet they are paid off totally every few days or so (online). I only use debit cards when that is all they will accept, such as at many Arco gas stations.

IMAO, it is stupid to use cash or debit cards unless there is a discount for doing such. I get a rather large returns for using only credit cards. I get expensive Harley full synthetic motorcycle oil, filters and such and many of my groceries for free, and much more, simply by using my CC points instead of cash. It adds up fast.


-Don- Auburn, CA
 
You can prepay for more than you need and any remaining amount will usually go back onto your card within an hour. Unless you go to Holiday, in which case it could take up to 10 business days (or more). Most gas stations will put it back on your card pretty quick though. Speedway and KwikTrip usually have it back within ten minutes.
 
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