Credit card limit at gas pump when filling-up

[sushidog]

I've only been full-timing since February, but I've run into a problem when I pay at the gas pump with my credit/debit card.

The station limits how much gas I can pump into my RV to either $100 or sometimes only $75 before it shuts off. With gas prices well over $4 a gallon where I'm at now in California, this only buys about 1/2 a tank of gas in my motorhome. What does everyone here do to get around this problem? Carry lots of cash?

Thanks for your help!

Chip 

Edited June 1, 2019 by sushidog

[Big Greg]

Go into the store and give them your card (for security have your spouse go inside with the card) and ask to have the pump turned on then pump all you want.  Sometimes they trust you if you just ask them to turn the pump on.   Occasionally the pump will allow you to use the card twice or use another credit card if you have two.      Greg

[rynosback]

Or just run the card again at the pump. Two transactions.

Edited June 1, 2019 by rynosback

[Mr. Camper]

We rarely travel on interstates and this trip we had to in order to meet up with our daughter who is traveling east.  We have run into the same problem and we solved it by one of us going inside and having them open the pumps until we fill up.  This has never been an issue for us when we are off the superhighways when we pull in to fuel stations along the US/state or county roads.  When this trip is over it's a return to the back roads for us.

[mptjelgin]

Back when gas was higher I'd simply run the card a second time. 

[Kirk W]

2 hours ago, rynosback said:

just run the card again at the pump. Two transactions.

I don't leave the card out of my site so we do it a second time.

[JimK]

Swipe twice or if that does not work use another card.  I always have at least 3 different cards.  On one trip I still had an issue.  One stopped working because the magnetic tape would not work.  One expired and the CC company decided to replace the 3rd due to a fraud alert.

[sushidog]

Thanks for all your replies!

I have another card, a credit only card, but I only use it in emergencies - like when the bank suspects fraud seeing charges in different states and turns my debit card off (this happened to me a couple times, even though I went into my bank and explained to them exactly what I was doing before I started my full-time lifestyle.) A phone call gets it reactivated but this usually takes a couple hours. I prefer to use my debit card linked to my checking account. I have another debit card with another bank,  but have depleted all the money from this account as my paycheck is no longer direct deposited into it (I have 3 monthly direct deposits into another account, but no more paychecks since retirement.)

I've found that most gas stations block a second transaction from the same card (swiped at the pump), saying the transaction is denied. I guess I'll go inside from now on and do as some of you suggest. I didn't realize that there was a difference between activating the pump from inside the store, or outside at the pump. I can always use the walk anyway after driving for a few hours. 

Chip

 

[Bill Joyce]

Sometimes you even have to go inside twice, since the inside might also have a limit.  Space Age Fuels in Eugene Oregon has a $75 limit on the pumps and a $150 limit inside.  (We have a 150 gallon tank).

[Barbaraok]

I would never use my debit card to swipe at a fuel stop - too many cases of scammers being attached to pumps.    I go inside, 'prepay' an amount that I believe (based on how far we have traveled) will cover the fuel, then we pump, and when completed I go back inside and get a revised receipt.   I do this because we had TWO cards compromised in April after making fuel purchases.    And I also, whenever possible, use Apple Pay for purchases as the card number for the transaction is generated for THAT TRANSACTION only.   The seller (and their staff) never see the actual card number, etc. and it is never swiped through their system.   Paranoid a little, maybe, but I really like using that as a way to help protect ourselves.   I get enough hassle from banks when traveling through California and purchasing $150+ of fuel, I have found that if I switch cards so that I only use a card every third/fourth day, then the texts of "is this you using your card" don't appear.   

[pjstough]

I dont believe I have ever gone inside to pay for gas. If we cant pay at the pump, we dont buy gas.  To get around having to swipe two times I carry one of my wifes cards, and I have two that I use.  So between the three cards we have always been able to fill up even when one of the cards can only be swiped once.

One of my pet peeves is people who go inside to get a card authorized, come back out and fill up, then go back into settle up, especially when there are lines at the pumps.  Since I have retired my schedule is so busy, I dont have time to wait in line at gas stations.

[kb0zke]

We have a 148-gallon diesel tank. The normal practice is to get fuel as close as possible to the night's stop. If a truck stop is available we'll go there. If not, a station with a truck island out back. Jo Ann goes in with the credit card and radio while I open the door and get ready to fuel. When she tells me that I'm good to go I start pumping. We generally have a pretty good idea of how much fuel we will need, so Jo Ann can tell the clerk that we need $200 or whatever. Once the tank is full I radio Jo Ann the dollar amount and number of gallons, then I pull ahead so someone else can use the pump. Jo Ann usually comes out a few minutes later, we put the mileage on the receipt and head for the campground.

Why fuel at the end of each travel day? Condensation. Not all of the fuel that goes into the engine is used to power the coach. Some of it is returned to the tank, and that fuel is much warmer than the ambient temperature. As the fuel cools overnight, it will pull moisture out of the air in the tank. By having the tank as full as possible there is less moist air there.

[Barbaraok]

1 hour ago, pjstough said:

I dont believe I have ever gone inside to pay for gas. If we cant pay at the pump, we dont buy gas.  To get around having to swipe two times I carry one of my wifes cards, and I have two that I use.  So between the three cards we have always been able to fill up even when one of the cards can only be swiped once.

One of my pet peeves is people who go inside to get a card authorized, come back out and fill up, then go back into settle up, especially when there are lines at the pumps.  Since I have retired my schedule is so busy, I dont have time to wait in line at gas stations.

Lucky that you've never had a card compromised at a station.  There was a large problem in the Phoenix area and also around DFW this spring and we got hit twice.   Another time it was a station in Bangor Maine.  When you keep separate cards for fuel it is pretty easy to pinpoint where it was compromised.    

[richfaa]

We have experienced that in the past but not recently but then we do not  run that low on fuel as we stop every 200 miles  or so.

Edited June 2, 2019 by richfaa

[mptjelgin]

1 hour ago, pjstough said:

I dont believe I have ever gone inside to pay for gas. If we cant pay at the pump, we dont buy gas.  

One of my pet peeves is people who go inside to get a card authorized, come back out and fill up, then go back into settle up, especially when there are lines at the pumps.  Since I have retired my schedule is so busy, I dont have time to wait in line at gas stations.

I agree with all of this. We don't go inside of the store to pay for gas. We pay at the pump or find another station. 

We too have had the occasion to sit waiting for the pump that we'll fit into, only to have the vacant car at the pump sit for far too long. Eventually the owner will drift out of the store with a fountain drink, some snacks, maybe a lotto ticket or two while checking their phone. When they finally get to their car they seem totally oblivious to the fact that they've blocked a pump for several minutes. 

The moral of this story:  Please clear the pump when you've finished fueling. Pretty please...

[rynosback]

2 hours ago, pjstough said:

I dont believe I have ever gone inside to pay for gas. If we cant pay at the pump, we dont buy gas.  To get around having to swipe two times I carry one of my wifes cards, and I have two that I use.  So between the three cards we have always been able to fill up even when one of the cards can only be swiped once.

One of my pet peeves is people who go inside to get a card authorized, come back out and fill up, then go back into settle up, especially when there are lines at the pumps.  Since I have retired my schedule is so busy, I dont have time to wait in line at gas stations.

I agree completely.  The worst part of that is quite a few stations make you go in for a receipt after pumping. I think there goal is to get you in the store to buy items.

[rynosback]

58 minutes ago, mptjelgin said:

I agree with all of this. We don't go inside of the store to pay for gas. We pay at the pump or find another station. 

We too have had the occasion to sit waiting for the pump that we'll fit into, only to have the vacant car at the pump sit for far too long. Eventually the owner will drift out of the store with a fountain drink, some snacks, maybe a lotto ticket or two while checking their phone. When they finally get to their car they seem totally oblivious to the fact that they've blocked a pump for several minutes. 

The moral of this story:  Please clear the pump when you've finished fueling. Pretty please...

That gets to me also.  Sad to say but there are a lot of people out there that are CLUELESS about there surroundings and just have one thought, them.

[Lou Schneider]

The reason for the limit when you swipe a credit or debit card at the pump is the merchant places a "hold" on the card to make sure there is enough credit available to cover the sale and to hold that credit in reserve until the transaction clears, usually a day or two after the sale.

The hold amount is a compromise based on the average sale.  If someone is taking a car trip and only buys $30 - $50 worth of fuel each time they stop, they could find their available credit exhausted well before they would otherwise reach their limit if each gas station put a multi-hundred dollar hold on the transaction.

If you present the card inside, the cashier can issue an authorization for whatever amount you want and that will be the amount of the hold placed on the card.

Edited June 1, 2019 by Lou Schneider

[Randyretired]

The retailers aren't the same.   The Sinclair station only accepts my card once a day but the Walmart pumps let me use the card over and over on the same day.

[sandsys]

4 hours ago, kb0zke said:

Why fuel at the end of each travel day? Condensation. 

Plus, being able to leave quickly in case of an emergency.

And so my furnace didn't stop working in the middle of the night if my fuel tank got too low.

Linda

[rynosback]

52 minutes ago, sandsys said:

Plus, being able to leave quickly in case of an emergency.

And so my furnace didn't stop working in the middle of the night if my fuel tank got too low.

Linda

I like to be full for that very reason.

[Lisa's RV Experience]

I have never had my credit card refused when I do 2 transactions. I've had to go inside to pay and just say "put $200 on it, and when I'm done I just get a receipt at the pump and leave; you won't be charged the $200, just what you use.

 

Lisa

[pjstough]

3 hours ago, rynosback said:

I agree completely.  The worst part of that is quite a few stations make you go in for a receipt after pumping. I think there goal is to get you in the store to buy items.

Since I dont use receipts for any official purpose, when the pump wont provide a receipt, I just write the information down on a piece of paper, so I never go inside for a receipt either.

[Barbaraok]

I take a picture of the pump face showing gallons pumped and total amount.😎

[sandsys]

3 hours ago, pjstough said:

Since I dont use receipts for any official purpose, when the pump wont provide a receipt, I just write the information down on a piece of paper, so I never go inside for a receipt either.

That's what I did.

 

40 minutes ago, Barbaraok said:

I take a picture of the pump face showing gallons pumped and total amount.😎

But, this is what I wish I'd done. Of course with my luck there would have been a light reflection on the pump face so I couldn't read it later.  

Linda