pre pay fuel

[chasbo]

Why don't garages make you pay before filling your tank? This seems to be the way garages in the USA ensure there are no "drive offs" You pay at the kiosk, say £10 or £30 ( cash or credit) before they start the pumps. This seems to be an epidemic where I live. Cant see any problems with this

[danchip]

how do you know how much its going to cost to fill your tank?

[bookbinder]

Some of them do that. I once went to a self-serve filling station in the Lake District, and the pumps had notices on them that said you had to pay before you filled up. I went to the kiosk to comply, but the staff said that the notices applied only to "customers" who looked as though they weren't in the habit of paying for petrol. I must have looked respectable, because they let me fill up before I paid.

[Nibble]

It's the standard way of filling up your car in France (after 10pm), and a lot of Belgian motorway service stations will not authorize the pump until you pre-pay. Seems logical to me, as the pumps in this country which have pay @ pump use this feature anyway.

[Canary42]

There's a petrol station on the A505 which adopted this policy at night (may still do, I haven't been there for some time) - I stopped going because it was so inconvenient - go to the window and make payment - put fuel in - back to the window to adjust payment if tank won't take it all or pump overruns. Silly.

[SpikeyBush]

Most garages here are pre-pay only after 9 or 10pm, and the pumps furthest from the kiosk may be pre pay all the time. I just hand them my fuel card and tell them I want to fill the tank and never had a problem even late at night in the dodgiest parts of town.

Bookbinder, I wonder what they look for when determining whether or not a "customer" looks like they will pay / not pay? Stripey top, balaclava and a sack over their back with SWAG written on it perhaps?

[Buenchico]

As we move closer to a cashless society, the problem will almost disappear anyway.

I always use the 'pay at pump' option where it's available. Supermarkets, which used to have their payment kiosks open all night, have already largely gone over to 'pay at pump only' at night. It's likely that 'pay at pump' will be the ONLY way to purchase fuel, at many filling stations, within the next few years.

Chris

[answerbanker]

The petrol stations dont make enough money on the sale of petrol to survive. They rely on getting you into the shop to spend money on the goods for sale inside. If all pumps were pay before filing they would lose too much trade and profit

[MantaRay]

Good point chasbo, So much simpler if all the pumps were card/paper money operated...just like plenty of other vending machines, i.e. train tickets, cashpoints, etc etc. Another advantage, we wouldn't have to queue up behind people buying lottery tickets, fags, etc. Maybe if paying was simpler and quicker people wouldn't drive off...up to 20 mins in a queue gets beyond a joke.

[dundurn]

The other problem with "pay at pump" is where supermarkets offer discounts per litre if you spend more than a certain amount in the main store. Most of the "pay at pump" systems can't cope with giving the discount.