meaning you have to guess how much money you will spend to fill up your tank, and pay the cashier BEFORE you pump your gas. It's okay if you use your credit card because whatever the amount comes to, it just gets charged to your card, no problem. My beef is when you only have cash on you, and you give the cashier too much money, then when you're done pumping your gas, you have to go BACK in line once again to get back what you overpaid to begin with. I hate that, it is so damn inconvenient; the only reason why I tend to pay cash when buying gas is because I don't like to charge things if it's not absolutely necessary. Guess you could say this is a "pet peeve" of mine. Does anybody hate prepaying for gas as much as I do?
[Edited 9/24/05 14:26pm]

I always use my debit card.

It's so handy using a debit card

Debit card sounds like the way to go, save yourself the trouble of making two trips inside of the station.

psychodelicide said:

Just keep track of what is in your bank account A debit card is as good as cash and the amount is **poof** out of your bank account.

In Minnesota we only have to prepay at night or in North Minneapolis or sometimes if the pump is real near the road.

psychodelicide said:

yeah...when I don't have my card with me. Gas is so high these days that folks are just driving off wthout paying. I think that's kinda funny. I guess that's why I see so many cameras at the pumps now.

whatever amount you guess nowadays is likely to only get you half a tank full

BOOMshockaLockaBOOM said:

Don't leave your car parked in the street or in a parking lot for extended periods - desperate people are stealing number plates to cover their own so they can do petrol station drive-offs.

what is "cash"????

charlottegelin said:

oh my god....that's a new one. I've heard of people actually taking gas from another one's car, but removing their plates....damn. You know that's not a bad idea. jk....I'd never do that. Knowing me....if I took a random plate from a car it'd probably end up being some 70 yr. old woman's car.....

add-on
[Edited 9/24/05 18:28pm]

BOOMshockaLockaBOOM said:

she'd never even notice her plates were gone

charlottegelin said:

lovemachine said:

That's because it's so down-home friendly!

purplekisses said:

I try to pay for everything I can with my Northwest Airlines WorldPerks Visa Signature card... one frequent flier mile for every dollar spent. I even wish that my landlord would allow tenants to pay their rent via credit card.

Now that I think about it, though, I'm not sure it looks very good when my main payment method has the name of a bankrupt corporation prominently displayed at the top.

Girl, quit complaining! There are people downtown living in boxes.

luv4u said:

The only drawback to using my debit card is that evey time I use it, I get charged a $1.00 fee. I didn't realize it until I used my debit card once, then saw the fee on my bank statement.

lovemachine said:

I can see why it's done that way, because at night if it's dark of if a pump is close to a road, people can pump their gas and pull out of the station without paying. Which brings me to this thought: the gas station that is now having you prepay for gas is real close to the freeway, and they never used to have you prepay, you could just pump your gas and then pay for it. I'm willing to bet that they changed it because they've been having problems with people pumping their gas and then not paying for it.

BOOMshockaLockaBOOM said:

charlottegelin said:

That's for darn sure.

charlottegelin said:

purplekisses said:

charlottegelin said:

lol: I can picture that happening, and then an old lady getting pulled over by a cop for driving without a license plate.

matt said:

Lammastide said:

Hi Lammastide, yeah, I know what you're saying. With the price of gas, think I'm going to be one of them soon.

TMPletz said:

me too. No fuss no worry.

its insulting, I think youre going to steal it, so you must pay first

psychodelicide said:

Switch banks. There are plenty out there that don't charge a fee. In fact, although I've heard of such fees, none of the banks or credit unions where I've done business have imposed a fee for debit purchases.

charlottegelin said:

You can get special screws for your license plate to lock it on. You need the custom wrench that comes with the screws, to take it off. They sell the kits at places like AutoZone.

They also make wheel locks, which are essentially the same thing, custom bolts than can only be removed with the attachment.

I think they also make a lockable gas cap. Sounds extreme, but this stuff can really come in handy.

matt said:

A Debit card will work either way, as a Credit Card or a Debit Card. When you buy stuff at the store, you need to tell them to charge it as Credit, otherwise it gets processed as a Debit, and you get dinged with a fee much like using an ATM. When they process it as credit, the store pays the service fee instead.