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> France as I discovered does this at the gas stations where they put $200 or so authorizations on your card for absolutely no good reason. It's the same here

> France as I discovered does this at the gas stations where they put $200 or so authorizations on your card for absolutely no good reason. It's the same here but I'm not sure how it could work another way? They have to make sure you have the money to pay for the fuel you're pumping, it doesn't seem weird to me. I can't imagine a pump that allows you to pump as you wish and then just begs you to pay. That works for the manned stations with low traffic only.

maccard 1y ago
That’s how it works if I choose “pay at cashier” - if I walk up and don’t have the money the fuel is already in my car.
- ruraljuror 1y ago
  Where? In the U.S.? Whenever I have paid for gas with cash or from the cashier, I pay for it in advance, “Give me $10 of regular unleaded!”
  - frosted-flakes 1y ago
    Many service stations in Canada still operate this way.
  - maccard 1y ago
    I think “everywhere in the world except the US” is probably right. I live in a major city in the UK and did it last week.
  - vharuck 1y ago
    Before the 2008 Great Recession, most gas stations around me allowed people to pump then pay cash. After some stories of people driving off without paying, the stations changed their policies.
- seszett 1y ago
  It also works like that at manned stations in France, but there are few.
ericmay 1y ago
I think maybe what happens is they tap your cards fully possible authorization limit and if you end up trying to get gas multiple times in a short time period (24/48 hours) you can't use your card because they can't hit it for the full limit.
- gmokki 1y ago
  The gas station is supposed to release the authorization after the real payment clears when you stop the pump. So they should not pile up even if you do many visits in short period of time. In Finland the has pump firsts ask you to choose how big an authorization you want to do when you enter your card to the slot. It will not allow you to pump more than that and the authorization is then replaced by real charge before you enter you car.
  - ericmay 1y ago
    I think that's what the problem was in France specifically, the authorizations don't clear as you expect and then your credit card authorization limit gets hit and when you go somewhere else to get gas and use the same kind, it gets mysteriously declined. I've only had this specific problem in France. Funny enough my American Express cards worked better than my Visa or Mastercard did.
birdman3131 1y ago
It ends up being bank dependant a bit. (USA here) If I use either my cashapp or chime card I had better have the full $100-200 on there or it will fail the authorisation. On the other hand my main bank is a local bank and they treat all gas station preauth's as a $1 charge. So I can have say $30 in the account and still get $25 in gas whereas many other cards/banks would just decline.

maccard 1y ago

That’s how it works if I choose “pay at cashier” - if I walk up and don’t have the money the fuel is already in my car.

ruraljuror 1y ago
Where? In the U.S.? Whenever I have paid for gas with cash or from the cashier, I pay for it in advance, “Give me $10 of regular unleaded!”
- frosted-flakes 1y ago
  Many service stations in Canada still operate this way.
- maccard 1y ago
  I think “everywhere in the world except the US” is probably right. I live in a major city in the UK and did it last week.
- vharuck 1y ago
  Before the 2008 Great Recession, most gas stations around me allowed people to pump then pay cash. After some stories of people driving off without paying, the stations changed their policies.
seszett 1y ago
It also works like that at manned stations in France, but there are few.

ericmay 1y ago

I think maybe what happens is they tap your cards fully possible authorization limit and if you end up trying to get gas multiple times in a short time period (24/48 hours) you can't use your card because they can't hit it for the full limit.

gmokki 1y ago
The gas station is supposed to release the authorization after the real payment clears when you stop the pump. So they should not pile up even if you do many visits in short period of time. In Finland the has pump firsts ask you to choose how big an authorization you want to do when you enter your card to the slot. It will not allow you to pump more than that and the authorization is then replaced by real charge before you enter you car.
- ericmay 1y ago
  I think that's what the problem was in France specifically, the authorizations don't clear as you expect and then your credit card authorization limit gets hit and when you go somewhere else to get gas and use the same kind, it gets mysteriously declined. I've only had this specific problem in France. Funny enough my American Express cards worked better than my Visa or Mastercard did.

birdman3131 1y ago

It ends up being bank dependant a bit. (USA here) If I use either my cashapp or chime card I had better have the full $100-200 on there or it will fail the authorisation. On the other hand my main bank is a local bank and they treat all gas station preauth's as a $1 charge. So I can have say $30 in the account and still get $25 in gas whereas many other cards/banks would just decline.