If you want to avoid this, you can go inside and request a specific dollar amount, and they'll charge exactly that. (And the pump will shut off at the right moment.)

I guess it would be nice to have a way to request a gallon or dollar amount at the pump, but I've never seen a pump able to do that.

...or use a credit card. That way the hold is applied to your credit (ie. not your cash) rather than your checking account (ie. your cash).

... or a card like the GasBuddy card, which is a fancy WEX fleet card. No holds, just dumps out of your checking account.

Although, it doesn't seem to work with neobanks like Chime, though, which is kind of annoying.

I also keep a card from TSD Logistics (their Open Roads program) for an EFS card that gets me access to commercial diesel at a discounted rate at truck pumps.

But people with credit card are probably living available limit to available limit. Their credit limit is their cash.

is this sarcasm? That’s a wild generalization of people who use credit cards

It’s not a wild generalization; I’m not sure why readers understood it that way.

My logic is, if people are living paycheck to paycheck and don’t have an extra $300 for a gas limit; why would you think that their available credit is any different.

Studies of US consumers show basically nobody with $600 in the bank.

I hope by that you mean "basically nobody with less than $600 in the bank", because according to the fed's survey of consumer finances, the median household has $2000 in their checking account.

https://www.fool.com/the-ascent/research/average-checking-ac...

Being able to specify the limit, either selecting from a few defaults (€40, €60, €80, €100) or entering a custom amount is pretty standard when paying at the pump in Europe. I wonder why that's not the case in the US.

Interesting, that is also not the case in the Netherlands. I've never been able to specify the limit, which was recently increased nationwide from 125 euro to 200 euro.

I only get gas from an unmanned gas station, as it is close to my house and the cheapest option. For someone living paycheck to paycheck, price is especially important, and this approach does not work.

Don't use a debit card if you can avoid it, especially for purchases at the pump. You're just asking for more trouble from skimmers.

Also good to find a credit card with rewards % on gas purchases

Do skimmers still work with even if you use the chip or RF tap?

With chip the skimmer can just read the magnetic strip instead, at least on the pumps around me.

'ExxonMobil gas station $175 credit card hold'

https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/comments/tt033j/exx...

Hopefully others follow suit. The $125 that the places near me put on hold isn't enough to fill my tank anymore.

> 2021 GMC YUKON XL: 106 litre fuel tank

Average US price: $1.37/litre, total $145.

Although the average price somewhere in California is $2.06/litre, or $300 for that tank.

Here in Denmark, it would be $380.

It's a trade off. On one hand you don't want customers to be forced into making two transactions, but on the other you don't want to tie up $150 of a customer's cash , which can be especially bad if they're living paycheck to paycheck and only have a few hundred in the bank account.

There is a hack to this whole affair... Know how big your tank is, do the math (overestimate a bit) and ask for a prepaid fill up. If you don't manage to use the whole prepay the remainder will be credited back to your card. You'll also not hit random limits and card holds when filling big tanks.

Maybe you should buy a larger car. The amount of people buying land yachts lately and complaining about the price of gas is strange considering we all saw these prices <15 years ago.

Yes, I have to regularly induce a $175 hold in NYC to put two gallons of gas in my motorcycle. It is ridiculous.

My tank costs about $160 in Canada. You guys are paying like half what we pay.