Road Tripping in the USA!

timmeh · 2 Jan 2018 at 23:09

People of Oregon may have to pump their own fuel and they're not happy about it! I didn't realise that there were still places around here that will fill your car for you. The comments on the facebook post are brilliant. It seems that people are worried they will be attacked by 'transients' and that it's dangerous to leave their children in the car for the 3 minutes it takes to fill up.

https://jalopnik.com/join-america-in-laughing-at-oregonians-freaking-out-abo-1821708958

https://www.facebook.com/KTVLNews10...80780400322/10159918052175323/?type=3&theater

Some screenshots of the best comments (contains swears)
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1683742081682768&set=pcb.1682729818450661&type=3&theater

I don't even know HOW to pump gas and I am 62, native Oregonian.....I say NO THANKS! I don't want to smell like gasoline!

Not a good idea, there are lots of reason to have an attendant helping, one is they need a job too. Many people are not capable of knowing how to pump gas and the hazards of not doing it correctly. Besides I don't want to go to work smelling of gas when I get it on my hands or clothes. I agree Very bad idea.

OllyM · 2 Jan 2018 at 23:20

Having somebody else fill your car is nice in the winter but I hate it when it's not cold outside, waiting for the attendant takes much longer and they often struggle to understand my accent.

I wish I had the choice :/

geekman · 3 Jan 2018 at 06:10

OllyM said:
Having somebody else fill your car is nice in the winter but I hate it when it's not cold outside, waiting for the attendant takes much longer and they often struggle to understand my accent.

I wish I had the choice :/

Agreed. I really miss the pay at pump with card system you get in Europe - far quicker and easier.

[TW]Fox · 3 Jan 2018 at 07:50

geekman said:
Agreed. I really miss the pay at pump with card system you get in Europe - far quicker and easier.

Pretty much every US self service filling station has this.

Joe T · 3 Jan 2018 at 08:04

[TW]Fox said:
Pretty much every US self service filling station has this.

But they dont work with UK cards, which is the point....

[TW]Fox · 3 Jan 2018 at 09:31

Joe T said:
But they dont work with UK cards, which is the point....

He and Olly both live in North America.

Pay and pump also works with some UK cards.

Jez · 3 Jan 2018 at 10:10

Joe T said:
But they dont work with UK cards, which is the point....

In CA and MA (only two states i can verify this) P@P seems to work fine by using your UK post code digits padded with zeros, combined with a UK Amex card.

Joe T · 3 Jan 2018 at 12:18

[TW]Fox said:
He and Olly both live in North America.

Pay and pump also works with some UK cards.

Geekman lives in Mexico - so not sure about your point about the US?

I think it's OK to for him to miss something that he was used to in Europe. The fact that the US have something similar is not really relevant.

Joe T · 3 Jan 2018 at 14:37

Have started planning in earnest a road trip for 2018. As usual, we are going slightly off the beaten track. This time the route is dictated by wanting to visit the Badlands National Park (has anyone been?) and Mount Rushmore, seeing relations in Minneapolis, and a music festival in Eau Claire. We will also finally spend some time in Chicago as well (didnt manage last time).

Here's our planned route:

The slight detour down into Nebraska is to allow a day break in the long drive eastwards. I couldnt really see anywhere else to stop for a day? 1,000 miles in two days was too much I felt, and the timing worked too.

The last three cars we rented were a Camaro SS convertible, BMW 328i and a Chevrolet Tahoe. I think this time we might save some money and just rent a '5 passenger standard SUV' from Hertz.

Flights are booked. Now just the rest to do.

FishFluff · 3 Jan 2018 at 15:26

[TW]Fox said:
He and Olly both live in North America.

Pay and pump also works with some UK cards.

I found it very hit and miss even when using the same card at the same companies gas stations. Maybe it's a state based thing? I remember it working in Nevada but I couldn't get it to work at all in California or Utah.

geekman · 3 Jan 2018 at 18:19

Joe T said:
But they dont work with UK cards, which is the point....

Indeed, I drive to Texas fairly regularly and so far my card has only worked at 2 pay at pump stations so I don’t bother using it now. So whichever country I’m in, the attendant has to do it for me.

Roland Butter · 3 Jan 2018 at 18:36

In some US counties garages must have fuel pump attendants, i.e. you ain't allowed to fill up your car.

I do like the prepay system, although I have been caught out by paying for $40 worth and only
managing to squeeze £37 in the tank before it's full.
BUGGER ! is it worth going back to claim your £3 ?

Also the lock on the fuel pump trigger is very nifty, we in the UK have to stand still like divs
for 4 mins to fill up.

Gibbo · 3 Jan 2018 at 19:07

Off to the USA again next week for couple weeks, landing in VEGAS (staying their for week and ca not needed) and going to drive the very long way from Vegas and eventually end up in San Francisco to catch plane home.
Will want to pickup car in Vegas and drop it at San Fran airport, any particular good deals at the moment? Want something good like Camaro, Challenger or maybe even a Corvette. Would get a Mustang but they all still seem to be older model and driven loads of them, but would like a go in an A10 equipped car.

timmeh · 3 Jan 2018 at 19:21

geekman said:
Indeed, I drive to Texas fairly regularly and so far my card has only worked at 2 pay at pump stations so I don’t bother using it now. So whichever country I’m in, the attendant has to do it for me.

In that case you just walk inside and use your card in there. Run it as credit and you won't need to put in a pin or zip.

We did 7500 miles around the US using UK cards and didn't have to have an attendant fill the car up once.

Psycho Ned · 3 Jan 2018 at 20:04

Roland Butter said:
In some US counties garages must have fuel pump attendants, i.e. you ain't allowed to fill up your car.

I do like the prepay system, although I have been caught out by paying for $40 worth and only
managing to squeeze £37 in the tank before it's full.
BUGGER ! is it worth going back to claim your £3 ?

Also the lock on the fuel pump trigger is very nifty, we in the UK have to stand still like divs
for 4 mins to fill up.

Yeah I don't understand why petrol stations over here don't all do the pay before you fill system would stop drive offs straight away. Guess none of the petrol companies want to change the status quo.

The latch on the trigger dates back to some health and safety nonsense about the possibility of the cutoff on the nozzle not working and fuel spilling all over the floor then catching fire, in 17 years driving don't think the cutoff on the nozzle has ever failed and lets be honest if they have it in America and it caused cars and fuel stations to blow up all over the place there there would have been litigation all over the place and it would have been stopped!

[TW]Fox · 3 Jan 2018 at 20:06

Psycho Ned said:
Yeah I don't understand why petrol stations over here don't all do the pay before you fill system

Because it's ridiculous and faffy. Most countries do not operate this system thankfully.

Maccy · 3 Jan 2018 at 21:31

Gibbo said:
Off to the USA again next week for couple weeks, landing in VEGAS (staying their for week and ca not needed) and going to drive the very long way from Vegas and eventually end up in San Francisco to catch plane home.
Will want to pickup car in Vegas and drop it at San Fran airport, any particular good deals at the moment? Want something good like Camaro, Challenger or maybe even a Corvette. Would get a Mustang but they all still seem to be older model and driven loads of them, but would like a go in an A10 equipped car.

Just don’t call it San Fran please!

VincentHanna · 4 Jan 2018 at 16:36

Gibbo said:
Off to the USA again next week for couple weeks, landing in VEGAS (staying their for week and ca not needed) and going to drive the very long way from Vegas and eventually end up in San Francisco to catch plane home.
Will want to pickup car in Vegas and drop it at San Fran airport, any particular good deals at the moment? Want something good like Camaro, Challenger or maybe even a Corvette. Would get a Mustang but they all still seem to be older model and driven loads of them, but would like a go in an A10 equipped car.

This is exactly what I want to do as well in August.

Hertz only let you hire the 'Adrenaline' collection if you drop it off at the same place you picked it up, which seems ludicrous

If you find any good deals let me know. We would be happy with a Mustang GT Premium to be honest, but a Challenger would also be good.

Had a Camaro RS V6 convertible in Florida 3 years ago, and though it was very nice (loved the Heads up display) it would be good to have something a bit different with a proper V8

Also the view out of it with the roof up was pretty poor.

timmeh · 4 Jan 2018 at 19:19

If you're hiring a Challenger make sure you don't rent a standard one from the usual places. They ran out of cars when we hired something here and ended up giving us a Challenger and it was a massive POS.

Amp34 · 4 Jan 2018 at 19:26

Roland Butter said:
In some US counties garages must have fuel pump attendants, i.e. you ain't allowed to fill up your car.

I do like the prepay system, although I have been caught out by paying for $40 worth and only
managing to squeeze £37 in the tank before it's full.
BUGGER ! is it worth going back to claim your £3 ?

Also the lock on the fuel pump trigger is very nifty, we in the UK have to stand still like divs
for 4 mins to fill up.

with cash or on card?

With card it’s a preauthorisation, not a charge. I always preauthorise the maximum amount and then fill up. The actual charge on the card in the end is the amount you used.

I’ve used the Clarity card in Montana and Wyoming and never had an issue with the system. Also works in Alberta, although there’s no requirement for zip/postcode here. That said I don’t remember ever having to put a zip code in when filling up in the US either (may just be a memory thing).

[TW]Fox said:
Because it's ridiculous and faffy. Most countries do not operate this system thankfully.

It’s no more a faf than pay at pump anyway.

It’s going to be mandatory in Alberta from June because it saves lives (employees have been killed by fill and run drivers), although I haven’t been to many places that don’t already do it for card anyway.