Perhaps unsurprisingly, the numbers on the pump don’t always correspond to the amount of gas going into your car.
But you’re much more likely to get more gas than you paid for than less, according to state inspection records obtained and analyzed by the Road Runner.
Out of more than 2,200 inspections since 2010, violations in which less gas was pumped than paid for were found in 168 visits, or in 7.6 percent of inspections. The opposite — in which the consumer comes out ahead — was found in just over 12 percent of inspections.
And that’s by design, says Michelle Wilson, associate director of the Arizona Department of Agriculture’s Weights and Measures Services Division.
“As that mechanical device ages, it’s designed to fail where it would be in the favor of the consumer,” she said of gas pumps.
Such mechanical problems — not tinkering with devices to bilk motorists —explain basically all instances of pump registration errors, according to Wilson. Gas station operators are typically fined $300 for every pump whose registration errors don’t favor the consumer.
“I think it is fairly infrequent overall that it appears to be something deliberate,” she said.
Among those stations with errors not favoring consumers, the vast majority — 80 percent — have had just a single violation since 2010, though there were a number of repeat offenders. One station, R&D Conoco at 3780 W. Magee Road, had six such violations in which nine pumps were found to charge for more gas than pumped. Three of those violations were found after customers filed complaints, all of which were found to be valid by state inspectors.
“Got gas on pump #11 and as soon as I authorized the pump, it jumped to 22 cents,” one complainant wrote. “This has happened many times on this same pump.”
The Road Runner contacted the station and an employee said all of the pumps had been swapped out for “brand new” ones and that “there’s going to be no problem.”
Wilson said her agency responds to all complaints, and encouraged any motorists who feel “a gas station is shorting them” to file a grievance.
When a pump is found to be out of compliance, it is taken out of service until a licensed service representative ensures that the calibration has been corrected.
A map of all stations that have had registration violations that don’t favor the consumer is included with the online version of this story. Complaints can be filed at tinyurl.com/y7hyfss7
