Are Gas Stations Self-Serve as in the US
 

Do you pump your own gas and pay at the pump with a card as in the land of the round door-knobs or does an attendant come out and confuse everything? Also, I understand that prices for gas will vary from country to country, but do they vary that much from station to station? Aka., as in the US between and ARCO and a Exxon. Any thoughts or help would be appreciated, serious or otherwise....Thank you, Richard

Yes pump your own, pay with credit card at pump is the rule. Prices do vary up to 10-15 cents a gallon (avg price about $2.15 a gal in my area) - ones near motorway exits cost more.

Well - I hate to break it to you - but many gas stations in the US are not self-serve - in NJ it's not even allowed to pump your own - and in NY most stations are optional if you pump your own or not.

In europe most seem to be self-serve. And yes prices do differ - but unless you're a local I don;t know how you would find the less expensive ones (there seem to be many fewer there than here - especially off the major highways - and when driving be sure to never let your tank get below half full).

Wow. PalQ, what country in Europe is gas only $2.15 a gallon?

To Luttrell, yes, I have found petrol varies from station to station. You know it is priced by the litre, so it gets a little confusing, and the differences seem less than the are. In other words, a difference of 10 euro cents a litre is like a difference of something like 50cents a gallon.

Not in NJ. And yet the gas is always cheaper there. Can't quite figure it out--cheaper gas, better service?

Maybe I missed it - which countries are you asking about?

Anyway - a lot of places the pumps are self serve - but thare are also still LOTS of places that have attendants.

I'm afraid PalQ should stick to making good comments about train travel. You won't be finding any petrol at twice that much. Count on $5 or more per gallon.

There are rarely specific brands that are consistently cheap any more. Price really depends on location, but the subtleties of this vary greatly by country. To simplify hugely:

In most of Europe, large supermarkets are cheapest, and garages immediately in competition with them price quite closely (but normally a penny or so a litre dearer). Garages not affected by supermarket competition are next dearest, and those in remote areas, or on motorways dearest (we don't have off-motorway clusters of garages as in the US, but near-monopoly service stations every 10-20 miles. Try to avoid buying petrol from them)

So to find the cheapest petrol, look for the relatively recent (post 1980) larger (>40,000 sq ft) supermarkets, which inevitably will be on the edge of most towns, often not quite on the main transit routes, aggressively signposted in countries that are happy to vandalise their landscape (like France), but difficult for visitors to find in countries with respect for their environment (like Britain). After a while you can intuit where they are, but even if you can't find the supermarket, the nearby garages will be almost as cheap.

Petrol in the congested bits of the very large cities (for example, inside the peripherique in Paris) is normally close to being as expensive as it gets.

At this moment downtown Munich, "Jet" gas station; Gallon regular is $5.55. Out of town, it gets more expensive, but not much.

Speaking of embarassing moments (see other thread), I once sat for 10min at a gas station in Germany trying to find the $&#% gas tank cover release in my rental car. Not on the floor by the door, not in the glove compartment or on the dash. The cover didn't have a small finger pull indent, so I knew there MUST be a remote latch release - but where did they hide it? Finally, some guy who was watching me went up to the gas tank cover, pushed in on one side and magic, it opened.

Moral of the story, make sure you know how to open the gas tank before you pull into the station. Either that, or don't travel with me, else you associate with a fool.

I had a similar incident with a rental car in Dublin...could not for the life of me find the thingy to open the tank....some kid working there no more than 14 found it. Somehow I thought I should have aked him why he was not at school on a weekday but he was a sweetie.

In Dublin you pump yourself an then go inside and pay at the cashier. At night there will be a window to pay at. I am unsure if you can do the CC at the pump here. Maybe I just have not come across it.

I was on the way out to Tivoli on my last trip to Rome and my pal & I stopped at a station to fuel up his car. An attendant pumped it.

Patrick, I agree, I the cheapest gasoline I can find here in the land of "pump your own" is now $2.17. Boy, are we a bunch of spoiled American brats! I bet my brother who lives in Edmonton is paying less for his gasoline.

BC

I find in France that most common is pump-your-own, then go into the office and pay. Pay-at-the-pump is sometimes offered, but most, perhaps all of the time, an American Visa or MC doesn't work. It seems that French-issued cards have some additional microchip built in that is needed to work at the pump.

>It seems that French-issued cards have some additional microchip built in that is needed to work at the pump. <

The American Express Blue card has a microchip. However, AMEX doesn't know if it will work in France.

I'll let you all know when I return in Oct.

((I))

I think the question was regarding US gas prices not Europe. Of course i know that gas is about $4.50-5 a gal in Europe and has been for years that i've been driving there. But in my state in the US is is hovering around $2.15/gal at cheaper places. In europe there is very little fluctuation between stations it seems - France is where i regularly drive and even L'Eclerc, the discounter of discounters to the extent that French law allows it (for example selling below cost - as in sales to entice customers in - is supposedly illegal) even L'Eclerc is just a few Euro cents a litre below others. Hypermarches like Carrefour are a bit lower than regular stations but not as much variance as i have in Michigan. New Jersey not allowing self-serve stations - who is paying off who to keep that law on the books? We've had it for decades here and consumer deserves it.

No, PalQ - the question is about gas in Europe. "Are Gas Stations Self-Serve as [they are] in the US"

" . . .prices for gas will vary from country to country, but do they vary that much from station to station? Aka., as [they do] in the US between and ARCO and a Exxon".

Janis - what a stupido i am! I didn't read is 'as' part and actually wondered why this was on the Europe forum. Zut alors!

They do vary considerably from station to station and between regions. That at least true for Germany. Least expensive is always "Jet", most expensive "Aral, Dea Shell". Competition is intense, where many stations are close together. Close to the Austrian and Czech borders its close to impossible to get any gas, since its so much less expensive over there.

You also cannot pump your own gasoline in Oregon.

PalQ, have another drink. ((D)) You're forgiven, but I just couldn't figure out what you were talking about!