WASHINGTON, Aug. 21, 2008
Is Your Gas Pump Ripping You Off?
CBS News Investigation: Pump Inspection Standards Vary Widely State To State
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Play CBS Video Video Gas Pump Rip-Offs After a nationwide investigation, many gas pumps were found to deliver less gas than you paid for. Pump inspections vary from state to state, and can be years apart. Armen Keteyian reports.
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Interactive Gas Prices State-by-state averages, tips to improve mileage and a look at what fuels prices at the pump.
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Interactive Oil and Gas:
Fossil FuelsLearn more about energy costs and usage in your state and get the latest prices for gasoline.
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Are you getting what you pay for at the gas pump? The Investigative Unit partnered with several of our affiliate stations to find out. See what they've found in your area:
- WFOR Miami: Is Your Pump Shorting You?
- KOVR Sacramento: Get The Gas You Pay For
- KTVT Dallas/Fort Worth: Hundreds Of Pumps Cheating Drivers
- WBZ Boston: State Inspectors Keep Eye On Pump Accuracy
- KDKA Pittsburgh: Complaints Over Gas Pump Calibration
- CBS2 Chicago: The Truth About Illinois Gas Taxes
- KVAL Eugene: Gas Scam Warning
- WCBS New York: Gas Siphoning On The Rise
- WFOR Miami: Bad Gas Causing Big Car Problems
KHOU: Thousands Of Gas Pumps Shortchange Texans Visit WCCO's investigative page KPIX: Is The Gas Pump Ripping You Off? Related Stories from CBS affiliates:
It's up to each state to make sure you're not getting ripped off at the pump. To see if you are, CBS News chief investigative correspondent Armen Keteyian and the investigative team turned to three reporters at CBS stations to see what they could find.
Mark Greenblatt of KHOU in Houston reports that for the first time ever, the state of Texas is suing a company that runs a chain of gas stations - accusing it of deliberately shorting consumers. The company denies any wrongdoing, but they are not alone. Last year the state found nearly 2,000 pumps at other gas stations that were cheating drivers.
The industry says about 90 percent of pumps pass inspection, and some even deliver a bit more than you pay for.
But a two-month CBS News investigation raises serious questions about whether states even know if drivers are being cheated. CBS News uncovered huge gaps in how pumps are inspected nationwide, including:
As Frank Vascellaro from WCCO-TV in Minneapolis reports, Minnesota doesn't inspect gas pumps annually. There aren't enough inspectors to do it. Of the pumps they were able to inspect this year, 11 percent had problems. The state says stations have to fix them, but only a quarter are ever reinspected. And even though the state can charge operators ripping you off with a crime, that's never happened in Minnesota.
Overall, the investigation uncovered a pattern of inspection that was, literally, all over the map.
Michigan, for example, inspects only after complaints. New Hampshire and Arkansas allow gas stations to hire their own testers, while Tennessee and Florida rely on "statistical sampling."
"Some states are doing very well, others are struggling," said Henry Oppermann, the former head of the Department of Commerce division that sets guidelines for state inspections. "When the inspection period would get beyond, let's say, a year and a half, I think that's really going beyond what regulatory oversight should be."
In fact, CBS News found 17 states allow pumps to go more than a year and a half without inspection.
Among the worst: Arizona, at every three years. Maine's inspections are up to every four years. Same with Texas. One pump CBS News found in Fort Worth, Texas, was last inspected in 2003, when gas was $1.56 a gallon.
Speaking with Oppermann, Keteyian said: "I gotta tell you something, I don't have a great deal of confidence right now ... that I am actually getting what I am paying for."
"When there's a lack of oversight, there's a potential - a greater potential for abuse," Oppermann said.
And even when pumps are regularly inspected, that's no guarantee.
Anna Werner at KPIX in San Francisco found that in California, 94 percent of pumps pass inspection. But consumers can still be cheated. That's because pumps can pass even when they dispense a little less than what the pump says. It's a margin of error the law allows.
So a high-volume station that routinely sells a little less than a gallon could rake in around $50,000 a year extra - for gas you never get.
"Shame on them!" one driver said. "That's all I can say, shame on them."
Is it time for Congress to look at this as a national issue?
"It would be beneficial to have a national coordination of efforts," Oppermann said.
Not likely. When CBS News tried to find out the last time Congress looked into the problem, but came up empty. Fact is: it never has.
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More From CBS News Investigates
Add a Comment See all 60 Comments
- Caps fix everything.
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- The only time I was SURE I was ripped off was recently at an AM/PM (Arco) station in Arizona. My digital gas gauge has proven very consistent, and it showed at least two gallons left in my twenty-gallon gas tank. But the pump delivered "19.7 gallons" to a far-from empty 20 gallon tank. FAR more gas than it''d ever accepted, even when completely empty, in the past.
I also found that NONE of the pumps at the station had a State inspection sticker.
Upon complaining to the manager, he looked at me like I was crazy, told me the pumps were only two months old, and said "I was the only person who had ever complained." He said the inspection stickers were on the pumps (which they weren''t). I called AM/PM and Arco to complain and never heard back from them. - Reply to this comment
- We know who rips us off. Here in Michigan upon news that the wholesale price of oil went down $6.00 the oil companies raised the retail price of gasoline as much as $0.26 cents per gallon today. Bush, Cheney and McClain are probably jumping for joy!
- Reply to this comment
- when the ''oil companies'' lower gas prices..does that mean we ''forget'' about all of this??
- Reply to this comment
- I think gas will go down to 3.00 a gallon and we will be so happy its not 4.00 we will smile at the tank. Was not the the plan anyway?
Posted by caddygt at 01:25 PM : Aug 22, 2008
No doubt. I saw an ad for a car company that said if you bought one of their cars, they would partially refund you gas so you were paying $2.99 per gallon. I thought, "That''s supposed to be a GOOD price?" I thought prices were getting out of hand when they hit $1.99 per gallon! - Reply to this comment
- I think gas will go down to 3.00 a gallon and we will be so happy its not 4.00 we will smile at the tank. Was not the the plan anyway?
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- Shame,shame, shame. We need our power back. Too many things are getting out of control.
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- This is simply terrible! It disgusts me to read this and although many are cutting jobs, inspectors should be hired to cover each state and begin better control.
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- This is the type of function that is needed by government but instead they seem to be cutting these services and we all pay much more as a result.
Yesterday I got fuel in three 5 gal marked cans each exactly filled to the 5 gal line and the pump indicated 16.8 gals. There were no inspections sticker on the pumps either. Business is allowed to rip off the country at will. - Reply to this comment
- Come on now! Its not the gas pump thats ripping us off! Its the government and the oil companies! Duh!
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- I buy fuel at fuel stop where a lot truckers and large companies use.These guys are on top of the game they measure a gallon into a seperate container before they use the pump.Most of the drivers do this and it is scattered all over the local air way if a pump station is measuring up.They will boycott the light stations and have caused sevral to close because the cost to regulate or change the pump is too exspensive.The people that opened these no service no hassle pump stations should have checked before they bought them from the previous ownwer.since thet didnt do this thier intention was too ripp us off from the get-go.
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- Another alternative in fighting rip-offs is to check in advance. There are great sites like Crazy Gas Price that allow visitors to type in their local zip code and the results list service stations in your area with the current price they sell a gallon of gas for....including the actual street address of each. I really appreciate this one, which is very simple to navigate and easy - http://www.crazygasprice.com
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- The Saudis demand $150 for a barrel of oil. They bribed George W. Bush to make it happen. The Saudis said, "Threaten the Iranis, promise a war with Russians, or attack the Chinese. The price for oil must go up!" The Saudis vowed to graft the next United States Congress for a high price on a barrel. The American Voter should be wise.
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- Man, in our area (not New Jersey) gas is selling at 3.34 this morning at a couple gas stations. Wonder!
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- Not only are the pumps not inspected, but how many times have you tried to stop the pump on an even dollar amount and the pump jumps to +$0.02 or $0.03? This is the stations owner riging.
You know as these thing continue to happen we all become more de-sensitized. - Reply to this comment
- This is why I support Electric Vehicles.
- Reply to this comment
- I''m sure I''m getting ripped off at the pump. The individual states turn green with envy at the governments corruption and emulate it locally. Isn''t that the trickle down theory??
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- shameonbush
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You can''t water down gasoline. - Reply to this comment
- Not only is gas prices too high, but it doesn''t seem to last very long. I am not the only one who has noticed this lately, but many of my co-workers as well. I think it''s being watered down or somthing, I am so glad that CBS covered this issue.
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- This an idiotic story. Where are the numbers? For a high volume station, $50,000 of gas per year is 1/2 of 1%. How close can it be? No pump can be perfect, but 99.5% perfect is about as close as anyone should expect. LET''S ALL PANIC !!!
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Best-selling author Mitch Albom on his first nonfiction work since "Tuesdays with Morrie."
