I bought a brand new 2009 Mazda 6 3 weeks ago, and this Saturday I went to a Shell gas station and filled it up almost completely with their premium “V-Power” gas. Not more than a mile down the road, I stopped at a McDonald’s and my car chugged and then stalled in the parking lot, and I couldn’t get it started again. It was towed to the local dealership, which was closed for the Easter weekend, and the service adviser found that there was water in the gas.
He estimated the repairs to be 0. I filed a claim with my insurance company (AAA) and they do cover this. There are a few things that seriously tick me off about this:
1. The car is 3 weeks old with less than 1000 miles on it, and bad gas is the last thing I would have expected to do some damage to my car
2. While my insurance covers it, I do have to still pay my 0 deductible, and my premium will most certainly go up when it comes time to renew my policy.
3. This happened in my girlfriend’s town, which is about an hour away from where I live. This is going to be a bit of a hassle to get my car back from the dealer, which is even a little further.
I didn’t keep the receipt, but paid with a credit card and it will eventually show up on my statement. There is absolutely no chance that someone tampered with my tank, because it happened a few minutes afterward, and you can only open the tank from the inside anyway (I was in the car the whole time).
The service adviser told me that there shouldn’t be any lasting damage/problems to my car, but the whole situation has been a headache for me with all the necessary travel. Can I sue the gas station for selling me bad gas? I’m not really looking to get rich here, I just want them to pay for the repairs in full and cover any associated costs.
I did call the government agency that investigates these things already, and they did say they would get back to me after the investigation. I’m not sure if this is something to wait for because I don’t know how long that would take, or if anything would come of the investigation so late after.
Seen it a hundred times.. First bit of advice is to never get gas at a gas station that has a fuel tanker there..when they refill there tanks it can stir up some settle dirt or condensation, that’s when I have noticed it to happen most often. I was a Service Manager for a repair facility when I came across this problem. What I always suggested to the customer was to add a couple of bottles of what they call “dry gas” or gas line antifreeze. You can get it at any gas station or parts stores. Add directly to your gas tank. Since you just filled up it may take a little while to mix. It is used a lot in the winter time to thaw out frozen fuel systems. What it does, is mixes with any water in your fuel and turns into a flammable liquid so your engine can use it like gas. I have never had to do anything besides this when a car had bad gas…….Might be a good idea to add a bottle of fuel injection cleaner with the dry gas to clean out the components at the engine (such as injectors)…hope you get to try this before spending a ton of money. Best wishes….if it is too late,,,keep this in mind for future reference and you can save a bunch of money.
That happened in Hamilton, Ontario at a Pioneer gas station. The woman went back to the gas station and I believe she was compensated. In order to keep their customers they were offering premium gas at a regular price. This can be a huge problem for gas stations and they want to keep you and their other customers happy. If they refuse to pay for it, threaten to go to you local newspaper. I’m sure they will pay for the damages if you can prove to them that you bought the gas there. You may have to wait for your credit card receipt to be able to estimate how much gas you bought. This will then show that the majority of your gas tank was their fuel. Good luck
Hey im in the same boat. I filled up my mini cooper monday and it broke down and wouldn’t start. I went to the station and filled out some paperwork and will provide a statment from my exxon card that shows the purchase. Also, they gave me a number to call for the provider of the gas. im hoping i won’t get a runaround from these people as i will sue them. My dealer states at least 700 dollars damage not including rental and the 30 mile tow to the dealer. They informed me if it messed up the injectors to expect to pay more. They are going to back me though with samples of the gas. three other cars came in with the same problem this week.