I was on my way back from some errands today and realized I hadn't put fresh gas in my car in about 3 weeks and even though I was only down a quarter tank I don't like the idea of old ass gas running through my engine. I stopped at the only station that was between me and school without having to go out of my way. I pulled up to the pump, and I realized...there was no credit/debit card mechanism on the pump, it was pay inside, cash only. I thought it was old but thats pretty rough. So I go inside and the lady says, "how much you wunt?" I said probably around 3-5 gallons but I wasn't exactly sure. She asked for collateral in exchange for turning the pump on to make sure I wouldn't drive away without paying, so I gave her my credit card as collateral. I reached for the premium nozzle, and it was rusted, covered in spider webs, and I'm pretty sure it was older than me and hadn't ever been used.
Then a thought crossed my mind, how do I know if this country ass gas station is really giving me premium? They could easily scam the rare driver who requires premium. And even if they are actually supplying premium, how do I know it hasn't been sitting in their tank underground for a year? I asked my dad because he drives thousands of miles a month for his job (in his E39 none the less) through all sorts of backwoods places and he said that gas stations are fairly tightly regulated and have to replenish their fuel supplies every so often. Even so, it still concerns me.

What do yall think? Should I avoid the cheaper, country stations and drive 20 minutes out of my way to a Sheetz or an Exxon?

I really should have taken a picture of this pump, it was pretty funny, its not the worst I've seen here in south west Virginia but it was close.
Haha it was hilarious to see the "townies" faces when I pulled up on the "wrong side of the pump" they were baffled.

 

didnt read any of that

:l

...yes

 

Hello there "Wall o' Text", how you doin?

 

Hmm, how to best sum it up. To those of you that live in very small areas, with absolutely no BMW's or other premium required cars, in a town with population <10,000 do you trust the gas? Literally these people had no idea what I was doing on the "wrong side" of the pump as they put it.

 

As long as it does not have water in it and is at least 89 octane, it will run on it.

 

Your car will be fine even if it was regular. For what it's worth, you probably did get premium. It's hardly rare for a car to require 91/93.

 

It will run just fine on 87...

 

Sorry i don't even look at what is available anymore. Whatever the lowest is...

 

Ur dad is correct...gas stations are tightly regulated, at least in California. They actually have people going around buying gas and testing it out to make sure it meets certain condition to reduce emission and no short changing customers in quantity.

The problem I see is it seems like the "premium" gas you purchased must be very old hence the spider web and rust on the nozzle. Not sure but possible after a long period of time premium gas will no longer has the correct rated octane.

 

I'm aware that the car will be ok even if it was 87 or even regular seeing as it was such a small amount of gas. But what do yall think are the odds that the country as hell gas stations regularly replenish their supply of premium? Nobody uses premium or mid-grade here, its all regular and diesel. To give yall an idea of what I'm dealing with, the closest station, just a block away, has pumps that have to be at least 40 years old, mechanical numbers that spin around to measure the amount of fuel, and there's no nozzle auto shut off, you have to gauge it yourself. And that one has regular only so I don't even bother going with my E60.