Gas?

Just always make sure you have enough cash on you in case your credit card is not accepted.
This advice applies whenever you are buying anything, not just at a petrol station.

You can also use your debit card (the same one you use to get cash out of a cash machine / ATM). Just use the same PIN as you would use at the cash machine.

If it's a cashless pump where you have to insert your card to release the pump then yes you need a PIN.

But at most petrol stations you pay at the counter, either in cash or by card just like any other purchase - so if you don't have a PIN they'll swipe your card the old fashioned way.

In the U.K. do you usually pay first or after you pump? I kept trying to prepay in France. First by putting my card into the pump itself, driving to second pump and finally going inside still trying to prepay. I really confused the attendant. Someone overheard our conversation and came over to tell me to go pump first, then come back in and pay.

Fill first, pay afterwards. Another difference is that the pump is always switched on from the office, not by you. Really confused me the first time in the USA when I was waiting for it to be turned on. Also the colour coding is green for petrol and black for diesel in general.

In the UK you usually pump first, unless you're using a pump that allows you to pay at the pump by card. Never known anywhere in Europe that you HAVE to pay first, only ever seen that in the US.

How can you pay first if you don't know how much you can get in the tank?
Usually just fill up the tank (until the nozzle goes 'click'), and then pay for whatever you needed.

@Chris F,
They don't trust us to pay after in N. America. Many people will go in and for example "put $20 on pump 3" because they can't afford to fill it up. If you end up using less, you come back in and get your change. When you put in your card, it will authorize up to like $120 before the pump will turn on.

I agree with having enough cash to cover filling up in case you have problems with your card. I have had a lot of trouble with VISA blocking my card on overseas purchaces. Even when I tell them where I wll be.

Chris F,

"How can you pay first if you don't know how much you can get in the tank?"

That's actually very easily done! Prepay has been common here in B.C. for many years mostly as a result of Grant's Law and I believe the same sort of thing has been implemented in other parts of Canada.

The process is very simple. If the driver is paying by debit or credit card, the card is inserted in the pump and the transaction is processed as any other POS purchase. Most of the pumps I've used lately have all been converted to Chip & PIN, so the card remains in the machine while the authentication is done. I believe the POS terminals in the pumps can also process the old fashioned magnetic stripe cards.

In some fuel stations, the driver selects a pre-determined amount (ie: no more than $40 or whatever) while in other cases the machine simply charges the card for the amount of fuel dispensed. When the pump approves the purchase, the driver lifts the nozzle and selects whichever grade of petrol they want or diesel, as the case may be. Some fuel pumps can also process points cards (ie: Aeroplan) or the driver can add a car wash with the fuel. It's all rather easy.

If the driver wishes to pay with cash, it's necessary to go into the booth first and leave the cash with the attendant. If (for example) $40 is provided, the attendant will set the pump to provide no more than that. I rarely pay with cash, so haven't used that method too much.

I had no problem using my regular US magnetic strip card as long as I went inside and paid the attendant. Easily done! I've done the same thing all throughout Europe and never had an issue.

Just because you have a chip and PIN doesn't mean the card will work or that there will be anyone to take cash or swipe a card. Happened to us at an ASDA near Luton Airport.

Some may find this interesting, there are many US states where prepayment is rare or unheard of
http://www.city-data.com/forum/general-u-s/513773-why-where-do-gas-stations-require.html

I always find it a bit sad when Americans know more about Europe than their own country.

"I always find it a bit sad when Americans know more about Europe than their own country."

Having lived in the US a couple of times, I've found that to be unusual.

Just a quick reply to the 'they don't trust us in N America' - in my neck of the woods in Canada - at least in my province of Nova Scotia and neighbouring New Brunswick - we pump first then pay inside or at the pump with cc after filling. They were going to introduce pay first then pump (and a few local stations tried it 15 years ago), but too many people complained. There were a lot of gas and dash at the time, including some attendants getting injured or killed trying to stop the dashers which is why they wanted to implement that system. I'm sure there are a few unmanned ones where you need to put your cc in before pumping, but I honestly can't rem coming across one here in NS.

And yes, it is aggravating when we travel to the US and not only have to pay first, but have to do a guess as to how many gallons the tank will hold (as opposed to our own litres) and deal with the exchange rates in our heads. :) Not only that, the few times hubby tried to use his cc at the pump, we couldn't - it would ask for a zip code, so he'd have to go in anyways.

Edit to add - I think if we are paying at the pump here, you may put your cc in beforehand. Hubby is always the one to fill the tank, and he will generally go in to pay with the cc so we can be sure to get our Air Miles card swiped.

Jaeson,

You may have completed your trip, but are you sure your credit card doesn't have a pin? After reading this travel tip, presumably in R.S. England, we called our company which advised the card did indeed have an assigned pin although we've never needed it in the U.S. She couldn't share the number over the phone, but sent it via mail.

Well, harleydonski, I have news for you. We recently completed a trip that included 12 days in France. As expected, our cc's did not work for filling the fuel tank. Twice, we had to give a centrally located person cash before pumping, and got change when our total was less. Once, we came upon what I consider close to a scam.
At a station on an autoroute, we had to insert the cash to start the flow. The machine didn't give change; it gave a voucher for the next fill-up. To me the scammy ( or I could say, "scummy") part is that you then have to patronize the same company again. The company is Leclerc, and we never saw another of their stations. I would really not have enjoyed driving around looking for them; nor would I have been happy to toss 14 euros in the trash. Fortunately for us, my husband misread the instructions and no voucher card appeared. He managed to find an employee who, assuming the machine had malfunctioned, gave us change in cash. I rather suspect that a certain number of those vouchers are never redeemed, adding to the profits of the company.

E Leclerc is one of France's big supermarket chains, a bit surprised you did not see any but at the same time if you are not in the parts of town with the out of town supermarkets you may have missed them.

"Well, harleydonski, I have news for you."

Well I'm still waiting for the "news", don't understand what you're post has to do with my comment.

@harleydonski:
Since you said you never had to pay first in Europe, my news for you was that in ALL of our recent experiences with refueling in France, we had to pay first. You probably have a chip and pin cc and, therefore, don't run into the same problems that we Americans do. Your experience is not relevant for us.

I think Harleydonski's experience is relevant here. The question is how to buy fuel, and harley was giving what a European resident would experience. I've found some places which are pay in advance, but this is still rare.

Pre-pay transactions will "test" your card before purchase with a temporary transaction to verify that the card is working. Capital One Visa explains:

What is a pending transaction?

Pending transactions are processing but have not yet posted to your
account. They can only be removed by the merchant and may remain on
your account for up to five days.

Because your card information is sometimes provided to merchants (like
restaurants, gas stations, hotels, car rental agencies, and airlines)
before the final transaction amount is known, they may place a hold on
your account for a certain amount to make sure the card is valid or
has sufficient available credit. The hold will show as a pending
transaction and the amount of the pending transaction may be different
from the amount when it shows in your posted transactions. For
example, you may see a pending transaction of $5 from a gas station,
and then the full amount that you spend will appear once the
transaction posts. Similarly, you could see a pending transaction of
$100 from a hotel though your final posted amount may be less.

Some merchants may issue multiple authorizations before the
transaction posts. The actual amount you spent will appear when it
posts to your account within five (5) business days.

I typically do not use my checking account debit card for pre-paid transactions. Low income/net worth (low checking account balance) Americans using debit cards for gas purchases in the past would find their accounts overdrawn when a gas station would do a temporary upper bound triple digit transaction. Not knowing what the "fill-up" would cost and with some American pickups with 30 to 40 gallon tanks the gas station operator could just put in a temporary $150 hold on the account. Fill up twice in a few days and the temporary hold could be $300 in addition to the actual purchases. For low balance folks, that situation led to overdrafts and associated fees.

Now we've gone from "never" to "rare". The experience of Europeans is irrelevant here, because they have chip and pin cc's. Most Americans don't; and even those who do have reported occasional problems. Refueling and toll booths are the scenarios where we have had the most problems. It is well for newbies to be aware of snags they may run into and to be prepared with Plan B.
To go back to jaeson's original question . . unless you are at an attended station, the answer is no. And before anyone pops in with a "when I bought gas in X, my mag stripe card worked," rejoinder, I repeat that Europeans' experience with chip and pin cards, along with an occasional American success using mag stripe cards are irrelevant. Don't count on it , jaeson.

OK, why would "occasional American success using mag stripe cards" be irrelevant? That's exactly what the OP is asking about. Yes, you can use a mag stripe card in most cases by paying inside, just not at unattended stations.

Our answers, I would hold, are relevant. We are explaining what the situation for the locals is with the tech at our disposal. I cannot, for example, use pay-at-pump, any where other than the UK in most instances. It is annoying, in some places in France I've seen pay at pump be as much as 0,10€ litre cheaper.

My experiences of pre-pay have been service stations on the Belgian and French autoroutes, which are to prevent drive aways. And can count the instances with the thumbs on each hand.

If the answer is in the field of the question then surely it must be relevant, with any reviewer being able to chose how to weight the answer to their use.