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Gasoline credit cards

Posted by (North Miami Beach, FL, United States) on

We are traveling by car throughout Spain and Portugal, and we are renting a car. Is there an american gas credit card (Shell, BP, etc.) that one can use in Spain?

Also, when going through tolls, we usually pay cash - has anyone used their Visa/atm card; if so, how do you do it - do you just type in your pin? We've tried doing the credit card payment, but it usually doesn't work and there are people in line who are not too happy with us.

I find that, since it's 2 of us, and Rail passes are not all that cheap, it is less expensive for us to rent a car, especially when we go on 5 week trips through all of Spain, or France, or Italy.

Mari

Posted by
9110 posts

From what others have posted, it appears that toll booths and some gas stations only accept cards with smart chips embedded in them. US cards don't have this chip which why you had some problems. It doesn't make any difference if you use a regular credit card or visa debit card. American Express cards have the European chip, but the gas station/toll booth may not accept that form of payment.

Posted by
7 posts

Thanks! Your reason makes a lot of sense. We usually pay the gas with a regular credit card. We have BP, which is British, but they don't take it in most of the countries. Guess we'll stick to good 'ol cash when paying the tolls.

Mari

Posted by
842 posts

I tried using some of my american gas credit cards in europe, and they would not take them.

I have used my Visa CREDIT card for Autobahn/freeway tolls and NEVER had a problem over the years. I don't use a debit card and pin at a Autobahn.

We only use our Visa DEBIT cards to get cash, and the only problem we have had was when we did'nt follow up swiftly with our transaction, and the card was swallowed up. This is true in all of Europe! Don't screw around at the ATM withdrawal machine!

I have had no trouble using my Visa CREDIT cards in most countries in europe. When I fill up I always use a major station on an autobahn/freeway the first time in a country, or use a station with an attendant. They will help if you have any problems (and I don't speak any foreign languages!)

On our trip to Portugal last year, I could not get my VISA CREDIT card to work at the gas station. The attendant showed me that I had to push the "enter" button twice to get it to accept a card without a chip.

I have used my Visas in Italy, Sicily, France, Germany, Portugal, Austria, etc. with no problems. I pay for meals, gas, rooms, etc with them.

We always rent a car, unless we are only going to major towns served by rail. Sometimes when we go between countries we will take the train, or one of the lo budget airlines, and it will be much cheaper. (check whichbudget.com, etc for a list of lo cost airlines in europe)

Sometimes we can rent a car in one country, drop it off, and fly or rail to the next country, and rent again. Whe we did that in Puglia in So Italy we drove one leg, and caught a lo cost ailine for the return leg.

Make sure you check your rental car agreement, or better yet, call them, to see about renting in one country, and dropping off in another.

Buy your own GPS (that has EU maps pre-loaded), learn how to use it here, and take it with you. You will find this to be the most importnat asset of your trip!

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