Drivers pumping premium into their gas tanks are not always getting high-octane fuel and instead get swindled by service station owners and delivery
drivers, a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel investigation has found. No one can say exactly how prevalent fraud at the pumps is because the state's octane
testing program has been dysfunctional for years, regulators concede. Nevertheless, industry insiders and state petroleum inspectors say it is
common.
www.duluthsuperior.com
Drivers who pump what is listed as premium gasoline into their vehicles are not always getting high-octane fuel, a newspaper said Monday.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel said some station owners intentionally order too much regular no-lead gasoline, and when the trucks arrive to deliver
it, there is not enough room in the station's storage tanks to handle it.
Station owners or employees then tell the truck drivers to dump the extra into the premium tanks, and may even offer the drivers a tip for the switch,
the newspaper said.
Please visit the link provided for the complete story.
I am willing to bet you may think this is just limited to the state of Wisconsin, but you would be wrong.
The State of Michigan also tests and it nailed 26 retailers for octane fraud in 2004 and levied fines of more than $34,000. Indiana launched an
aggressive octane testing program in 1991, after legislators there suspected widespread fraud. The first year of testing showed corruption was even
worse than lawmakers thought. Half of all the gasoline tested did not contain the reported levels of octane.
According to industry sources, corrupt station owners strike when they know the price of gas is going up the next day. Some watch the futures crude
market on the Internet, others keep in close contact with distributors, still others watch for oil companies to post the following day's price hours
before it takes effect.
The above shows that at least three states have or had this problem, which makes me wonder how many more states are not checking their octane levels
at the pumps?
Related News Links:
www.gazetteextra.com
[edit on 4/12/2005 by shots]