It was a sound Isabella Popadiuk had never heard before.
"I was like, I need to call my dad," she said. "I don't know what’s going on. I don’t know much about cars."
Popadiuk said she had just filled up the gas tank of her 2021 Nissan Sentra at a gas station she regularly visited since it was on her way to her job at NBC6.
"It had a good price," she said. "I hadn’t had any issues until that time in February."
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RESPONDS
She said the car had to be towed to the dealership, where she was told the gas in her tank was causing her car issues.
"They told me that I either put diesel fuel in my car or it was contaminated gas,” she said.
The pump where she filled up did not sell diesel fuel and the car started to make those weird noises right after Popadiuk gassed up, she said. According to a service invoice, the dealership cleaned her car’s fuel system to fix the issue.
"This cost me over a $1,000," she said.
After dishing out the cash, she said she went back to the place where she fueled up and tried to get relief.
"And essentially after weeks of communication, they told me that there was no evidence that the fuel was contaminated, that they didn’t have any other claims and that there was nothing they could do that could help me," she said.
"The likelihood of resolving it without going to court is probably very slim,” said Brian Moody, executive editor for Autotrader.
Moody told NBC6 so-called bad gas complaints happen enough that there’s a complaint process for it.
"But what’s more difficult for the consumer is to prove who did the damage," Moody said.
He explained most drivers don’t let their cars get all the way to empty and even if they did, there’s still going to be gas in the bottom of the tank, so they’re always mixing gas from previous fills. But if you do have an issue after filling up, there are things that may help you make your case.
"If you have a credit card from a certain gas company and you can show, 'hey, I only ever buy gas at this place or at these types of places,' you might have a little bit more of a leg to stand on,” Moody said. “Keeping your receipts and taking the note from the dealership, which is clearly a qualified shop, would help in terms of getting your car fixed or getting it resolved."
As for Popadiuk, she worries it could happen again.
“It’s obviously made me very like scared because I can’t afford to keep paying for these repairs if this happens to me at another gas station,” she said.
Popadiuk did file a complaint with the Florida Department of Agriculture. The gas station told the agency they sold over 18,000 gallons of gasoline that day and only received her complaint.
Even though these cases are difficult to prove, Moody said you should always file a complaint with the state if you believe you were sold contaminated gasoline.
You can do that by clicking here and selecting “Petroleum” under the subject area of the complaint.
You can also call the state agency by calling 1-800-HELP-FLA.
