Pre-payment for fuel: Background on new law in British Columbia
On February 1, 2008, WorkSafeBC’s amendments to British Columbia’s Occupational Health and Safety Regulation took effect.  The new regulations are intended to improve the health and safety of workers that  are working alone.

These amendments require mandatory pre-payment of fuel at gas stations throughout BC to better protect workers in late night retail premises. As a result, this will change how some customers purchase fuel. In larger centres, the option to pre-pay at the pump is generally available. In smaller centres, customers may need to pre-pay at the cash register or with an attendant before fuelling.

Preauthorization for Gasoline Purchases
When pre-paying at the pump with a credit card, some gas stations require a preauthorization amount to be processed. The preauthorization guarantees the gas merchant that the cardholder has the available credit to pay for the fuel that they will pump. 

The preauthorization amounts are set by the merchant but can be $75 to $100 or more.   At some gas stations the amount of the preauthorization is displayed on the pump’s digital display during the transaction.

While the preauthorization is not a charge made to the account, as long as it is in place, it factors into the calculation of the credit available on that account.  For example, if a credit card has a $600 spending limit and an individual has spent $400 on their card, if the gas station processes a $75 preauthorization amount, and then the cardholder purchases $25 worth of gas, the card will have a $100 balance (the difference between $600 and $500) available until the preauthorization is removed (and presuming no other purchases are made).

Depending on the bank or institution that issued the credit card, it can take up to a few days for the preauthorization amount to be removed.

This preauthorization process is necessary to protect the merchant from significant fraud and loss (and resulting costs to the payment system) in cases where an individual pumps an amount of gas but does not have the credit available on their card to pay for it.

Similar preauthorization processes exist for some other large purchase transactions, including hotel bookings and car rentals.