Speedway Sells Premium Gas Cut with Regular-Grade Fuel, Class Action Alleges

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A proposed class action alleges Speedway’s single-nozzle fuel dispensing systems routinely pump residual amounts of regular or mid-grade fuel into vehicles for which drivers paid for premium gas.

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The 21-page case more specifically alleges that after a Speedway customer fills their car with regular or mid-grade fuel, about one-third of a gallon is retained in the dispensing system. As a result, if the following customer selects the more expensive premium option at one Speedway’s more than 3,280 gas stations nationwide, the first gallon they receive contains a significant amount of lower-grade fuel, the lawsuit contends.

“Given that approximately [70 percent] of cars require regular motor fuel,” customers who bought premium gas “regularly paid the premium price for the first gallon of motor fuel for which they did not receive a gallon of premium motor fuel in return,” the suit says, stressing that the average price differential between premium and regular gas was 75 cents per gallon as of May 2022.

The plaintiff, a Tennessee resident, says he paid $3.99 per gallon and expected to receive 14.53 gallons of premium fuel at Speedway’s Murfreesboro location in June 2023. However, because the plaintiff purchased fuel directly after a customer used the same nozzle to pump lower-grade gas, the man received residual amounts of fuel that cost only $3.29 per gallon, the case says.

“Therefore, Plaintiff paid Speedway $3.999 for this first gallon of motor fuel when he should have paid less because that gallon contained a significant amount of lower-priced, lower-grade motor fuel,” the suit summarizes.

According to the complaint, Speedway has known for years that it has been selling regular or mid-grade gas for the price of premium at the expense of consumers, and has made “a business decision to retain the overcharge as a profit.”

The lawsuit looks to represent anyone in the following states who, between June 12, 2017 and June 12, 2023, purchased premium motor fuel from Speedway with a credit or debit card where they used a single-nozzle fuel dispensing system and the prior customer that used the same single-nozzle fuel dispensing system purchased regular or mid-grade motor fuel: Tennessee, Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

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