Filling up our Chevy Aero in Iceland has be an interesting experience. Gas stations are few and far between so you’re always mindful of how much fuel you have and where the last gas station you past by. Outside of Reykjavik many of the gas stations are unnamed and as such only accept card payments using a pin and chip reader. Our credit card did have a chip but in the United States chip credit cards do not have a pin so the card would not work.
Gas cards
The fuel stations that were manned sold gas cards that would work at these pumps and we could load up these cards with our credit cards. Another option was for us to use our debit cards since those had a pin. However when we used our debit card there was a foreign transaction fee that our credit card does not have.
Refueling adventure
Needless to say it was always an adventure filling up the car. Did the gas station match the fuel card brand we had? Was it a manned station? Would it accept one of my cards? Then panic at realizing there are no alternatives within range of my current fuel level. We haven’t run out of gas and I’m probably making this a bigger deal than it deserves. It’s just a very distinct difference in life in Iceland verses life in the United States.
