CHESAPEAKE – It costs a lot to fill your gas tank, so you want to make sure you’re getting what you pay for.

State inspectors check gas pumps to make sure you’re getting every drop.

Irene Griffin of Moyock, NC says it takes $200 dollars to fill up her SUV.

"That's when it's dead on empty,” she notes. "I pay close attention to it. I'm always asking the attendant if I got what I paid for."

Shandi Barnell-Shiflett lives in Norfolk. She's says she’ll pass one gas station to get to one charging a few cents less.

"Absolutely, every cent matters, when it's so expensive." 

Weights and Measures inspectors from the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services test pumps by getting five gallons of gas at a slow and a fast speed. The inspectors then  check how many cubic inches are released.  There are 231 cubic inches in a gallon. If there is a minus error of six or more cubic inches, the pump is rejected.

Video: Inspectors keep eye on the pump

Larger screen

It’s commonplace that a pump doesn’t give you as much gas as you pay for, but it's rare to find one so off that it must be rejected.

Sue Ann drives from Hampton to Norfolk for her son’s sickle cell anemia treatment at Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters. She recently stopped for gas near the hospital using gas vouchers given by CHKD.

"The gas prices are like paying another light bill," she compares.

In the most recent round of inspections at a Wilco gas station on Churchland Boulevard in Chesapeake, three pumps were rejected for giving less than the 231 cubic inches required per gallon. Two had minus errors of eight; the third had a minus error of 10. That means that for every 20 gallons you pump, you lose 40 cents.

The station has now fixed the problem.

Milton Hargrave is a supervisor with State Weights and Measures.

"We provide equity in the marketplace between the buyer and the seller," Hargrave says. "If the pump error is severe enough at a certain level, then we seal the device out of service and don't allow it to be returned to service until it is repaired." 

In most cases, when a pump is rejected, a technician will fix it the same day. Gas station owners have 10 days to get the problem corrected.  But it can take more than a year to inspect all the pumps in Hampton Roads so a problem could go unnoticed for months.

Hargrave says, for the most part, the pumps are accurate.

In a recent inspection at the border station along with Chesapeake-North Carolina line, a pump was off by 300 cubic inches but it was a positive error. That means the station was being cheated, not the customer.  In cases like that, pumps are still rejected and technicians must correct the problem.

If you have complaints, you can call Weights and Measures at 1-804-786-2476.