Doug/Vamonos
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Registered: 6-19-2006
Location: Bahia de los Angeles
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Credit Card at Pemex?
Hi. I remember seeing this topic in the past but could not find any of the posts by searching. Does anyone use their credit card when buying gas at
Pemex? Do you believe it is secure? Are they giving the bank exchange rate? Thanks? And which Pemexs on the way to LA Bay use a CC?
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Bwana_John
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| Quote: |
Does anyone use their credit card when buying gas at Pemex? Do you believe it is secure? Are they giving the bank exchange rate?
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No, No, and No. 
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bajaguy
Elite Nomad
Posts: 9247
Registered: 9-16-2003
Location: Carson City, NV/Ensenada - Baja Country Club
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Mood: must be 5 O'clock somewhere in Baja
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I have used a credit card and an ATM card at two PEMEX stations in Ensenada (the one in Chapultepec by the Dos Hermanos carnitas place and the new
7-11/PEMEX station between Ensenada and Manedearo) and at the Baja Cactus PEMEX station in El Rosario............no problems
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J.P.
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Location: Punta Banda
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Mood: Easy Does It
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Credit Card
| Quote: | Originally posted by bajaguy
I have used a credit card and an ATM card at two PEMEX stations in Ensenada (the one in Chapultepec by the Dos Hermanos carnitas place and the new
7-11/PEMEX station between Ensenada and Manedearo) and at the Baja Cactus PEMEX station in El Rosario............no problems |
I am neither a fan nor a detractor of the Baja cactus. but for as long as I have been traveling that road they have always advertised they take
Credit Cards . We used them once and if memory serves me they charged a 5% surcharge which I thought was high, But it was one of those GOTCHA moments
when I was out of Gas and out of Money. 
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DavidE
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Posts: 3814
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Location: Baja California México
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Mood: 'At home we demand facts and get them. In Mexico one subsists on rumor and never demands anything.' Charles Flandrau,
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Too much online bad juju about ID theft overcharging, ad nauseum for me. Dead Mexican heros on my "credit cards"
A Lot To See And A Lot To Do
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Bobvaso
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Just to be on the safe side. Get pesos with credit card at bba comer, or other bank atm. then pay for fuel with pesos. this weekend the guy at pemex
in maneanero did not want the3e hassle of converting my usd 20.00.
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durrelllrobert
Elite Nomad
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The PEMEX on the road to La Buffadora accepts US credit cards and it goes on the card in pesos with no commission. Your US card issuer may charge an
international conversion fee. In fact Citi Bank charges 3%.
Bob Durrell
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David K
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Baja Cactus only adds what his bank charges him for credit cards. Mexico is still a cash country, so bring cash!
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LaTijereta
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Location: Loreto
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| Quote: | Originally posted by durrelllrobert
The PEMEX on the road to La Buffadora accepts US credit cards and it goes on the card in pesos with no commission. Your US card issuer may charge an
international conversion fee. In fact Citi Bank charges 3%. |
Been using a BofA "travel rewards" card (no annual fees) and there is no international transaction fees..So I am getting the current exchange rate and
not burning up my ATM pesos which come at a "commision cost"
Democracy is like two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote.
Ben Franklin (1759)
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greengoes
Select Nomad
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Registered: 6-27-2011
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Mood: Today I slay the Red Dot.
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No problemas with Bancomer Debit Cards.
ANUNCIATE AQUI
DISPONIBLE
INFORMES LLAMA SNOWBALL - 646-115-7754
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Alm
Ultra Nomad
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Registered: 5-10-2011
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| Quote: | Originally posted by David K
Baja Cactus only adds what his bank charges him for credit cards. Mexico is still a cash country, so bring cash! |
Agreed with cash.
Gas station adds what their bank charges for credit card use, and you are also charged a conversion fee by your US bank - around 2%-3%.
Not to mention poor exchange rates of most credit card companies. Since when credit cards have a "fair exchange rate", what a ridiculous question....
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dasubergeek
Senior Nomad
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Registered: 8-17-2013
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I've done it when I've pulled in and realized I needed more gas than I had cash, but only once or twice. I did it at the brand new one in San Antonio
de las Minas and the dufus disappears with my card. Not good.
I agree—pay cash. Your bank will charge less for a 'foreign' withdrawal if it's a US bank than you'll pay between international transaction fees and
currency conversion fees.
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bajaguy
Elite Nomad
Posts: 9247
Registered: 9-16-2003
Location: Carson City, NV/Ensenada - Baja Country Club
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Mood: must be 5 O'clock somewhere in Baja
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If you use a Southwest Airlines/Chase Bank VISA card there are no foreign transaction fees.........whats in your wallet???
| Quote: | Originally posted by durrelllrobert
The PEMEX on the road to La Buffadora accepts US credit cards and it goes on the card in pesos with no commission. Your US card issuer may charge an
international conversion fee. In fact Citi Bank charges 3%. |
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Alm
Ultra Nomad
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Registered: 5-10-2011
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Credit card: foreign transaction fee, proprietary exchange rate (almost always worse than a bank rate), gas station mark-up for use of credit card
(likely), safety issues (likely).
Cash from US bank: ATM fee, reasonable exchange rate, no gas station mark-up, no safety issues.
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bajadock
Super Nomad
Posts: 1219
Registered: 12-20-2006
Location: Punta sur de \'Nada
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If I'm late for happy hour north or south of the border, short on cash AND gas and don't want to make another stop, credit card option helps.
Here are the credit card PEMEX stations that I have experienced since 2011, north to south, from TJ through 'Nada town...
1. Just after the downhill of Av Internacional/TJ, instead of heading on exit west to TJ Playas, continue south 1/4 mile, PEMEX is on right side.
After filling, use northernmost exit of station that will allow you to merge southbound, then U turn to get back to TJ Playas exit. Just visited here
Aug 15, paid cash, but, prefer this stop vs. stopping TJ Playas.
(NOTE...There is PEMEX just EAST of here on Calle SEGUNDA, leading to SY Border Crossing. Have used this one a lot, but can't confirm credit card or
no, see map above) ??
2. Rosarito 7/11 PEMEX, just north of Rosarito toll booth, west side of hwy 1.
3. PEMEX Just south of Ensenada toll booth, east side. Slow pumps and their tanks were flooded with water recently.
4. PEMEX At Hotel Sausalito, .1 miles south of the 16 story "Entremar" condos, 1/4 mile south of Trailero Tacos, east side.
5. PEMEX at Reforma and Estancia. This station is 1/2 mile east of Costero and the municipal beach. "Casa Country" is the landmark that leads you
from the beach 1/2 mile east to Reforma. Station is on southwest corner, just north of the Tecate agency.
6. As Bob said above, for us Punta Banditos, the OXXO PEMEX about halfway between Maneadero and La Buf will take your card.
Ensenada Interactive Map
[Edited on 8-20-2013 by bajadock]
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xolotl_tj
Junior Nomad
Posts: 38
Registered: 9-20-2008
Location: Col. Libertad, Tijuana
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Doug/Vamonos, index numbers added
(1) Does anyone use their credit card when buying gas at Pemex? (2) Do you believe it is secure? (3) Are they giving the bank exchange rate? (4) And
which Pemexs on the way to LA Bay use a CC? |
(1) Yes, many of us do.
(2) We wouldn't do so if we didn't think so. Why would you think otherwise?
(3) Pemex is not involved in the retail transaction. When it comes to foreign bank cards, you get the interbank exchange rate less whatever bite your
card issuer wants to take. When it comes to cash dollars, it's whatever rate the owner of the particular gas station wants to offer -- sometimes
that's as generous as the supermarkets, sometimes it's as stingy as the tourist-traps.
(4) While DavidK is right to say that Mexico is still a cash country, bank cards took the country by storm as soon as Salinas de Gortari privatized
Banamex and gasoline retailers were among the earliest adopters. I am curious to know if there are any gas stations in Baja that do
not accept cards.
| Quote: | according to Alm
Credit card: foreign transaction fee, proprietary exchange rate (almost always worse than a bank rate), gas station mark-up for use of credit card
(likely), safety issues (likely).
Cash from US bank: ATM fee, reasonable exchange rate, no gas station mark-up, no safety issues. |
Here's my litmus-test for racism:
Does it offer a negative conclusion about a group different from the speaker?
Is is founded on logical fallacy?
If "yes" to both, congratulations!
Alm would have us believe unfounded assertions as facts, which is fallacious. Here on the border, I can take dollars out of ATMs in San Ysidro and
change them into pesos and I can take pesos out of ATMs in Tijuana. The ATMs in San Ysidro charge, on average, about double what the ATMs in Tijuana
do; changing those dollars into pesos on the street nets me fewer pesos than I'd get from the Tijuana ATMs directly.
Bank cards do not have proprietary exchange rates. They were subjected to a couple of class-actions suits fifteen years ago to abolish that practice.
I know of no gas station that charges a "mark-up" for using cards. The practice of passing the merchant fee on to the buyer is discouraged; the only
place I know of that still does it is Smart & Final.
Safety issues? Now that's the ad-hominem attack called "poisoning the well", plain and simple. Be afraid! Be very afraid! About what we can't say, but
be very afraid anyway!
The greatest good that gringo boards such as this one can achieve is in helping foreigners avoid culture shock -- otherwise visitors and ex-pats are
not going to enjoy their time in Baja. To create distrust where none is warranted not only perverts the board's purpose, it offends the host culture.
It is a form of bullying and we need to stand up to it.
L’homme ici arrive où il peut et non où il veut.
—Vasco Núñez de Balboa
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