The Oklahoma City Police Department has seen a dramatic drop in the number of reported gas drive-offs over the past few months. From January through August of 2005, the number of reported gas drive-offs per month ranged from 827 in February to over 1,200 in August. However, with the spike in gas prices that occurred after Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf coast, most retailers switched to a pre-pay policy in order to curb losses from drive-offs. December saw the lowest number of drive-offs for the year with only 90 reported to police. This monthly total is down by over 1,000 from the August total.


REPORTED GAS DRIVE-OFFS FOR 2005




Jan. 947

Feb. 827

Mar. 1,057

Apr. 1,045

May 1,110

Jun. 1,133

Jul. 1,189

Aug. 1,229

Sep. 216

Oct. 125

Nov. 104

Dec. 90



Total for 2005 – 9,072



(Information courtesy of the PIO office of the Okla. City Police Dept)

Out of curiosity, why would a store NOT require pre-pay? What's the downside to it?

Out of curiosity, why would a store NOT require pre-pay? What's the downside to it?
To them, the downside of it would be that they might lose some business. They are afraid that a driver will go to another store to buy gas....one where they don't have to pre-pay. Personally, I think that all convenience stores should require pre-pay, then there would be no gas drive offs to worry about.

Most stores, with the exception of some 7-11's are going to all pre-pay. I pay at the pump so I never have to worry about it.

Yes!! Finally someone who understands why a gas station would not require pre-pay. Customers WILL leave to another station especially in the smaller towns. There are a lot of people who still don't know how or don't want to to pre-pay and make a huge fuss about it.

Most owners want pre-pay to be required by law. Checks are another annoying and costly trouble. They are outdated and I would love to see them go obsolete.


90 drive offs reported. Gheesh I wonder what the actual number of drive offs really is. It's gotta be way more than that by far.