Pennsylvania

Bad gas? Drivers face thousands of dollars in damage after filling their tanks at Bucks Co. Wawa

NBC Universal, Inc.

Bad gas has left a number of drivers with thousands of dollars worth of damages.

This all started last week at a Wawa gas station in Richboro, Bucks County.

A trip to the gas station typically can cost between $30 and $60, but over 30 drivers in the Richboro area are now facing price tags of upwards of $4,000.

One driver affected is 17-year-old Connor Lenahan who told NBC10 that it was a normal Thursday when he filled his tank at the station on the 800 block of Second Street Pike.

It was Friday morning when he noticed something was wrong.

"I went to start my car but it wouldn’t start, it took like three or four attempts to start and when I did get it on, it was very very jittery and it was having some problems accelerating," Lenahan said.

After taking his car to the mechanic, he was told the issue was bad gasoline.

The price tag for the repairs? $4,000.

His mother took to social media asking if anyone else experienced the same issue.

"She ended up getting around 35 people that reached out with the same problem," Lenahan explained.

The phones at a local automotive shop have been ringing off the hook since Monday with customers complaining about similar issues.

Greg Millevoi, owner of Millevoi Brothers Richboro Automotive Inc., says he's expecting to fix between 15 to 25 cars.

"I got a call from another service station and he says ‘Greg, listen, something is going on, like, every one of these cars, every one of my customers got gas at Wawa,’ and I’m like ‘Wait a minute, so did mine,'" Millevoi said.

Wawa said in a statement, "Wawa is aware of an issue with the fuel equipment on one tank at our Richboro PA store.  Once aware of the issue, and the potential impact to fuel, we took immediate steps to correct it and we are working with our fuel equipment manufacturer to investigate and understand the issue including the timing of any potential impact. At this time, we believe that this was an isolated incident that may have affected a very limited number of customers. We apologize for any inconvenience this issue may have caused. At Wawa, we have a quality fuel guarantee, and if any customer’s vehicle had a mechanical problem caused by our fuel, we encourage them to visit our fuel guarantee page, to submit a claim."

At the moment, the mechanic who spoke with NBC10 says he has a busy two weeks ahead of him.

If you are a driver who is experiencing fuel issues from Wawa, please click here.

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