Imagine you’re driving through Cape Cod, enjoying the fresh sea breeze and open road. You pull into a small-town gas station, fill up with premium fuel, and continue on your road trip. But then, something feels wrong. The engine sputters, the accelerator lags. You brush it off—until the next morning. You start your new car and black smoke pours from the exhaust while the check engine light flashes like a warning beacon. What just happened? A disastrous gas station mix-up.

This isn’t a made-up nightmare, but a real gas station mix-up that Jacqueline Rutkowski-Murgia endured. In 2022, she was driving her brand-new Range Rover Evoque when she stopped for premium gas at a station in Dennis, Massachusetts. Minutes after leaving, she suspected something was off. “I noticed that when I was pressing the accelerator…the car didn’t seem to be responding correctly,” Jacqueline said. With no warning lights on the dashboard, she continued her 70-mile trip home to Braintree. She’d soon wish she had parked her car instead.

The next morning, things went from bad to worse. When Jacqueline started the SUV, it sputtered, belched black smoke, and lit up the check engine light. “The car became undrivable to the point where I thought about calling for roadside assistance,” she said. Fear set in as she realized the engine might seize entirely. Jacqueline managed to coax the vehicle to a dealership in Norwood, but by then, the damage was done.

The fallout of the Cape Cod gas station mix-up

The diagnosis? Contaminated fuel from the gas station mix-up had ruined the fuel pump and injectors. The repair bill? A staggering $4,500. “I was afraid my driving the vehicle any further would cause more damage to the car and also be a danger to other drivers,” Jacqueline recalled. But it wasn’t just her car at risk—her trust in the gas station was shattered. And she wasn’t the only one impacted by the costly mix-up.

Jacqueline’s wasn’t the only vehicle affected by the gas station mix-up. Christine Cadorette, office manager for Shea Custom Carpentry, shared a similar story. The company’s new diesel van, with fewer than 10,000 miles on it, broke down shortly after refueling at the same station. “By Monday, it was broken down and had to go in,” Christine said. The repair bill came in at $2,000, adding frustration to an already tough market for vehicles. “Fleet vans are hard to come by the past few months, with COVID and shipping and supply chains and chips and all that stuff,” she explained.

Here’s what went wrong

So, what went wrong? Investigators discovered that Brown Bear Transportation, the company delivering fuel to the gas station, caused the massive mix-up. According to Barnstable Weights and Measures, Brown Bear accidentally pumped 1,000 gallons of diesel into the premium gas tank and 300-400 gallons of premium into the diesel tank. By the time the mistake was caught, 150 gallons of contaminated fuel had already been sold.

After the gas station mix-up came to light, the station owner shut down the diesel pumps and began contacting affected customers. Credit card users were notified directly, but cash-paying customers proved harder to track. “They’re more difficult to find,” explained Barnstable Weights and Measures Program Director Jane Zulkiewicz. Brown Bear Transportation returned to clean the tanks and offered to cover customer expenses. But for drivers like Jacqueline and Christine, the damage was already done.

Mistakes happen, but this one came with a heavy price. From $2,000 to $4,500 repair bills, drivers paid for more than just faulty fuel—they paid for negligence. “I thought perhaps the engine was going to seize,” Jacqueline revealed, still reeling from the incident. With the gas station and fuel company now cleaning up the mess, Cape Cod drivers can only hope they’ll never experience another gas station mix-up like this.