By Gregory Karp, Chicago Tribune –
CHICAGO — BP has released information on which Midwest service stations sold recalled gasoline that left thousands of motorists with hefty auto-repair bills during the past two weeks.
By now, motorists with misformulated gasoline from BP’s Whiting refinery probably already know it because their vehicles will have acted up — starting hard, stalling, rough idling.
BP has posted a searchable database, by state, on its website. Users of the database will sometimes have to know the address of the service station because results are limited to 10. The bad gas affected service stations in Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin, plus one station in Ohio, according to the database.
The formulation mishap has led to about 8,600 claims from motorists each trying to recoup hundreds of dollars from BP that they spent for car repairs, BP said. Typical repair bills for draining the fuel tank and cleaning the fuel system are $300 to $1,200. BP said phone calls to its claims center are “trending lower” than last week.
The company last week recalled 4.7 million gallons of gasoline from the refinery. Gasoline now being shipped from the Whiting refinery has been tested and meets quality standards, BP said.
Of the claims currently being processed, 64 percent are from Indiana residents, 28 percent from Illinois residents and 5 percent from Wisconsin residents. An additional 3 percent are believed to have traveled through the three-state region when the off-specification fuel was in circulation, BP said.
BP has begun paying claims and expects payments to accelerate this week as motorists’ receipts for car repairs begin arriving by mail. To speed payments, BP is accepting sales receipts, credit and debit card records and repair bills electronically.
The company now has 159 call center operators and 140 claims adjusters in place.
Consumers who bought the bad gas and need to file a claim can call 800-599-9040 or submit an online inquiry at http:///www.bpresponse.com. The database of stations can be found at http://bit.ly/UbGPzo.
