ConsumerGuide Automotive : What is Top Tier gas ?
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Top Tier really has no teeth in my experience. I have never seen a TT sticker at all BP, CITGO, Marathon, Shell, Super America, or Valero stations and that doesn't follow TT's "rules". The companies also self-certify that they meet the requirements as TT doesn't test or even check the fuel. That said, at least most stations don't charge more for this....
It's a marketing ploy...
From the article:
This is pure conjecture. Funny enough, he goes on to mention the AAA study when discussing price differences. What he doesn't mention that the same AAA study used six fuel samples purchased from local filling stations, three of which were Top Tier and three that were not, to determine if there is a performance difference between Top Tier and non-Top Tier fuels.
Bottom line: There is a difference and the testing backed it up. His assertion that there are "likely" a number of retailers selling Top Tier fuel without being part of the Top Tier isn't supported. In 2017, CSP, a trade group for filling stations, reported 49% of filling stations sold Top Tier fuel. Given a near-enough 50/50 split between Top Tier and non-Top Tier, if you were to test three of each, you'd be replicating a a pretty realistic cross-section of the market penetration of each fuel. AAA's test shows that given an equal sample of each, non-Top Tier fuels do use a different, inferior, blend than Top Tier.
To say that it is "likely" that there are filling stations selling Top Tier without paying for certification isn't accurate since there is no evidence to support that claim. The evidence actually weighs heavily the opposite direction.
An accurate claim would be that is it "possible" there are filling stations selling Top Tier without paying for certification.
https://www.aaa.com/AAA/common/AAR/files/Fuel-Quality-Full-Report.pdf
This is pure conjecture. Funny enough, he goes on to mention the AAA study when discussing price differences. What he doesn't mention that the same AAA study used six fuel samples purchased from local filling stations, three of which were Top Tier and three that were not, to determine if there is a performance difference between Top Tier and non-Top Tier fuels.
Bottom line: There is a difference and the testing backed it up. His assertion that there are "likely" a number of retailers selling Top Tier fuel without being part of the Top Tier isn't supported. In 2017, CSP, a trade group for filling stations, reported 49% of filling stations sold Top Tier fuel. Given a near-enough 50/50 split between Top Tier and non-Top Tier, if you were to test three of each, you'd be replicating a a pretty realistic cross-section of the market penetration of each fuel. AAA's test shows that given an equal sample of each, non-Top Tier fuels do use a different, inferior, blend than Top Tier.
To say that it is "likely" that there are filling stations selling Top Tier without paying for certification isn't accurate since there is no evidence to support that claim. The evidence actually weighs heavily the opposite direction.
An accurate claim would be that is it "possible" there are filling stations selling Top Tier without paying for certification.
https://www.aaa.com/AAA/common/AAR/files/Fuel-Quality-Full-Report.pdf
You're saying this with a lot of authority. Is it because you have experience in the marketing of Top Tier fuel and understand their policies and procedures or is it because the author of the blog article says so?
CQA says:
I'm not one to believe claims directly from the manufacturer. Then again, I'm also not going to take the word of a blogger who cannot back up his claim with any expertise or authority.
Considering that a significant, unbiased, party did their own comprehensive testing and came away that Top Tier fuels perform better and are different, I'm gonna side with the fuel retailers that they're actually blending the fuel like they say they do.
And why wouldn't they? If they're *paying* to be part of Top Tier, why would they risk that investment by not doing what they said they would? Even if CQA doesn't do random audits, all they need is AAA, an automaker, or some other testing party to catch them flouting the rules. If that were to happen, it would bring into question the entire validity of Top Tier and jeopardizes everything CQA has been doing.
It is far more risky for everyone involved to certify and put out a product that doesn't meet the requirements than it is to just do what they signed up for.
non-Top Tier fuels do use a different, inferior, blend than Top Tier.
In today's world, this is just not possible. I don't think AAA has a clue as to what goes on in the petroleum industry. You just can't make gasoline in texas and ship it by pipeline to the UP of Michigan, with branches off at terminals and tanks all along the way, and expect it to be the "inferior blend" in some places. This is all commodity fuel. It meets mandated standards, and has mandated additives at mandated concentrations. There is no "custom" fuel being made or dispensed anywhere.
Commodity fuel has all of the important properties that will be sold anywhere along the line: Distillation, Octane rating, sulfur content, all of it. The only possible difference would be the additive type and concentration and I don't see any seller spending extra money that is not necessary.
In today's world, this is just not possible. I don't think AAA has a clue as to what goes on in the petroleum industry. You just can't make gasoline in texas and ship it by pipeline to the UP of Michigan, with branches off at terminals and tanks all along the way, and expect it to be the "inferior blend" in some places. This is all commodity fuel. It meets mandated standards, and has mandated additives at mandated concentrations. There is no "custom" fuel being made or dispensed anywhere.
Commodity fuel has all of the important properties that will be sold anywhere along the line: Distillation, Octane rating, sulfur content, all of it. The only possible difference would be the additive type and concentration and I don't see any seller spending extra money that is not necessary.
The EPA dictates the "blend" or formula that refiners must follow so that is not the difference between Top Tier and non Top Tier fuels. The difference is purely the quantity and quality of extra detergents added down stream from the refiner by the seller.
A gas delivery guy told me he gets his loads from Alton, Illinois at the main gas terminal. "All" local gas stations get gas from there. "All" different gas station fuels are mixed right there. Be it Shell, BP or Casey's. Top Tier or NON-Top Tier. IDK.........
This is a misleading representation. Your statement makes it sound like a gas company can do the testing in their own labs, and then submit a report as compliant. When I studied up on the Top Tier website some time ago, this was not the case. A gas company is responsible for providing the test data to Top Tier that shows compliance. However, that testing has to be done by an accredited independent lab.
Independent labs are not going to fudge the data for anyone, as their accreditation is at risk if they did so. And that accreditation means everything to these labs. Without it, their data is meaningless.
Also inaccurate. The rules state that pumps dispensing licensed Top Tier fuel MAY display the Top Tier logo. They are NOT obligated to do so.
Seems like Top Tier isn't sure themselves....
"The TOP TIER™ logo must be prominently displayed" (bold added by me)
https://www.toptiergas.com/licensed-brands/
"Many fueling stations selling TOP TIER™ licensed brands prominently display the TOP TIER™ logo on the pump, pump handle, canopy or in a station window"
https://www.toptiergas.com/how_do_you_know/
Mixed, yes. The base fuel is the same but the additives are not.
I missed that contradiction. Thanks for pointing it out. That is confusing.
Obviously, if a gas company pays the money to certify as Top Tier, you would think they would want to proudly display the logo.
In all seriousness, what percentage of customers pulling up to a pump look for a logo or even care ?
Okay, so if selling TT gas, a TT sticker must be displayed somewhere, got it.
What was the original complaint, that no pumps were observed with TT stickers?
Okay, then at the stations whose TT membership is not in question, were other areas of the property searched for the TT sticker?
All the TT stickers I've ever seen on pumps have been so tiny I'd imagine most people don't even notice them. The TT marketing department should get more excited about their product and create large, rainbow-holograph stickers that get people amped up about additives 
Top tier, as a marketing ploy is pretty poorly done. I don't see anyone going out of their way to find a Top Tier station, and if I was putting any effort into this at all, that would be my ultimate goal.
NOW, after writing my second reply in this thread, it occurred to me that there DOES exist inferior product in the supply chain. This process has to do with transmix. Transmix is the "in between" stuff that comes across in ALL of the pipelines that crisscross the United States, and probably every country in the world. Let's say a batch of 87 octane gas is scheduled to be pumped from storage tanks in Ohio, and it will be going to Pittsburgh PA. The pipeline will carry that batch just fine (let's make it 100,000 bbl) but it will be followed by a 50,000 bbl batch of diesel fuel, also going to Pittsburgh. The end of the first batch won't be completly in Pittsburgh before the "supplier" has to start PUSHING it with diesel fuel. Now you have to make a CUT to diesel in order to push the gas the rest of the way. This results in a short section of product "in between" that is neither the correct gravity for gasoline, and it is also NOT diesel fuel, it's mixed, that is called transmix.
What happens to that transmix when it arrives in Pittsburgh? You can't put it in the gas tank, and you can't sell it as diesel either....it goes into the transmix tank. A separate tank, not connected to the loading rack for sale to the public....sort of a degraded product unfit for sale. What happens to this stuff?
It gets re-refined!
Sometimes it goes back to the refinery and used as blend stock, SOMETIMES it goes to a special "little" refinery, where it is "flash refined" or basically the gas portion is boiled off and resold. What "should" be left is mostly low flash diesel.
This product, neither the gasoline portion, nor the diesel fuel portion would qualify as Top Tier product. But you can bet that it will be less expensive, and you can also bet there there is a chain of gas stations waiting to buy it.
At that point it can either be blended down, or sold as is. Blending it would mean just adding it to a big tank of good stuff so it would be mostly as good as new.
Sold as is probably would NOT meet top tier specs, whatever they are, since nobody is really spelling that out either.
NOW, after writing my second reply in this thread, it occurred to me that there DOES exist inferior product in the supply chain. This process has to do with transmix. Transmix is the "in between" stuff that comes across in ALL of the pipelines that crisscross the United States, and probably every country in the world. Let's say a batch of 87 octane gas is scheduled to be pumped from storage tanks in Ohio, and it will be going to Pittsburgh PA. The pipeline will carry that batch just fine (let's make it 100,000 bbl) but it will be followed by a 50,000 bbl batch of diesel fuel, also going to Pittsburgh. The end of the first batch won't be completly in Pittsburgh before the "supplier" has to start PUSHING it with diesel fuel. Now you have to make a CUT to diesel in order to push the gas the rest of the way. This results in a short section of product "in between" that is neither the correct gravity for gasoline, and it is also NOT diesel fuel, it's mixed, that is called transmix.
What happens to that transmix when it arrives in Pittsburgh? You can't put it in the gas tank, and you can't sell it as diesel either....it goes into the transmix tank. A separate tank, not connected to the loading rack for sale to the public....sort of a degraded product unfit for sale. What happens to this stuff?
It gets re-refined!
Sometimes it goes back to the refinery and used as blend stock, SOMETIMES it goes to a special "little" refinery, where it is "flash refined" or basically the gas portion is boiled off and resold. What "should" be left is mostly low flash diesel.
This product, neither the gasoline portion, nor the diesel fuel portion would qualify as Top Tier product. But you can bet that it will be less expensive, and you can also bet there there is a chain of gas stations waiting to buy it.
At that point it can either be blended down, or sold as is. Blending it would mean just adding it to a big tank of good stuff so it would be mostly as good as new.
Sold as is probably would NOT meet top tier specs, whatever they are, since nobody is really spelling that out either.
Isn't there a firm that sells "top tier" stickers to any and all gasoline stations, all they have to do is pay $49.99 per sticker, plus postage. Supposedly it helps the stations to increase their sales. Or at least that is what I have been told.
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