During the pandemic, consumers are increasingly willing to use contactless payments, and that includes how they pay for gas at the pump. The latest Conexxus survey of EMV readiness found strong support among gas station owners/operators for contactless card payments at automated fuel dispensers (AFD), particularly after COVID-19 hit the U.S.

Conexxus fielded the survey from February 27 to March 31, 2020, before the major credit card companies this spring agreed to delay the AFD liability shift date to April 16 or 17, 2021, from the October 2020 deadline. All survey responses still assumed the October date. Among survey respondents who replied after COVID-19 hit, 74% said they have or plan to implement contactless EMV at the pump. This compares with 51% of respondents who responded before COVID-19 hit.

See the full results in the Spring 2020 Conexxus EMV Preparedness Report at www.conexxus.org/sites/default/files/Spring_2020_Conexxus_EMV_Survey.pdf.

The industry is making progress in installing at least a few outdoor EMV-compliant payment systems, except for owners/operators of 10 or fewer stores. About 52% of the respondents said they had no sites with EMV deployed at their pumps, compared with 70% in the 2019 Conexxus survey. Among gas stations that said they haven’t implemented outdoor EMV, 89% said they intended to adopt it, while 10% of respondents said they were still undecided. All respondents in the undecided group were owners/operators with 10 or fewer stores.