You owe me a beer, I spit some of mine out with that comment

Josh

 

I have always heard the "red fuel dip" myth, usually in the form of my brother's boss's step son knew a guy who heard from another guy yadda yadda yadda... never seen or heard of it personally.

However....

At my last pipeline job we did have the IRS show up on one of our largest job sites to test all street licensed OTR trucks. Didn't test any pickups.

Josh

 

Only time I remember I was about 8 in the car with my dad they dipped checking for colored gas. That was about 36 years ago so more than a few tractors and combines used gas. Theybwere just checking everybody. Very rare though. I have 2 or 3 times since read articles in a major newspaper where someone ended up in court. Conclusion it may be rare but occasionally it does get checked

 

Yes personally in Nebraska by DOT I was in a pickup with commercial plates and DOT numbers on the pickup pulling trailer with a tractor on it

 

i have had the fuel tanks checked 3 times in 3 different pickups over the past 30 years.
and all 3 times i got away because the trucks all had clear fuel in them.
2 weeks after i got stopped the last time another guy got stopped in the same truck, he was running low on fuel and filled up out of the off road tank in the yard because there was a truck at the onroad pump and he did not want to wait.
he got a $3000 ticket written in his name and had to pay it out of his pocket because he was the one that put the red fuel in the truck.

 

Yes I have, in my personal truck pulling my 5th wheel and boat.

Was headed west on I-70 in Kansas about the 230 Mile Marker when a State Trooper SUV came through the median, followed me to just before the rest area and pulled me into the rest area. He came up asking about the auxillary tank in the bed with a pump on it. I said that it's actually for Jet A for a Bell JetRanger helicopter but it was currently empty.

He then asked where I fueled up at the last time so I showed him my receipt from a local station in the town where I live. He then asked if the auxillary tank was plumbed into the trucks system to which I answered that it was not. So he brought out a creeper, pair of chocks, chocked the rear tires and rolled underneath because he could clearly see a line coming from the bottom of the aux tank with a ball valve going through the bed of the truck. (It's there to sump the tank and make sure we weren't pumping water into a helicopter) I asked him if he knew the cost of a gallon of Jet A versus diesel.

After that he went back to his SUV and came back with an aluminum case that had a small science lab in it. He proceeded to stuff the one end of the hose into my tank while squeezing the ball till he heard bubbles then he attached the other end of this to a long glass looking tube about 1/4" in diameter and 24" long then started pumping the ball till fuel flowed into the tube. It wasn't red so then he tried to pull fuel from the empty aux tank which I had already told him was empty and just for good measure I reached over in the bed and opened the 1/2" ball valve on the drain while explaining to him that if there were anything in the tank it would be peeing on his shiny black boots.

I did get a warning for being too long with the boat attached to the 5th wheel (didn't know that Kansas had a length limit) and a verbal warning for not having placards on the auxiliary tank showing what was in it. The key word there "was" because it had been empty for over a year.

Once we got to the camp and started discussing this with all the other diesel truck drivers not one of them had been or even heard of someone being checked. However my father in his infinite wisdom suggested that I had been ratted out for possibly buying dyed fuel at the local Coop station where we camp. I can neither confirm or deny that I have ever purchased dyed fuel and pumped it into my tank because the pumps all look the same and I may have inadvertently grabbed the wrong hose looking at the far cheaper price on the pump at one time but again I cannot confirm or deny such ever happened. However after my full body cavity search I was very aware of which pump I used!

 

Thanks all ... was clearly not trying to start a flame war but just kept hearing this over and over.

It has never happened to me and then my buddy, who I am not sure has ever put clear fuel in his truck, was like "I have run every truck ever on red fuel" that has never had an issue.

I was just looking for experiences you all may have had.

tr0y

 

I was not aware of this topic at all... I'm in the marine industry and occasionally when filling some of the yachts I own or manage ( as a courtesy for all the business I give the local fuel trucks) they top my EX off (for free). Don't know what to say, my typical fill ups are north of a 1000 gallons and usually no more than 20 in the truck since I try to stay at 1/2 tank or better. Is that tax evasion or paying for fuel evasion?

 

I love this place.

 

I've been checked on us31 north of Indianapolis. I was dot numbered and hauling a camper.

 

I'm in the heavy equipment business. About twice a year the IRS will pull into our yard and drive straight to the first plated diesel vehicle and begin dipping tanks on every subsequent plated vehicle there is.

I've witnessed it myself and spoke to the lady with the IRS.

Here in SoCal they set up random commercial enforcement checkpoints. The IRS will often participate.

By law we can't haul one of our plated water trucks on our lowboy if it contains red dye. Yes they will check you at the scales if they want to dig deep enough. If we mistakenly fill one of our plated trucks with red dye, our service techs will be cleaning the fuel system on a job site and someone is going to lose their job. Every driver is required to dip the tank before they load a plated vehicle. It's no joke.

I can assure you that you're not going to be telling the IRS they can't dip your tank. A lock on your fuel tank is not going to make them shutter and go away lol. The only hell worse than a woman's scorn is the IRS

Believe it. This is a real deal. The likelihood of them dipping a personal vehicle is very low. I'd wager close to zero. They're going to go after those that are the lowest hanging fruit and that's a business. But all it takes is a car accident or something to bounce up and puncture your tank, the PoPo shows up, sees the red dye, and you've got Obama up your butt for a lifetime.

I hope you can tell I'm sarcastic in parts of my post but it's also a very real thing. Just wanted to clear up some bad information.

 

You can't haul a vehicle with red fuel in the tank? I'd like to see the law on that one...

 

New one to me as well.

Josh

 

I ran the trucking dept at my company for 5 years and not one truck was ever dipped.
Nor did the IRS or DOT ever come to our lot and do any testing.
Where is the law that gives the IRS authority to inspect trucks?

 

Publication 510 (07/2013), Excise Taxes

Josh