Did a Connecticut rental car agency need a gasoline seller license for refueling customers’ cars?

Plain-English summary

In September 1994, Connecticut’s AG said car rental agencies needed gasoline seller licenses when they supplied fuel from their own pumps and charged customers who returned vehicles short of the required level. The licensing statute reached any person who sold or offered gasoline for use in motor vehicles. It did not limit the requirement to service stations or businesses whose primary trade was fuel.

Rental agencies had pointed to a New York ruling about incidental refueling by car leasing businesses. The AG distinguished that statute because it expressly addressed retail fuel sales. Connecticut’s licensing provision had no comparable retail-only language. The opinion was about the sale or offer of fuel to customers, not every fee charged under a rental agreement.

Rental car companies at the time

The AG read the seller-license requirement as applying to the described refueling sales, despite car rental being the company’s main business.

Consumer protection officials at the time

The opinion supported the state’s existing licensing policy for agencies that sold or offered gasoline to renters.

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 1994. Subsequent statutory amendments, court decisions, or later AG opinions may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current legal advice. Verify current law before relying on any specific rule, deadline, or remedy mentioned here.

Common questions

Q: Was refueling a returned rental car a gasoline sale under the opinion?
A: Yes, where the agency supplied fuel and charged the customer, the AG said the licensing statute applied.

Q: Did an agency avoid a license because gasoline was not its main business?
A: No. The AG said Connecticut’s statute did not contain the retail-business limitation found in the New York law raised by rental agencies.

Q: Did the opinion address all rental-car fuel charges?
A: No. It addressed agencies that sold or offered gasoline from their own pumps in the described return situation.

Background and statutory framework

Conn. Gen. Stat. § 14-319(a) prohibited sale or offer of gasoline without a seller license. The AG compared it with the narrower “retail dealer” definition in Conn. Gen. Stat. § 14-318(7) and found no retail condition in the licensing provision itself.

Citations and references

Statutes: Conn. Gen. Stat. § 14-319(a); Conn. Gen. Stat. § 14-318(7).

Source

• Landing page: https://portal.ct.gov/AG/Opinions
• Opinion page: https://portal.ct.gov/ag/opinions/1994-formal-opinions/honorable-gloria-schaffer-department-of-consumer-protection-1994026-formal-opinion-attorney-general

Original opinion text

Honorable Gloria Schaffer, Department of Consumer Protection, 1994-026 Formal Opinion, Attorney General of Connecticut

Attorney General's Opinion

Attorney General Richard Blumenthal

September 16, 1994

Honorable Gloria Schaffer

Commissioner

Department of Consumer Protection

165 Capitol Avenue

Hartford, CT 06106

Dear Commissioner Schaffer:

In your letter of May 20, 1994, you inquired whether the State of Connecticut should continue to require car rental companies to be licensed as sellers of gasoline. You explained that some car rental agencies require their customers to return the vehicles with a particular amount of gasoline. If the vehicles are not returned with the requisite amount of gasoline, the agencies will provide gasoline from their own pumps and will charge the customers for the gasoline.

The licensing requirement for the sale of gasoline is set forth in Conn. Gen. Stat. § 14-319(a). Based on our analysis of Conn. Gen. Stat. § 14-319(a), it is our advice that a car rental agency that sells or offers to sell gasoline to its customers is required to be licensed as a seller of gasoline.

Section 14-319(a) provides, in part:

No person shall sell or offer for sale any gasoline or other product intended for use in the propelling of motor vehicles using combustion type engines over the highways of this state without having applied for and received from the commissioner a license to sell such gasoline or other products. . . . Conn. Gen. Stat. § 14-319(a) (1993).
According to your letter, several car rental agencies have objected to the current state policy of requiring licensing for the sale of gasoline, citing Super Glue Corp. v. Avis Rent A Car System, 557 N.Y.S. 2d. 959, 159 AD2d 68 (1990). In Super Glue, the New York Appellate Court held that the New York statute governing licensing for the sale of gasoline applied only to "retail establishments such as service stations." N.Y. Agric. & Mkts Law § 192(5) (McKinney 1986). The court distinguished car rental refueling activities as ones not primary to the business of car leasing and subsequently not "retail" establishments under the New York Law. According to that statute, "[i]t shall be unlawful for any person, firm, or corporation to sell or offer for sale at retail for use in internal combustion engines in motor vehicles or motorboats any motor fuel. . . ." Id. (emphasis added). The Super Glue decision relies on the lack of a "retail" aspect in the car rental agencies gasoline sales as required by the New York statute. In comparison, Conn. Gen. Stat. § 14-319(a) is not limited to "retail" dealers. In fact, "retail dealer" is defined under the Connecticut licensing framework as "any person operating a service station, filling station, store, garage, or other place of business for the sale of motor fuel for delivery into the service tank or tanks of any vehicle propelled by an internal combustion engine." Conn. Gen. Stat. § 14-318(7). The term "retail dealer" appears in various references in Chapter 250, such as in reference to mandatory handicapped access and restrictions against fuel surcharges and tie-in or conditional fuel sales. Conn. Gen. Stat. §§ 14-325(b), 14-332a(b) (1993). However, unlike New York, Conn. Gen. Stat. § 14-319 makes no mention of such a "retail" prerequisite for gasoline sales licensing and by plain meaning, applies to any seller of gasoline.

We trust this answers your question.

Very truly yours,

RICHARD BLUMENTHAL

ATTORNEY GENERAL

Neil G. Fishman

Assistant Attorney General

RB/NGF/md