As gas prices surge, stations now hold up to $175 of your money when you swipe

But people with credit card are probably living available limit to available limit. Their credit limit is their cash.

... or a card like the GasBuddy card, which is a fancy WEX fleet card. No holds, just dumps out of your checking account.

Although, it doesn't seem to work with neobanks like Chime, though, which is kind of annoying.

I also keep a card from TSD Logistics (their Open Roads program) for an EFS card that gets me access to commercial diesel at a discounted rate at truck pumps.

Interesting, that is also not the case in the Netherlands. I've never been able to specify the limit, which was recently increased nationwide from 125 euro to 200 euro.

With chip the skimmer can just read the magnetic strip instead, at least on the pumps around me.

There is a hack to this whole affair... Know how big your tank is, do the math (overestimate a bit) and ask for a prepaid fill up. If you don't manage to use the whole prepay the remainder will be credited back to your card. You'll also not hit random limits and card holds when filling big tanks.