CEDAR RAPIDS - We know gas is expensive, but a Cedar Rapids man says he shouldn't have to pay the $258 it took to fill his tank.

When Rollie Pierson filled up on January 31, 2008 he wasn't expecting any problems. But, later that night, his 30-day old car wouldn't start. So he took it back to the dealer.

"They called me back and asked where I bought my gas. They said it was bad gas. They cleaned out the tank and found it was 60% water," said Pierson.

Pierson filled up at the BP station on Center Point Road Northeast, near 42nd street.

Pierson wasn't the only one who had problems, in all 13 people bought what state regulators deemed bad gas.

Inspectors say what happened is called phase separation. Essentially, when gas with ethanol gets too much water, it separates. Inspectors say what likely happened in this case is drivers filled up and got more of the ethanol and water than actual gasoline.

Darryl Brown works for the Iowa Department of Agriculture's Weights and Measures Bureau. His department investigated the gas at this particular station. Without speaking to this exact situation, Brown said the problem usually happens at the gas station.

"It's an accident, this can happen because the lid was left off, but ethanol will support a certain amount of water, and at one point it will separate out," said Brown.

The problem has left Pierson out $258.

Travelers Casualty Insurance Company of America is covering the BP station. They sent the customers a letter, blaming the bad gas on the distributor, Molo Oil Company in Dubuque.

Pierson says a Molo representative told him they delivered good gas.

"I assumed like any other type of claim problem it would be taken care of in a week or ten days. We're going on a month and don't see any end to it," said Pierson.

Until there is an end, Pierson says there's one less station he's filling up at.

Representatives from Travelers told TV9 they couldn't comment on any current cases.

The gas station never returned our phone calls.

Email Justin Foss at Justin.Foss@kcrg.com