Using self-service gas pumps in Israel - with Hebrew-only interface

Question

After traveling quite a bit in Israel by car I still can't figure out how to use gas pumps at the gas stations.

All pumps I've seen were self service ones where you pay by car at the pump. Also none of them would allow you to change the language from Hebrew to anything else.

Issue with it is that they will ask you some questions and expect some answers. Every time I had to ask someone for help and they would come, press some buttons on the keyboard but I still have no idea what it was.

So:

1. what questions are asked?
2. what answers do I have to provide?
3. why none of them has interface in English?

Answer 1

Almost all gas stations in Israel have full service pumps, where you pay a little more and are taken care of.

Unfortunately you're right - the interface is Hebrew only and I know no way to change it.

You're asked two questions - the license plate number (that's easy) and your id number (equivalent to American SSN). The questions are normally, not always, in this order. The main problem is not having an id number. It's part of the credit card verification process, so you can type something arbitrary and hope the transaction is approved.

Answer 2

Even when using self service you can still get help from the gas station workers.

If there are no workers outside next to the pumps, you can always go inside (usually to the nearby convenience store and pay at the till, this is also how you pay in cash for gas.

If you want you can always pay slightly more and get full service, where they will fill gas for you. Most stations will have both types of pumps. To know the difference, in Hebrew full service is שירות מלא, self service is שירות עצמי

Answer 3

what questions are asked? what answers do I have to provide?

Typically (perhaps always), what you get is:

1. "Swipe credit card" (and it could be tricky to get it right - make sure you use the correct one of 4 ways to do it).
2. "Enter your ID number" (associated with your credit card)
3. "Enter car registration (= car plate) number" (with no dashes nor spaces)

why none of them has interface in English?

There isn't a good reason IMHO. Maybe it's cheaper than to have a multi-language interface? And a lot of these machines are probably 1980s technology. Also, maybe there's assuming only locals will have a credit card and the rest will opt for full service anyway.

Actually, it's even worse than the screen interface, because the keys often have Hebrew labels printed on them. So you might have המשך or הכנס instead of Ok/Enter. At least there's color-coding sometimes for the keys - Green for Ok/Enter, Yellow for correction, Red for Cancel. Not always though.