Stranger buys Oregon gas station attendant new car

ASTORIA, Ore. — A gas station attendant in Oregon made such a good impression on a customer that they bought the worker a new car.

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Bradley Rowe was working Nov. 20 when he started talking with a customer while filling his tank, KGW reported.

“He was just asking some questions. I’m like, ‘I’m trying to get a car loan.’ He said, ‘How much?’ He asked, ‘What lot?’ I said it was a private sale,” Rowe, 23, said, recalling the otherwise innocuous conversation. “Just sitting and chatting with him, then his gas was done. He said, ‘you have a great day,’ I said, ‘you too.’”

After getting gas, the man, who has not been identified, went to a car dealership to look for vehicles.

“He made the comment saying that the car is not going to be for me anyway, and that changed the whole thing,” salesman Bill Ring said. “It was like, well, what do you mean it’s not going to be for you?”

The man told Ring about the conversation he had with Rowe. He then wrote a check and told Ring, “This should be enough for him to find something good. Something reliable.”

Ring then drove about 10 minutes to the gas station to find Rowe.

“You really made a good impression on somebody today and somebody’s really going out of their way for you,” Ring told him. “Here’s my business card and when you get off work, you got to come pick out a new car.”

Although skeptical, Rowe and his girlfriend went to the car dealership after work. He ended up buying the first car he test drove — a 2016 Kia Sportage with all-wheel drive.

Rowe woke up the next day still in shock.

“I mostly just can’t wrap my head around the sheer kindness of that complete stranger,” Rowe said. “To talk to somebody for five minutes and then go, ‘I’m gonna buy him a car.’ It’s just unreal.”

Why did the stranger do it? Ring said the man told him, “that everything in his life changed when he found his faith and now he had the opportunity to give back to somebody who’s in need.”

Cox Media Group