Digital Fuel Cards Offer Lower Costs and Better Tracking

Fuel cards for vehicle fleets have been around for years, and many contractors are set up with some sort of fuel card system for employees. The harsh reality is that vehicle expenses are going up each year, not only the initial cost but the cost of operating them as well. With that in mind if you have not looked at the newer version of fuel cards, you may be missing out of some sweet benefits.

Like a lot of things used in business today, these cards can do a lot more than past versions. The ones I have seen come with the ability to be used at more than 200,000 fueling stations and are not limited in which brand to buy from. In fact, one fuel card from a major fuel distributor can be used at more than 95 percent of fueling stations in America, even though it is a branded card. There’s no need to spend time searching for a specific station.

Newer cards can use fingerprint or facial recognition, along with the ability to control when the card is used by time of day or day of the week. These cards can be designed to shut off pump purchases at a pre-determined limit. They offer lots of flexibility and they are digital, which eliminates the paper receipts used in the past. You can log in and see what the balances are in real time, as well as see who is using fuel and where they are filling up.

Some of the cards can be set to only allow fuel, not tires or accessories that can raise the average spend. You can control the number of transactions per day, week or month as needed, and limit what they could incur for emergency roadside assistance. The business decides what can be included.

Many of these cards come with either low fees or no fees, eliminating online fees or transaction fees of any kind. I searched and found several that had no fees at all, but they were accepted at thousands of major-brand fueling stations. Most of them also had 24/7 service in the unlikely event of a problem with a card or transaction.

Doing some quick research, I found that many have rebates on purchases for at least a few months. The savings may be a few cents per gallon, but when you are running 10 or 15 trucks it quickly adds up.

In summary, Service Nation works with more than 5,000 members around the globe. Most are in North America, and we see the following trend; the bigger companies, the ones that are almost always very efficient and profitable, all use some sort of fuel card. It just makes sense. So, do your own research, see what fits your company both in size and location and embrace this way to improve your business.