Fleet managers face various challenges, such as monitoring fuel consumption, controlling expenses, preventing fraud and maintaining accurate records. In recent years, one tool has simplified fleet operations: the fuel card. This powerful financial business solution streamlines fuel purchasing and offers a range of features designed to enhance efficiency, security and cost control. Let’s explore how fuel cards can help.
Unlike traditional credit cards, fuel cards are tailored specifically for fleet-related purchases and come equipped with features beneficial to fleet managers.
What are Fuel Cards?
A fuel card, or fleet card, functions similarly to a credit card. However, these cards also allow businesses to monitor and control fuel and maintenance expenses for their fleets. Unlike traditional credit cards, fuel cards are tailored specifically for fleet-related purchases and come equipped with features beneficial to fleet managers. Here are five of the main features of most fleet cards:
Rebates and Discounts
One of the main advantages of fuel cards is the access to rebates and discounts. Many fuel card programs offer fuel rebates when the card is used within the fuel card network. Valero, for instance, offers rebates of up to 8¢ per gallon when its fleet cards are used at Valero stations. Over time, these savings can add up.
In addition to fuel rebates, many fleet card companies, including Valero, offer additional discounts on auto parts, hotels and more.
Real-time Data
Fuel cards provide real-time data on fuel purchases, including details such as the location of the transaction, the amount of fuel purchased and the price per gallon. This immediate access to information allows managers to monitor fuel consumption and make data-driven decisions. Real-time data also helps prevent unauthorized transactions and enables swift adjustments to fuel budgets.
Purchase Controls
Another critical feature of fuel cards is the ability to set purchase controls. These controls allow fleet managers to limit the purchases employees can make with the card, the amount of fuel that can be bought, or the number of transactions permitted within a specific timeframe. This feature is handy for preventing unnecessary spending and ensuring all fuel purchases are legitimate and within company policies.
Security
Fleet fuel cards offer enhanced security features to protect against fraud and misuse. Cards can be tied to specific vehicles or drivers, and fleet managers can require PINs or driver IDs to authorize transactions.
Reporting and Analytics
Perhaps one of fuel cards’ most valuable features is their reporting and analytics capabilities. These tools provide detailed reports on fuel usage, expenses, driver behavior and vehicle performance. Fleet managers can use this data to identify trends, track performance and optimize routes. In addition, fuel card reports can be easily integrated with accounting systems to streamline financial reporting and expense management.
Aspects of Fleet Operations and the Role of Fuel Cards
Fleet operations encompass a wide range of activities, from fuel management and vehicle maintenance to cost control and compliance monitoring. Fuel cards provide the tools to streamline operations, improve efficiency and reduce costs.
Fuel Management
Effective fuel management is one of the most critical aspects of fleet operations, and fuel cards are invaluable in this area. Three of the features we previously discussed are key for managing fuel:
Fuel Rebates
The impact of fuel rebates is pretty straightforward — they reduce how much a fleet spends on fuel. Every penny added to a company’s bottom line boosts cash flow.
Real-time Data Capture
Real-time data can help identify patterns of excessive fuel usage or inefficient driving behaviors, which can be addressed through training or route optimization.
Purchase Limits
Purchase limits allow managers to control how much fuel each driver can purchase within a set period. This feature helps prevent overspending and ensures fuel purchases align with operational needs. It is particularly helpful for enforcing policies. By aligning transaction limits with company fueling guidelines, fleet managers can ensure drivers stay on target.
Fraud Prevention
Fuel fraud can be a significant concern for fleet operators and has the potential to significantly impact a company’s bottom line. Fuel cards provide several features that help prevent fraud and protect against unauthorized transactions.
Real-time Security
Again, real-time data comes to the rescue. By monitoring transactions as they occur, fleet managers can quickly identify any unusual activity, such as purchases outside of approved locations or excessive fuel volumes. Immediate access to this information allows swift action to prevent further unauthorized spending.
Setting Transaction Limits
With customizable purchase controls, managers can tailor the setting to meet the specific needs of their fleet. As mentioned, these controls can restrict the types of purchases that can be made, limit transaction amounts, or even restrict purchases to specific days of the week or hours of the day.
Security Features
Fuel cards enhance security and prevent unauthorized use through PINs, driver IDs and vehicle-specific or driver-specific card usage. Many cards also include real-time alerts for suspicious transactions, allowing fleet managers to act quickly in case of fraud.
Fuel Expense Tracking
Tracking fuel expenses is critical for fleet managers, and fuel cards make this process significantly easier.
Automated Fuel Expense Reporting
The real-time data provided by fuel cards allows fleet managers to track fuel expenses as they occur. They can monitor how much fuel is purchased, at what price and by whom. This real-time visibility helps ensure all purchases are legitimate and within budget and provides valuable insights for future fuel management decisions.
Real-time data also means there is no need to collect receipts or fill out expense reports, as all the data is gathered automatically without the risk of human error.
Fuel cards provide several features that help prevent fraud and protect against unauthorized transactions.
Vehicle Management
Fuel cards are essential in vehicle management. They provide valuable data for tracking vehicle performance and maintenance needs.
Vehicle Specific Data
The data provided by fuel cards includes fuel used and mileage traveled. This means fleet managers always have accurate and up-to-date information regarding fuel economy. This data can be used to track trends in vehicle performance. Add telematics into the mix, and you have detailed diagnostics to cue maintenance needs early on. By analyzing this information, fleet managers can identify vehicles that require maintenance or are underperforming.
Vehicle Reporting and Analytics
The reporting feature of fuel cards means managers can view trends in performance, hours of run time, maintenance costs, etc. This can help fleet managers stay on top of vehicle maintenance schedules, track fuel efficiency, and monitor overall vehicle health.
Accounting
Fuel cards can drastically simplify the accounting process by providing detailed reports that can be easily integrated with financial systems. All data points are housed in a fleet card dashboard. This information can easily be exported into most bookkeeping and accounting platforms. This reduces the need for manual data entry and minimizes the risk of errors, saving valuable time for your accounting department.
Efficient Fleet Management
Fuel cards offer fleet operators many benefits that help with everything from fuel management and fraud prevention to vehicle maintenance and financial reporting. By providing real-time data, purchase controls, enhanced security and detailed reporting, fuel cards help fleet managers streamline their operations, reduce costs and improve overall efficiency. As fleet management continues to evolve, fuel cards will remain a key tool for optimizing performance and ensuring long-term success.