How to Choose the Right Fleet Fuel Card

 
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The first step to streamlining your business’s finances and reducing your fuel costs is to get a fleet fuel card.

Lucky for us, there are tons of fuel card companies to pick from, and most of them even offer a variety of fuel cards. But with all these choices, which ones are the best for your business?

What Are Fleet Fuel Cards?

Fleet fuel cards are a type of payment card used by employees to purchase fuel and maintenance services for the vehicles they drive for work.

How To Choose the Right Card for Your Business

Choosing the right fleet fuel card depends on the unique needs and circumstances of your operations. Do you experience high levels of turnover? Are you a seasonal business that ramps up quickly? Is there friendly fraud occurring? Is your team distributed in different regions? Understanding these factors will help you identify the most important card features for your business' needs.

Scope of Operations and Coverage

When we talk about your 'scope of operations', we mean how big your business is and where you operate. Are you a small business with just a few vehicles buzzing around town, or a big company with a lot of vehicles in many different places?

“Comprehensive coverage” might sound fancy, but it's just about how wide the network of fuel stations is that accept your fleet fuel card. The broader the coverage, the better.

Small-Scale Operations

If your business is smaller, the fuel card you choose can make a big difference in how smoothly things run and how much money you spend.

Small teams typically operate within a localized area—perhaps a city or a particular region. They need a fuel card that has strong ties with local fuel stations. Getting a fuel card that's accepted in many local stations is key. It means your drivers won't waste time hunting for a place to refuel, which saves time and boosts productivity.

Secondly, small businesses want to ensure their time is focused on their revenue-generating activities. So, a fuel card with a simple app that saves time on administration is a great choice. The best fleet fuel cards for small businesses should allow you to track fuel purchases, reduce expense reports and paperwork, and streamline tax reporting – all through an easy-to-use application.

Large-Scale Operations

Large-scale fleets have more complex demands due to the volume of transactions and geographical areas travelled. They require a fleet fuel card that offers access to an extensive network of fuel stations across multiple provinces or even cross-border.

Consider this: You’re managing a moving company with trucks supporting residential, commercial, and specialized moves in multiple urban centers. Your fleet frequently operates across provincial lines, refueling in various cities. In such a case, having a fuel card that provides a vast network of fueling stations nationwide is vital, even if it comes at a monthly or annual cost.

Additionally, overseeing a large fleet also requires advanced reporting capabilities. The fleet fuel card you pick should be able to provide detailed reports regarding each vehicle's fuel consumption, the location and time of refueling, and any unusual activity to give you a better grip on your operations. This ensures you can efficiently monitor your fleet, reduce administrative burdens, and make informed decisions to keep your operations running smoothly and cost-effectively.

Maintenance and Service

Keeping up with regular maintenance and service is key to keeping your company vehicles in top shape. Overlooking this can result in unexpected breakdowns and longer downtime, which could hurt your business productivity and profits. So how can a fleet fuel card play a role in this scenario?

Many fleet fuel cards aren't just for buying fuel; they also offer payment and discounts for vehicle maintenance and servicing. This could be anything from tire replacement to oil changes and regular check-ups.

In addition, some fuel cards integrate with onboard telematics such as Samsara and Geotab, allowing you to combine transaction data with vehicle performance insights to get a complete picture of your fleet’s health and proactively manage maintenance, ensuring timely servicing.

Security and alerts

When it comes to fleet management, security is something you can't ignore.

Just like you'd protect your company's physical assets, you need to make sure that the information related to your fleet's fuel use and costs is also secure.

Fleet fuel cards should have security features to guard against unauthorized use, such as PIN protection or mobile authentication.

Many fleet fuel cards also provide real-time alerts and controls. These features notify you whenever there is unusual activity related to the card, such as an unusually high amount of fuel being purchased or the card being used outside of work hours.

A good fleet fuel card also provides secure data management. This means the card protects all your sensitive information, including transaction data, driver details, and other financial information from online threats.

Rewards and Rebates

Who doesn't love rewards and rebates, especially when they directly impact your business's bottom line?

Many fuel cards give cash-back rewards based on how much fuel you buy. If your business consumes a significant amount of fuel, these rebates can translate into substantial savings over time. For a long-haul transportation company where fuel costs are one of the biggest expenses, even 3c/L can put a significant amount of money back in your pocket each month.

Fuel cards may also give rewards that go beyond fuel purchases, like discounts on maintenance services or purchases at partner stores. For instance, some cards might provide discounts on tire replacements or offer points for every dollar spent on fuel that you can then redeem at certain retail outlets. In essence, you're not just saving on fuel, but also other operational costs.

Some cards offer tiered rewards programs. The higher your tier is, the greater the rewards. So, a company with a large fleet that consumes a high volume of fuel could move up reward tiers faster, reaping more benefits.

Spending Limits

A fleet card with the ability to set limits and restrictions on the card will allow you to dictate where, when, and how your drivers can use the card. This reduces the likelihood of unauthorized or unnecessary spending.

If you want your drivers to use fuel cards strictly for fueling their vehicles, you can use the spending limit feature of the fleet card to limit the usage of the card to fuel purchases only. This means your drivers won't be able to use the card to purchase parking or get any vehicle maintenance done without your explicit permission.

Additionally, some fleet fuel cards offer the ability to set daily or weekly spending limits. If your business has a defined budget for fleet expenses, you can set spending caps on the cards to ensure that your drivers don't exceed this budget. Think of it as an extra layer of financial protection for your business.

You can typically customize the spending limit for each card. So, if some vehicles in your fleet consume more fuel due to longer routes or heavier loads, you can adjust their spending limits accordingly.

Easy-to-use Interface

A good fuel card solution should be easy to use and have a simple user interface. This applies to the process of using the card and the online portal or mobile app where managers will track expenses and manage cards. A fleet fuel card with an easy-to-use interface can save the manager and your business a lot of time and effort.

On the driver's end, a card that's easy to use means less time spent at the fuel station and on fuel expenses. Some cards require multiple steps to authorize a transaction - enter a PIN, answer a security question, input purchase prompts, wait for authorization, and so on. While these steps add a layer of security, they can also slow down your drivers. A good fleet card should allow you to choose whether you want to keep the extra security features or disable them to make the transaction process simpler.

A simple and intuitive interface ensures drivers, managers, bookkeepers, and owners can do what they need to do without unnecessary delays.

Customer Support

Like any other product, having responsive and helpful customer support for fleet cards is important.

Situations can arise where prompt support makes a significant difference. For example, if one of your drivers encounters an issue with the card or payment terminal while refueling, quick and efficient customer support can help resolve the problem swiftly so they can get back on the road.

However, great customer support goes beyond just handling issues. It also involves providing training to your team on how to use the card, its associated software, and apps, ensuring a smooth transition and ongoing efficiency in operations.

Additionally, effective customer support means being available to answer any questions or resolve any concerns. If you have unclear transactions in your monthly report, you should be able to easily reach out for assistance and get clear answers quickly.

Scalability

Whether you're adding more vehicles to your fleet or expanding your operations geographically, your fleet fuel card should be able to keep pace.

Let's consider a simple example. Suppose you're a local delivery service with a small fleet of ten vehicles. You choose a fleet fuel card that caters perfectly to your current needs - it offers great local coverage, and managing expenses for ten vehicles is a breeze.

But fast forward a couple of years, your business is thriving, and you now have fifty vehicles delivering across multiple locations. Would that same fuel card still serve your needs effectively? Can it efficiently manage the drivers and expenses of fifty vehicles?

If the answer is no, you might find yourself in a predicament. Switching to a new fuel card at this stage could mean significant changes in your operations - from training your drivers to using the new card to integrating the new card with your existing systems.

That's why, when choosing a fleet fuel card, it's important to not only consider your current needs but also your future goals. A scalable fleet fuel card that can adjust and adapt as your business evolves will save you the hassle of switching cards later.

Integration with Accounting and Business Software

For many businesses, managing a fleet is just one part of their operations. They also have accounting systems, employee management software, and other business applications. If your business also uses such software, then considering how well the fuel card you choose can integrate with these existing systems becomes crucial.

If your fleet fuel card can link with the accounting software your company uses, all your fuel and maintenance costs could automatically update in your accounting system. This not only saves time but also reduces the chances of errors that can occur when manually entering data.

In the same way, if your business uses a GPS tracking system for your fleet, a fuel card that can sync with this system can offer extra benefits. For instance, you can easily correlate fuel consumption data with route and driver performance, leading to better fleet management.

Fillip — Best Overall Fleet Fuel Card

Fillip is a one-of-a-kind fleet card that runs on the Visa network to provide extensive fuel station coverage. Its primary card is digital and works directly through the Android or iOS app via digital wallets like Google Pay or Apple Wallet to make transactions simpler and more secure. Businesses can order physical cards as well with a one-time fee of $10.

It’s easy to create an account with Fillip. Unlike most other fuel card providers, you can get an account on the same day you sign up and issue cards to your drivers right away.

The system logs every driver's purchase with level 3 transaction data and instantly provides it to you, along with customizable reports to make bookkeeping easy.

To help safeguard against fuel card fraud, Fillip provides smart tags that operators place on each vehicle and connect to their fleet in the app. Drivers must tap the tag to authorize a transaction, ensuring the vehicle and the driver are at the point of purchase. In addition, Fillip offers customizable spending rules and monitors purchases for unusual activity.

Key Features

Can be used at any station that accepts Visa
Rebates at various major fuel brands
Secure digital cards issued instantly
Real-time data and comprehensive reporting
Helps you adapt seamlessly to seasonality, turnover, and growth

Get Fillip - 30 Days Free