Why your fleet should consider Company Fuel Cards

Fleet managers are constantly looking for ways to drive down costs and one way to do this successfully is to introduce using company fuel cards within your fleet. Fuel cards are aligned to a specific petrol company and mean that drivers can get their fuel without paying upfront and the employer will pay the bill centrally, usually on a monthly basis. When considering this versus a ‘Pay and Reclaim’ system of reimbursing employees, a company fuel card will mean that you are sure you only pay for the fuel consumed, as opposed to finger in the air calculations and widely questioned HMRC rates.

How a company fuel card can help your business

Using company fuel cards can mean that employers will gain detailed information allowing for monitoring of mileage and fuel usage per driver as well as gaining price advantages with fixed weekly prices on fuel that are lower than the standard rate of fuel.

Such usage information can help companies to target their training focus on those staff who need it most to help reduce their fuel consumption and adopt more efficient driving methods. Fuel usage patterns can also be analysed to pick up when drivers are perhaps also using fuel for private usage, or maybe filling up more often than necessary and possibly using the fuel card on a personal vehicle. In contrast to this, the information derived from company fuel cards can also be used to reward your best drivers with incentives for those who seek to gain the most miles per gallon. Not only will efficient driving encouraged by fuel cards help save on fuel costs, but will also help reduce your risk and therefore fleet insurance premiums.

With a company fuel card there is no need for your drivers to retain receipts confirming their fuel consumption, nor for staff to keep chasing for this proof. In addition to this benefit to the driver, for accounting purposes there is also the ease of single monthly invoices as well as cash flow benefits from the predictable nature of using company fuel cards.
In the world of a paperless office, company fuel cards are also a good way of automating payments and negating the need for administration and fuel expense reports. Fuel cards are also much more secure than a corporate credit card which is unfortunately very susceptible to fraud.

What to consider when looking for a company fuel card

When considering a company fuel card provider it is vital to think about just how much information you need and what you will actually make use of versus what they are offering. The station’s network coverage across the country, or at least areas across the country that your business covers, are going to be an important feature to consider as well as what additional services at each station can be included for usage on the card.

As a final consideration, once you are set up with a company fuel card provider it is also important to continue regular reviews of all providers to ensure that you are benefiting from the best savings to your business. Many businesses become complacent once they have sourced a provider and fail to keep up-to-date with the competitive nature of the market.