Whether you own a small business or a large operation, the right fuel card can significantly impact your daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly savings. It’s important to consider more than cost savings, though – look for management tools, extensive acceptance networks, and security features.
Reduce Your Fuel Expenses
Fleet managers and owners constantly look for ways to reduce fuel costs, particularly on semi-trucks. With a sound fuel card, businesses can streamline monitoring, reporting, and other operational tasks. Instead of relying on drivers collecting receipts and business owners keying data into spreadsheet software, a quality fleet management fuel card can automatically create comprehensive reports for each purchase.
Not only will this save time, but it will help to eliminate errors and streamline the entire process. Additionally, some cards come with additional benefits, such as roadside assistance, which can help to cut down on repair costs and lost drive time due to breakdowns.
Some fleet fuel cards also have powerful configuration tools that allow businesses to set driver purchase limits, control the type of fuel purchased, and locate lower-cost options along each route. This helps to minimize the risk of theft and enables businesses to identify cost savings opportunities proactively. These features are essential for trucking fleets, which typically have slim margins. This means that any savings they can generate are a big deal!
Track Your Fuel Usage
With the best fleet fuel card, you can get valuable data on vehicle fuel consumption that identifies areas where your business can save. These insights can help you save on costs and improve operational efficiency by implementing fuel-saving measures, such as route optimization, driver training, or scheduled maintenance.
Consider your short- and long-term business goals when choosing a fleet fuel card. Establishing goals early on will help you make the most of your investment in a fuel program, whether it’s financial savings, increased control over purchases, or other benefits such as discounts and rebates.
Make sure your fuel card offers the controls you need to manage your fleet’s purchasing habits, such as the ability to set purchase limits, limit types of fueling, and locate the lowest-cost fuel options. Also, ensure your card offers vehicle tracking to detect potential fraud, such as idling or unauthorized usage. These features can help you optimize your operations and reduce costs with real-time alerts and comprehensive daily, weekly, and monthly reporting.
Reduce Your Administrative Burdens
A fleet fuel card is a great way to streamline your operations. When truck drivers, technicians, and other employees are out on the road representing your business, you need to know that they’re working efficiently and keeping expenses low.
With the right fleet fuel card, you can set purchase controls by item, amount, day of week, and more to limit what your drivers can buy while on the job. You can even eliminate the need for separate cash and credit cards and save time reconciling expenses with a single transaction report.
Additionally, many fleet cards offer additional services like IFTA reporting that can be automated. These are the kinds of savings that can free up resources to focus on higher-value tasks that drive productivity and growth. Contact a fuel card provider to learn more about their cards, management tools, prices, and rebates. You can then compare their offerings to find the best fuel card. A sound card will allow you to gain access to an extensive network of fueling stations, provide great rebates, and simplify your operations.
Consolidate Your Fueling
Keeping track of all your trucks’ expenses and receipts can be a hassle when drivers use cash company cards or even personal credit cards to buy fuel. Fleet management fuel cards can simplify things and help you keep your bookkeeping organized and accurate.
When choosing a card, find one with a network that includes most stations on your fleet’s routes and offers fuel discounts and other benefits. Also, consider whether the card has minimum purchasing thresholds that may not work well for your fleet size or if it excludes specific pumps you need to use.
Many top-tier fuel cards can offer per-gallon rebates, which can add up. Some offer discounted rates on roadside services like tire retreads, replacements, and other maintenance, so it pays to shop around for the best possible deal. In addition, you can find cards with built-in fraud protection that alerts you to any suspicious activity. This can be invaluable in protecting your assets and preventing theft by employees who might misuse their cards.
Streamline Your Operations
As a fleet manager, you know that fuel is one of your most significant expenses, and the right card can help you save money and limit risk. A well-chosen card will also offer tangible benefits that improve day-to-day business operations. For example, the correct card will capture more robust data at most brand-name fuel stations, such as price per gallon, driver ID, vehicle location, and odometer readings. These details are instantly accessible through a web or mobile application and provide powerful analytics that identify areas for improvement. A fleet fuel card with a cam coach and AI can encourage driver performance through instant feedback to build driving skills, reduce costly engine idling, and increase fuel efficiency.
A comprehensive approach to reducing construction fleet fuel costs includes Optimizing dispatch and job allocation, monitoring consumption, leveraging technology, properly maintaining vehicles, minimizing wasteful empty miles, and streamlining your operations.
A sound fuel card will make it easy to implement all these strategies, resulting in lower fuel costs and improved fleet productivity.
