Fuel price is ever-changing, but it is one of the biggest expenses manufacturers and fleet owners. Hence, many companies are looking for specialised solutions that fit their business needs to somehow lower their expenses.
Fuel companies and distributors now offer tailored solutions that operators and business owners can get to help limit expenses, – fuel cards or fleet cards
These cards may be used as another mode of payment for gasoline, diesel, fuels, and other products offered by different service stations. Fuel/Fleet cards may also be used to pay for vehicle maintenance and other expenses, depending on the limitation set by the business manager or fleet owner.
It doesn’t seem to help much, but having fuel cards is more helpful than one might think.
The advantages of using fuel cards:
Spending control
Getting fuel cards can contribute in reducing the expenses by letting operators control the amount spent on fuel transactions. With fuel cards, you can have tailored solutions to accommodate the various needs of your business. This set-up also lets you limit the type and amount spent on every transaction using the fuel card.
Avoid out-of-pocket Expenses for drivers
Using fuel cards is advantageous not only for the drivers but also for operators/business owners. When drivers have fuel cards, operators won’t have to hand out money when they roll out. Drivers won’t have to carry sums of money to cover the amount of the fuel they need.
Drivers won’t have to handle receipts or ask for reimbursements. Also, if a driver loses his fuel card, all he has to do is contact the manager/operator to have the card blocked or disabled. Compared to a sum of cash that he won’t be able to retrieve once it’s gone.
Discounts
More often than not, fuel card owners are given special discounts whenever they use their cards. Business owners and operators who avail business cards are often the first to know when a promo is available in a certain service centre. Local cards often don’t charge transaction fees and allow the owners to earn points and use them for other transactions.
Taxes and administrative costs
Another advantage of using fuel cards is that it allows the operators to choose their preferred mode of payment, and send an invoice for every transaction or just a single invoice. It also helps in reducing paper works because all the details of the transaction are recorded on a single receipt. Hence, reducing your accounting and administrative costs, and reducing the efforts of filing taxes.
Security and protection
Fuel card transactions are safer than cash transactions because the driver’s is number is recorded every time the fuel card is used. Administrators are the only ones who can access all the information entered into secured portals of service stations. This also allows administrators to access other valuable information about different transactions and updates about fuel prices.
Using fuel cards also helps in detecting and preventing identity theft since drivers are prompted to provide additional details whenever the card is used in a transaction.
Convenience
Since transport is a competitive industry, it is important to make these kinds of transactions as convenient and fast as possible. Most fuel cards function as prepaid cards that you can use for fully electronic transactions. such as loading funds, settling transactions and verifying authenticity.
There are different fuel companies that offer fuel card or fleet card solutions to their business partners and customers. What business owners must do is to find a provider that can give them solutions that fit their business best.
Before getting these services, as the business owner or operator, you have to know how much the company is spending on fuel transactions. This will help you determine the kind of solution that fits your needs best.
Getting fuel cards or fleet cards can help reduce the company’s expenses if it’s used well. Remember to only get what the business needs to make sure you’re not losing money on things that are not helping the growth of the business. The aim of these services is to reduce the expenses to help the business grow, – not the other way around.