Complete Guide: Fuel Cards for Trucks and Fleets (2020)

You’ve probably heard much stuff from people in the transportation industry about fuel cards for trucking companies and fleets.

Studies have found that 95.2% is spent on operating expenses for every dollar earned by the average American trucking company. That means leaving only 4.8 cents of profit.

With fuel cards for small trucking companies, trucking companies will have to save money as much as they can, especially on diesel fuel. Therefore, fuel cards for fleets can make a difference in helping carriers of any size to accumulate those savings.

Before choosing the type of fleet fuel cards for small business that is right for your fleet, you will also want to understand the details and function of fuel cards for fleets and the benefits they can provide.

The answers to some questions on fuel cards, as well as how they work, are given below.

What is a fuel card?

Fuel cards are fuel-related payment credit cards. And the fuel cards for fleets, though, are more like a payment mechanism, which are much better and safer than credit cards.

The fuel cards for fleets are not only used to buy fuel, but a few fuel cards also allow for additional items such as toll payments and other purchases in the forecourt, such as lubricants, and carwashes, etc.

These fuel cards for trucks could also be given to an individual driver or assign to a particular vehicle, and can also be restricted with a daily spending cap to help keep your fuel budget under control.

Who Uses Fuel Cards?

For fuel cards for fleets, the average users are over-the-road transport companies that purchases diesel for their commercial vehicles at truck stops.

These fuel cards for trucks are intended to benefit carriers from a single rig to hundreds of vehicles ranging in size.

Users of the fuel cards for commercial trucks comprise commercial carriers, less-than-truckload carriers, private companies, and owner-operators.

How do I use my fleet fuel card?

The fuel cards for fleets work just like any credit or debit card, with the exception that, with them, you can buy only fuel (and also other goods related to motoring).

The fuel cards for truck drivers allow drivers to fill up and pay with their fuel card at one of the supplier’s networks of fuel stations. And the fleet company is directly charged, probably at the end of the month.

Even though fuel cards for trucks come with their fees, interest is not added to purchases. Some card providers are also offering fuel discount card for truckers.

With fuel cards for vehicles, you can purchase fuel or even oil with fuel cards for trucks, and also, some cards will allow you to pay for carwash credits, vehicle accessories, and pay for parking at a particular place.

Where can I use a fleet card?

Each fuel card issuer uses a different network of petrol stations. Some fuel cards are limited to one gas station, although others allow you to use multiple locations, including supermarkets.

The size of the network can sometimes be a distinct restriction on use.

What is the best fuel cards for truckers?

Fleet fuel cards for trucks help you plan the costs of upgrading your fleet better. These cards also help you stay in control of your workforce.

To start with, not all fuel cards for trucks are compatible with each gas station. And even if one seems to offer better discount rates doesn’t mean it is ideal for your fleet’s scale.

However, that has not stopped other companies from making investments in fuel cards for trucks. And about 73% of small fleet companies invest in a fuel cards for small fleets to reduce fuel spending.

If you wonder how to get fuel card for truckers, now is the time to start using fuel cards for new business.

Below are some of the various fuel cards you can choose from.

Below are the fuel cards for trucking business.

1. WEX Fleet FlexCard

More than 400,000 fleet companies are using WEX fuel cards for truckers. That’s an impressive figure. And this is partly down to their 3¢ per gallon rebate rate.

The rebate rate helps small truckers whose fuel consumption per month is lower than larger national fleet companies.

WEX provides a full fuel card fleet management reporting package in addition to a reasonable rate figure to enable you to keep track of your regular expenditure.

The gas station locator app would be another perk for the WEX package, which helps guide truckers to fuel stations that accept the WEX fuel cards for fleets.

So why is WEX one of the best national commercial fuel cards for trucks?

The company Telematics system allows an end-to-end fleet management solution and favorable rates.

And this helps to get grips to your fleet operation, fuel consumption, expenditures, and driver behavior. And this fuel cards for fleets is one of the top fuel cards for truckers.

2. Fuelman Universal Cards

Fuel cards for trucks aren’t more customized than the selection of the Fuelman Universal Card. Five separate card choices are available from which to choose – one card for each trucker company scale.

Fuelman Universal Cards start with the basic Advantage Card, which at participating gas stations offers up to 6¢ rebates.

The Platinum Mastercard comes at the other side of the scale, which guarantees the cash price for transactions on this prepaid fuel cards for truckers, oh, and of course, a rebate of 3¢ per gallon – great when you feel comfortable with the overheads.

Apart from finding fuel cards for fleets that best suit the spending scale of your company’s fuel, the Fuelman cards are also safe on the road.

Fuelman Universal Cards are one of the best fuel cards for owner operators, fuel cards for startup business, and also suitable for big fleet company.

3. ExxonMobil Business Fleet card

ExxonMobil fuel cards for trucks offers 10¢ per gallon of rebate during the first six months. However, always remember that when the time has elapsed, you’re back to the competitive rate of 6¢.

Nobody really loves the idea of hanging monthly charges over their heads – except when the benefits are worth it!

The good news is that ExxonMobil removes the monthly fees, making them one of the best fuel cards for trucks. The one and the only issue is the ExxonMobil gas station’s geography.

This fuel cards for fleets is a good piece of plastic best fuel card for small fleet company that operates across the East Coast.

4. Shell Fleet Navigator Card

The Shell Fleet Navigator fuel cards for trucks is one of the perfect fleet cards for gas station coverage.

The fuel card is accepted at about 95% of U.S. gas stations; as a result, the truck drivers will never concern about running dry.

This fuel card for fleets has now trick up its sleeve. Maintenance of fuel and vehicles comes in handy, that’s why Shell partnered with Jiffy Lube to offer incentives on vehicle supplies to the fuel card users.

The company offers an excellent back-office suite to help fleet managers reach their drivers in addition to their competitive rebate rates.

If you want to tighten your fuel expenditure, this card enables you to set purchasing limits and customize your reports to reflect the data you would like to see. Even opportunities to save cash will be flagged up.

5. BP Fleet Gas Cards

BP provides three cards to help fleets company of all sizes to manage fuel costs.

They have outstanding fuel cards for fleets used by companies that operate in the East, although if you move further afield, their Universal Card provides enough coverage.

Finding any one of the 7,500 BP fuel stations on your pc is easy; however, users ought to be aware that BP currently does not have any locator app.

And while there are third-party apps that you can use, we cannot vouch for their reliability. Also, although BP operates numerous gas stations on both coasts, its coverage may be unpredictable on the west of the Mississippi.

Do fuel cards save you money?

Some fuel cards for fleets offer rebates; however, that’s not the only way they can assist you in reducing the cost of fuel.

Below are other ways in which fuel cards help your fleet company.

ELDs that include Fuel Cards

1) GPS Trackit

GPS Trackit has provided integration of fuel cards for fleets, and that is in addition to its vehicle tracking system.

The flagship product of this fleet management provider also helps companies more effectively to manage their fleets. The integration of the fuel card increases this capacity.

With this system, Fleet pays for fuel using fuel cards for trucks at participating gas stations.

GPS Trackit fuel card function, much like a credit card, however, comes with the additional fuel purchase report which can notify dispatchers and fleet managers of possible fuel theft.

2) Verizon Connect

This ELD provider integrates the fuel card into its ELD solution. The main purpose of this feature is to enable you to track the fuel costs of your truck.

And this is done by collecting reports such as a report acquired from fuel purchased. These reports help fleet managers to understand how the fuel funds in the fleet spent.

For example, this will detect specific cases when a fuel card was used when the vehicle it was assigned to was not at the fuel station.

The report on fuel efficiency would help you figure out which trucks are working efficiently and which vehicles do not comply with the requirements for efficiency.

3) Geotab

Fuel BI provides full fuel card integration for the Geotab platform as an add-in or web application. And this displays all the primary fuel KPIs in the dashboard of your company and present the fuel expenditures on a map.

To assign your fuel card to a vehicle, the system uses over 14 different patterns so that all fleet activities can proceed as planned.

4) Fleetistics

Fleetistics fleet fuel cards for trucks offer an easy solution for fleet managers to control all the fuel costs associated with the vehicle through a convenient program.

With this solution, fleet managers will be able to View comprehensive gallon reports, type of fuel, the price per gallon and purchases of non-fuel.

Fleetistics can then integrate more insight into customer GPS data. Fleetistics receives data from WEX, and custom views of data are merged with GPS data.

And also, WEX data is shown in the Fleetistics Fleet Management Portal for convenience. Fleetistics also combines fuel data with WEX data to provide new insights into fuel use.

5) Simple Truck ELD

The Simple Truck ELD is designed so that motor carriers, as well as drivers, can comply with HOS requirements effectively.

And thus, carriers can make the best use of ELDs and relevant support systems as their preferred method of capturing HOS information and guaranteeing compliance with HOS.

Vehicle Engine data is shared through integral synchronization with the ELD. The ELD is also tamper-resistant, so there will be no unauthorized manipulation of the data collected. ELDs must meet or exceed the performance standards approved by the providers.

Issued by Accutrac Capital, the Simple Truck ELD compliments the features of its ELD with fuel cards for trucks, and this is another excellent solution to track fuel use.

This fuel card is a versatile payment system accepted anywhere EFS cards are accepted at more than 16,000 truck stops across North America.

Which Fuel Card is Right for My Fleet?

Whether you’re a small to a medium-sized fleet company with one or several vehicles, there’s a fleet fuel cards for business requirements.

We assist you in finding the best eld devices for fleets that provides you with the best coverage across your business routes.

So all you have to do is fill our free consultation form with a few details, and we will help you to find the best suitable eld devices that suits your business needs.

Conclusion

For fleet managers, drivers, fleet owners as well as an owner-operator, fuel cards make life so much easier. Drivers would no longer be required to pay cash for fuel, save any receipts, or fill out claim forms for expenses.

Fuel purchase data is automatically logged into an online fleet management portal with a detailed on a tax compliant invoice.

Analyzing each receipt is a tedious and time-consuming task; however, this will be a thing of the past with fuel cards for fleets. And thus saving fleet time when it comes to reclaiming VAT.