7 Best Fuel Cards For Small Business In 2024
Running a small business means you are responsible for almost everything, from maintaining cash flow, completing administrative tasks, and ensuring the continuity of the service. Among them, the most difficult one is to control expenses. It is easy for the cost to increase and make business owners busy finding ways to control it.
If your small business includes more than one vehicle and often purchases fuel to run services, please give your attention here.
In a fleet, a large chunk of a fleet budget goes to fuel bills, and you need to control this expense to manage your fuel expenditure.
A fuel card is one of the best ways to get cash back or rebates on fuel purchases and lower fuel expenses. It provides you with a flexible and safe way to pay fuel bills. Additionally, it also helps you to get discounts on vehicle-related charges.
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What Are Fuel Cards?
Fuel cards are similar to credit cards, but you can use them for fuel purchases. It is a card you can use to purchase gasoline, diesel, or other fuel at gas stations. It offers you discounts per gallon at the networking retailing partners.
You can also use a fleet card to pay for vehicle maintenance and other related expenses.
Types Of Fuel Cards For Small Businesses
You can find three different types of fuel cards:
- Branded fuel cards are issued by the fuel companies directly.
- Universal fuel cards are not limited to specific fuel providers. You can use them in different locations.
- Fuel merchant partners come along with fuel companies to offer merchant fuel cards.
Business Card V/s Fuel Card- Which One Is Better For A Small Business
Generally, new business owners can get confused about which is better for their business- A business credit card or a fuel card.
Let us discuss the difference between them and find out which one you need.
- A business card allows small business owners to carry out their day-to-day expenses. It helps them to get valuable rewards and organize their finances.
- On the other hand, a fleet card is a payment card that you can use to get rebates on gasoline, diesel, or any other fuel at networking stations. It also allows you to get discounts on other vehicle-related expenses.
Fuel cards are the best way to save fuel expenses and shares major parts of operating cost for any fleet. You need a fleet card if your business depends on two or more vehicles to carry out operations.
Similarly, business cards allow you to get rewards on payments. It can be anything and not restricted to one kind. So if your business does not purchase fuel frequently, a business credit card with no or minimum annual fees is good for you.
Are you still confused about which one is better? Well, they both are indispensable parts of a business. So some of you may need both to meet different expenses of your fleet and get rewards.
How To Find The Best Fuel Card?
Fuel cards come in different shapes and kinds. You have to consider your business’s unique needs to find out the best fuel card for you.
Let us discuss some factors you can consider to sort the best option for you.
Location
You should always check the location before buying any fuel card. Always choose the one that works in your operating region. Also, if you travel interstate, go with a widely accepted one.
Price
Go with the fuel card that offers you- maximum savings on fuel purchases. So look for one with better discounts and rewards.
But make sure to avoid cards with high maintenance or annual charges as then the whole purpose of the fuel card will get lost.
Repayment Terms
Choose a fuel card that offers a flexible repayment option. Fuel card vendors like Matrack charge 0% interest on grace periods.
Control
A fuel card that allows you better control over your card is always a good option. You can set a limit for each card to avoid fraud and restrict excess fuel purchases.
Reporting and Tracking
Lastly, always look beyond fuel rebates. You have to save time from managing and calculating fuel purchases to make reports.
Look for a fuel card that offers an advanced tool for reporting and tracking. You can generate reports in no time and have better insight into the fuel consumption in your fleet to make essential decisions.
7 Best Fuel Cards For Small Businesses
Matrack Fuel Card
A Matrack fuel card is the best way to save money on fuel purchases and control your fuel expenses. This card offers you considerable discounts and cashback on fuels. You can also use this card to get discounts on maintenance, lodging, and boarding, many more.
It is accepted by more than 230000 places, including fuel stations, truck stops, and convenience stores, so you can stop to refuel anywhere you want in the country.
One of the best features of this card is that you will not have to incur any hidden fees. Also, you will get a flexible cash flow guarantee with 60 days of repayment. During this period, the company will not charge any interest. You can also claim a 1.5% discount for early payment.
You can also choose- a long repayment option without additional cost to get more time for repayment.
The card allows you to have better control over the fuel purchases in your fleet.
You can set spending limits to restrict drivers from purchasing excess fuel. All the transactions are listed online, so you don’t have to worry about collecting fuel recipes. You can view the comprehensive report and make better decisions.
Some of the notable features of the Matrack fuel card are:
- Purchase control
- High spending limit
- Economical and competitive fuel price
- Interest-free grace period
- Fraud alerts
- Fuel tax refund
- IFTA tax reports
- And many more.
You can integrate the fuel card with the Matrack fleet management system to save up to 10 to 15% per year on fuel expenses.
Visa Fleet Card
A Visa fleet card is another good option for small fleets to control their expenses on the road. It helps you to streamline your fleet management with accurate data.
It provides you with better insight into your spending and imparts you data-driven insights so that you can make strategic decisions. When any of your drivers use this at a pump, it prompts driver ID and odometer reading. It allows you to view individual statistics and analyze how much one vehicle consumes.
It also allows you to set spending and transaction limits, track purchases by vehicle or employee, ensure compliance, restrict cards for certain types of purchasing, etc.
More than 236,000 fuel stations across the USA accept this card, so you can make a long-distance journey without worrying about fuel.
Some of the notable benefits that come with this fleet card are:
- Emergency assistance services
- Lost or stolen fuel card reporting
- Emergency cash disbursement
- Emergency card replacement
- Cardholder inquiry service
- Auto rental collision damage river
Shell Small Business Card
Another good option for small fleets is Shell Small Business cards. This card allows you to get fuel rebates of up to 6 cents per gallon at over 14000 Shell gas stations and participating jiffy lube locations.
Shell Small Business card can get better control, convenience, saving, and security, along with fuel rebates.
You can set limits on what, when, and how much an employee can purchase. You can also access in-built detailed reports to monitor different aspects of the fuel activity in your fleet. You can suspend or terminate the card through mobile tools in an emergency. Another benefit of this card is that you get a 24/7 dedicated customer service team to resolve your query.
The company does not charge you annual charges, activation fees, or hidden costs. You can claim up to nine assigned and four unassigned cards.
Wex Flex Card
Wex Flex Card is one of the easiest and most flexible ways for small business to control their fuel expenses. Some highlights of this fuel card are:
- It provides you a rebate of three cents per gallon of fuel purchases.
- It allows you to carry a monthly balance on your card.
- There is no setup, annual or card fees, so you don’t have to pay extra for anything.
You can use this fuel card at over 45000 service locations and any vital gas station. You can download the WEX Connect app to find the nearest fuel station. You can filter fueling stations by price, brand, location, or distance.
WEX fuel card provides better control over spending. You can restrict fuel purchases by hours of the day, days of the week, dollar per day week or transaction, and number of transactions in a given period.
The Wex flex card also helps you with accounting and report management. Hence you can focus on the revenue-generating activities of your business. You can get purchase activity reports, transaction summaries, financial summary tax exemption reports, etc. So you don’t have to chase down fuel receipts and spend hours making error-free reports.
Also, if you need help or want to know more about any feature, you can reach their customer service team that will readily answer your queries as soon as possible.
Fuelman Fuel Card
Get flexibility, freedom, and maximum control over your fleet by introducing a Fuelman fuel card. It is an ideal solution if you buy up to 1000 to 5000 gallons per month. You can use this card to get discounts on gas purchases, repair services, and other supplies on the Fuelman network. It includes 20,000 maintenance sites and 50,000 gas stations across the USA.
The Fuelman fuel card also prevents fraud and misuse on your feet by providing you with better control over your fuel purchases. It allows you to set purchasing limits on- when, who, and what your drivers can purchase. The drivers have to enter their identification numbers to access the card so you can get a clear insight into each employee. When the card detects any unauthorized activity, it will send you a real-time alert so that you can take action against it.
One of the significant benefits of this fuel card is that 95% of all fuel stations in the USA plus 45000 service locations accept this fuel card. So you will never face any difficulty fueling up on your journey.
The Fuelman fuel card also helps you with reporting and tracking. It allows you to view individual expenses by driver or vehicle to make strategic decisions. It also eliminates the chaos of collecting fuel receipts to generate accurate reports. You can get all the information at your fingers in the mobile application.
Speedway Superfleet Mastercard
Speedway Superfleet Mastercard is a fleet card that offers you free management benefits such as transaction reporting and purchase controls along with fuel rebates. This master card will help you to save money on fuel purchases and keep your vehicles running on the road freely.
You can get volume-based rebates with this card and save up to 5 cents per gallon. You can use this card at 3000 speedway locations in the USA and 175000 fueling stations nationwide that accept Mastercard cards. So you will never run out of gas stations to fill your tank.
Some of the notable advantages of this fuel card include:
- Customize, detail reporting and billing
- Tax-exempt billing
- Online and card-level security
- Accurate Accounting
- Competitive pricing and quality products
- Driver, vehicle, and odometer tracking
BP Business Solution Fuel Card
BP Business Solution Fuel Card is a convenient way to manage fuel expenses. It provides better control, security, and flexibility over fuel purchases in your fleet, along with rebates.
It provides a volume-based rebate, so you can earn up to 6 cents per gallon if you purchase 10,000 gallons of fuel per month. You can use this card at BP or Amoco branded locations.
It allows you to limit purchases by day, week, or month. You can also eliminate unnecessary spending with the card controls. You can access the account information reports of statements anytime you want. It also omits the chaos of collecting receipts for report management.
You can also avoid fraud in your fleet and ensure better security with the help of this card. You can monitor after-hour purchases & daily transactions and deactivate lost stolen cards anytime.
The only downside of this fuel card is that it charges $10 per month, but you can waive the monthly charges by purchasing more than 5,000 gallons per month.
Final Words
If your business largely depends on vehicles or purchases several gallons of fuel every month, you need a fuel card. It can help you get better discounts or rewards on your fuel expenses. Additionally, it can allow you to restrict excess fuel purchases and fraud activity in your fleet.
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