Everything You Need To Know About Fuel Cards

Fuel cards are a must-have for all fleets these days. They help simplify fuel management and related expenses. Some fuel cards come with exclusive offers for the users that add to the savings. 

Today, more and more businesses aim to save money and increase their profit. They also intend to make easy transactions. Fuel card is one of the ways to keep business activities manageable, cut costs, enhance efficiency, and reduce manual work.

Let us know more about fuel cards, their features and benefits, and what to consider before buying one.

What is a fuel card?

A fuel card is a credit card meant for fuel purchases for fleets and owner-operators. You can use these cards for additional expenses like repair, replacement and maintenance, lodging and boarding, and more. However, the usage depends on your fuel card vendor. 

Using a fuel card is just as easy as using any regular credit card. +on needs to provide the card to the cashier, and the billing will happen directly on the card. The company employee will receive the receipt of purchase.

Fuel cards are significantly favored as they are convenient and offer comprehensive reporting. These cards provide real-time reports to fleet management companies. The cards also allow set purchases and keep the managers aware of expenses and business payments. You can contact the fuel companies or fleet management solution vendors specializing in providing fuel cards.

How does a Fuel card work?

You can apply for the fuel card online or offline. The companies complete the application process after conducting essential basic credit checks. After completing the reviews, you will get your fuel card.

Using the card is easy. You present it to the cashier or desk clerk after refueling your vehicle. The fuel price will get charged to the card and recorded to the integrated fleet management system. The system will record the volume of fuel, the name of the fueling station, the date and time, and the truck details. This data allows for easy calculation of IFTA. 

Why go for Fuel cards?

Fuel cards like the one from Matrack offer enormous advantages to the businesses that operate a fleet of vehicles daily. They can augment efficiency, along with better management and streamlined manual processes. It provides the fleet managers and drivers independence in their job.

Fuel cards offer many benefits to consumers. We have listed some of them here: 

• Safer: It is safer to use the card because money may require higher security. If you want to keep your business secure and protect it from fraud, the best thing to do is to assign the fuel cards to the drivers and employees. It is safer than carrying cash on the road, preventing the chances of theft and assault.

• Anti-fraud: Fuel cards reduce the risk of fraudulent transactions. They record all the trades and valid proofs, making the transactions transparent.

• Limitless cards: You can get an unlimited number of fuel cards for your employees without paying any extra charges.

• High-quality Fuel: With a fuel card, you can ensure that you get high-quality fuel for your fleet of vehicles.

• Loyalty points: The fuel card offers loyalty points for every usage. This way you can save a lot on your fuel costs.

• Consistent pricing: One of the significant benefits of fuel cards is that your business gets consistent pricing per liter. It is mostly cheaper than the fluctuating prices of the non-registered fuelling stations. Hence, the fuel cards can allow you to cut the costs of your fuel expenses. These small findings will enable you to save a mammoth amount later. It also improves efficiency in the long term.

• Cost-effective: It proves to be a cost-effective solution for your company. Many companies could save 30% costs within the first three months of fuel card usage.

• Quick and Easy usage: It is a quick and easy way to pay for the fuel rather than carrying colossal cash and other credit cards. For every business, time is money. They aspire to become time-efficient.
  Fuel cards help achieve this business goal because they offer quick and easy transactions. It needs a lot of time to withdraw cash or remain in the line for VAT receipts. When you have a fuel card, your employee can directly pay at the pump and proceed with the road journey. As per a report, some companies boasted reducing 3 hours a month in checking all the paperwork. The automated process saves a lot of administrative time. They keep their valuable time and money.

• Wide acceptance: Most stations accept fuel cards, and there are hardly any problems with the online transaction system.

• Precise reports: The fuel card helps to maintain accurate data. Since the invoices are digital, the account remains clear. In the traditional purchasing methods, a separate workforce was responsible for the complicated work of gathering receipts, claiming expenses, and other hassled processes. But in the fuel cards, there are approved and consolidated invoices weekly or monthly. Compare having neat, readable invoice v/s manual multiple confusing documents!

• Flexibility: If your drivers use fuel cards, it gives more flexibility to them. The fuel cards allow a vast network. Sometimes changing the routes is inevitable. The best part is that the fuel card works across an extensive network, and the drivers are independent of altering their ways.

• Added services: Some cards also allow you to pay for different things and fuel. These things may include lubricants, engine oil, car washes, vehicle accessories, and more. Also, many fuel card companies provide additional services to their consumers like extra fuel, discounts, a dedicated account manager for your company, frequent management reports, and more. 

What are the things to consider before buying Fuel cards?

Whether you have a small business or a big business, a fuel card can offer you many best features. Some of the critical things you must consider before choosing a fuel card are listed here:

Which vehicle do you have?

The first thing you need to determine is the type of vehicles you have in your fleet. Whether you operate nationally or have a small mixed fleet, the variety of cars you have will help you make the right decision. If you have a Haulage business, you might have to go through unique challenges, so you must go for a card that offers HGV-friendly sites to prevent logistic problems.

If you have a fleet of saloon cars, you might need a more flexible card. The drivers must be confident that all the stations will accept their fuel cards when traveling to unpredictable locations.

What is the fuel type?

Most of the fuel cards focus on diesel and mixed-use. Some companies want to go for only unleaded fuel. So, this will help you make the right decision and pick a card that suits your preference.

What is your brand preference?

It is also a pivotal decision to make. You need to select whether you want to go for a branded or non-branded fuel card. You can take this decision depending on the driving. The experts suggest that if your fleet makes journeys only locally, then a non-branded card will be a better option than a fuel brand card. You can safely go for the non-branded card as the local card will allow you the best access to the fuel station.

How much and where does your fleet travel?

Your fleet also casts an impact on the choice of your fuel card. If you have a business where you need your drivers to travel quite far from one place to the other in the country, then a fuel card with broader coverage is the one you must ensure to pick. For inter-state travel, the companies must go for a fuel card accepted by many stations across the network.

However, if your fleet works more within the region and does not travel very far, then your decision may alter. If you operate in a single city, you must know about all the fuel stations in your area. There is no use picking a fuel card that works nationwide if only a few fuel stations. It will lower your savings and affect your flexibility.

Do you want additional benefits?

Suppose your fleet covers the entire nation, and your drivers are often on the road. In that case, you may go for a card that allows you to use the card for additional purposes such as purchasing food, maintaining and servicing the vehicle, and more.

So, you need to decide whether you want your fuel card to buy just fuel or can use it to pay the business expenses for hotels and food. It will boost the employees’ morale and cut the time for the employees filling out cost forms.

What is the preferred card type?

You may also want to decide whether you want the pump price or a fixed price card. If you choose the pump price option, you pay the charges applicable at the station. On a fixed-price card, you will get a fuel price every week and then spend accordingly without considering the fuel cost at the station you are visiting. Usually, the fixed price fuel cards are priced per liter lower than the average fuel price at various stations.

Is there any hidden cost?

Before buying the fuel card, you also need to know about the hidden costs involved, such as late payment fees, paper invoice charges, annual maintenance fees, card protection fees, and more. It will help you avoid disappointment later.

All about Matrack fuel card- Highlights

If you do not know about the Matrack best services, you are missing out on something! The company offers a lucrative and desirable two-in-one solution. In this two-in-one solution, you get two things – a charge card along with the world-famous and the most revered brand American Express partnership.

If you want to manage your fuel and maintenance expenses in the best way possible, it is wise to know more about Matrack and its services. It will help your business cut fuel cost, save time, and augment efficiency. If you have a fleet of vehicles, you need to apply for a fuel card to experience the best features and exciting benefits.

The business vehicles can get Amex Cashflow Fuel Card. The best thing about the Matrack Fuel card is that there are no hidden fees. Matrack providers ensure to support the businesses of their clients with TWO-IN-ONE solutions. This feature supplements your business cash flow and takes your business to the zenith.

The best features of the Matrack fuel card include the following:

• No hidden fees: the company believes in transparent prices. You can trust that the company will not disappoint you later by charging hidden costs and expenses. 
• Flexibility: You will get a flexible cash flow guarantee of 60 days repayment. The company will not charge any interest.
• Extended repayment: The company also offers you a long repayment option. There are no additional costs.
• Fuel Tax Refund: The company helps you identify credits, refunds, tax exemption, etc. You can apply for refunds before paying fuel tax reports.
• Best features: The fuel card offers many user-friendly features like cashback, discounts, economic and competitive fuel price, interest-free grace period, and a lot more to please the consumers.
• High spending limit: The fuel card has a high spending limit. It also keeps on increasing with more usage of the card.
• Comprehensive Access: You get access to more than 230.000 locations nationwide
• Reports: There are online tools that can manage your fuel cards, and you can view reports
• Purchase controls: You can use purchase controls to prevent unauthorized spending
• Fraud Alerts: you can opt for fraud alerts to control driver spending. 

Conclusion

You would have known by now that the fuel cards are highly usable and have several benefits. Most fuel cards like Matrack operate in a vast network of fuel stations and retail stores. The fuel cards make any business operation more valuable and organized. You can also use the fuel cards to experience additional benefits for your business.