Many fleet managers sign up for a fleet fuel card to gain control of their company’s fuel purchases. This is a good start, however believe it or not theft still happens with company fuel cards. So how can you truly prevent driver fuel card misuse and theft?
This is where you need to take advantage of everything a fleet fuel card program offers. Here are some fleet fuel card theft prevention tips to help you minimize the driver fuel card theft and misuse.
1) Make Sure Your Fuel Card Can Only Purchase Fuel
Some fuel cards are really branded credit cards that don’t offer much control. Sure it may say the name of the gas station on the card, but the card provides only limited controls. Drivers can still purchase most items in the c-store.
If you have one of these cards I would recommend checking out closed loop fuel network cards such as CFN, Voyager, Fuelman, WEX , or Comdata. These fuel cards run on actual fuel networks as opposed to credit card networks, which means you will get much better controls.
Fleet fuel card theft prevention will be very tough if your fuel card does not have adequate control capabilities.
2) Use The Strictest Amount of Fuel Card Controls as Possible
The idea is that you want to minimize your fuel purchasing exposure. If your driver operates a vehicle with a 50 gallon tank make sure the card can only purchase up to 50 gallons per transaction. Additionally if the driver only drives Monday through Friday, make sure the card can only be used Monday through Friday. There is no reason to have fuel card controls set beyond a driver’s need.
Setting up controls is crucial because it will limit the damage if a fuel card gets into the wrong hands. You’ll be surprised at how many people skip this fleet fuel card theft prevention step.
3) Cancel Fuel Card Immediately If Lost Or Driver Quits
Once a driver quits or a fuel card is lost, cancel the fuel card immediately. This may seem obvious, but you’d be surprised how many fuel cards are still open on an account from drivers that may have left the company months ago.
4) Monitor Purchase Alerts
Most fuel cards can send you an e-receipt or purchase alert via email or text immediately after a driver purchases fuel. This will help you catch any unauthorized purchases immediately.
5) Check Transaction Reports
Get in the habit of looking at your fuel card transaction reports on a daily or weekly basis. Most fuel cards will have an online login where you can run and export all your fuel card transactions by card, driver, vehicle, or all of the above.
Grab a cup of coffee and make sure everything makes sense. Odd purchase behavior will usually stick out like a sore thumb.
Additional Commercial Fuel Card Theft Prevention Tips Worth Mentioning
- Check cardlock fuel cards such as CFN or Pacific Pride because cardlock fuel cards utilize gallon limits and product controls (gas only/diesel only) which retail truck stops and gas stations cannot enforce
- Implement a driver fuel card policy to set accountability from the start with your drivers
- Assign fuel cards to vehicles if your drivers are always switching vehicles and make sure the card always stays in the vehicle.
