When you start looking into fuel cards for your business you’ll notice there are so many options it’s hard to know where to start. You may be wondering what to look for and which one is right for my business?
In this guide we will go over everything you’ll need to help you narrow down your commercial fuel card search. So let’s get started.
Search For Commercial Fuel Cards Not Personal Fuel Cards
The first thing you’ll want to do is throw out all personal fuel card options. Personal fuel cards are designed to promote gas station brand loyalty by offering users discounts to encourage them to use their stations. These cards are basically credit cards that give you gas rewards, thus personal gas cards are great for people who want to save some money at their favorite gas station.
However personal fuel cards are not designed for businesses as they don’t provide commercial gas card tracking capabilities which include commercial gas card reporting, alerts and controls. You also won’t have a customer service team to service your account when a driver is stuck at the pump or you need a custom report.
So that is why you’ll want to narrow your search to commercial gas card programs as you look to search for fuel cards for your business.
Things To Look For When Searching For A Commercial Fleet Fuel Card Program
Now that you have narrowed your search to commercial gas cards, here are some things you want to look for in a commercial fleet fuel card program.
1. Commercial gas card tracking
Can you track every fuel purchase that a driver makes via online reports? Does the card also offer real time alerts such as e-receipts that are sent to your email immediately after every purchase?
2. Commercial gas card reporting
What data does the gas card collect at the pump? A commercial fuel card should be able to provide you with much more data than an average gas card or credit card such as odometer, vehicle number, driver name, pump number, job number, and fuel type. Once this data is collected, you should have access to online reporting which will help you create fuel expense reports, IFTA reports, etc..
3. Commercial fueling network size
How many locations can the commercial fuel card be utilized at? Can you go to truck stops, gas stations, and cardlock fueling locations? Are the locations big enough for your vehicles?
4. Fleet card pricing & fee structure
What pricing will you receive? Is your pricing based off of retail pump price (cash or credit) or the wholesale market price (usually offered at cardlock stations). Will you receive any discounts and if so how long will the discount last? Are there any fees? Common fees include transaction fees, card fees, membership fees, invoice fees, etc..
5. Customer service
A commercial gas gard without support will leave you stranded. Pumps have problems, cards get locked, which means drivers can’t fuel. Who are you going to call? Is it a massive service department where you are on hold for an hour to get support? Is there after hour support? Are the employees well trained to handle any situation?
The Most Popular Commercial Fleet Fuel Cards
Here’s a list of the most popular commercial fleet fuel cards to look into.
Also check out this article to see how these cards are compared side by side.
