Fuel cards are an essential tool for fleets however if the right controls aren’t in place they can open the door to misuse. Whether it’s unauthorized purchases, card sharing, or old-school siphoning, fuel card misuse is one of the most common and costly types of fraud fleet managers face.
According to a recent study by Motive, nearly 55% of fleet operators say they struggle to detect fuel fraud. Almost half estimate that 5% of their annual fuel spend is fraudulent. For a fleet of 200 vehicles spending $10 million a year, that could mean half a million dollars lost.
Luckily, most fuel card misuse is preventable. In this post we’ll walk through the most common types of misuse and how to stop them.
1. Fueling Non-Company Vehicles
This is one of the most common forms of misuse. An employee uses a company fuel card to fill up their own vehicle—or even a friend’s or family member’s car.
How To Prevent It:
- Assign cards to a specific driver or vehicle and require a unique PIN to make transactions traceable.
- Require odometer entries at the pump to spot mileage discrepancies.
- Restrict card use to certain times of day to prevent unauthorized fueling during off-hours.
2. Falsified Transactions
Some drivers may claim more fuel than was actually used or manipulate odometer readings to justify excess purchases.
How To Prevent It:
- Set strict purchase limits—like a maximum number of transactions per day or week, or a dollar limit per transaction.
- Enable real-time alerts so you’re notified if something seems off.
- Limit card use to fuel only, blocking access to in-store purchases.
3. Siphoning Fuel
In this case, employees physically remove fuel from a company vehicle for personal use.
How To Prevent It:
- Install anti-siphoning devices on fleet vehicles to block hose access.
- Use fuel tank alarms that detect tampering and alert fleet managers immediately.
4. Card Sharing
Fuel cards being passed between employees, or even given to friends or family, is another easy way for misuse to happen under the radar.
How To Prevent It:
- Require PINs to make entries to make transactions traceable.
- Set time-of-day restrictions and transaction limits to cut off unauthorized use.
- Turn on notifications for every transaction so you know who’s using each card, and when.
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