Fuel Card Article

Even Small Fleets Can Benefit From Fuel Cards

Most people are aware of the existence of fuel cards which are used for the purchasing of fuel for fleet drivers. However there are still plenty of people who assume they are only beneficial for larger fleets and offer no significant benefits for small fleets of say five to ten vehicles. Fuel cards offer a range of benefits to both large and small fleets, regardless of whether they run on petrol or diesel, or whether the fleet runs five or fifty vehicles. The main benefits fuel cards offer are as follows:

If your drivers are using their own cash or credit cards to buy fuel for business use, then most likely they will be reimbursed the money they've spent as part of their pay cheque at the end of each week or month. Although you may have been using this system for many years, it is by no means the best way to pay for fuel as each driver needs to keep hold of their receipts and make sure they have enough personal cash in order to keep their company vehicle running.

The main problem with cash payments for each fuel transaction is the time it takes your administrative or accounting staff to sort through the receipts from each driver, working out how much to reimburse them and working out the overall fuel bill for the entire fleet. This is both time consuming and costly and should fuel receipts go missing, then either your company or your drivers could be out of pocket. By using a fuel card instead of cash would immediately alleviate all this hassle and turn each fuel purchase into a single swift transaction.

 

With most fuel cards, the price you pay per litre is often cheaper than those advertised at the pump. By saving a few pence on each litre can add up to hundreds of pounds over the course of a year, a saving which should raise the eyebrows of any fleet manager in the current economic climate.

 

With a fuel card, not only would you be paying less for each refill, you'll also get up to 30 day interest free credit on all fuel and lubricant purchases. Fuel cards offer freedom and flexibility where purchases made between the 1st and 15th of each month are payable on the 30th of that month, and purchases made between the 16th and 31st of each month are payable on the 15th of the following month.

 

You can check your fuel account online 24/7, which shows where each card has been used, how much fuel has been purchased and the time and date of each purchase. Your fuel account is held on a secure server and can be accessed at any time of the day or night, giving you detailed up to date information on all the fuel cards held by your drivers. This has proved invaluable for many fleet managers as it offers information which was unavailable with traditional cash payments.

 

Fuel cards prevent fraudulent transactions as only fuel and lubricants can be purchased for the vehicle or driver the card is issued to. This can help to prevent fraudulent transactions if the card is lost or stolen, making them far more secure than using a credit or debit card fuel payments.

 

With all these benefits which fuel cards offer, it's hard to justify continuing to use cash or credit cards to pay for your fleet's fuel. There are a variety of fuels cards available, each with their own specific advantages. For more information on the fuel cards which are available, contact Cambrian Fuel Cards today on 01633 677677.