Fleet Credit Cards Offer Price Protection and Insurance in a Fluctuating Market

One of the most common ways for businesses to end up losing money throughout the year is in fuel costs and vehicle repairs. This is true if you have a small company with just a few vehicles for transportation or a huge fleet of big rigs for freight hauling across the country. Finding ways to provide protection against widely fluctuating fuel prices, as well as some insurance in the price you will pay, is a definite advantage for any company. Surprisingly these two components of effective management and budgeting are not as difficult as you may assume if you just stop to consider the benefits of fleet credit cards.

Fleet credit cards are different than branded credit cards of any other type. They are also different than gas cards, which are a good option but only allow the purchase of fuel on the card. This still leaves you with having to pay with another credit card, cash or some type of invoicing for basic repairs and maintenance to fleet vehicles. While this may be a good option for small companies, for larger companies it soon becomes a data entry nightmare. Receipts and invoices go missing, claims are made for unapproved repairs and charges and the paperwork becomes overwhelming. These credit cards allow you to put all your vehicle related purchases and repairs on one card for easy reporting, follow up and evaluation of pricing and costs.

Anther essential consideration with fleet credit cards is the rebate they offer for fleet gas and diesel purchases. Different cards will offer different rebate amounts which are typically calculated and rebated on a monthly basis. In other words, the more you purchase the higher your rebate amount, which really does help to cut the rising cost of fuel. Since diesel and gasoline is separate on the report you can even track which types of vehicles are most economical to run by comparing apples to apples on the reports.

Total control over what can and cannot be purchased on fleet credit cards is a huge protection and insurance benefit for the fleet manager. The cards can be customized to allow only specific types of purchases or purchases under a specific limit without prior approval. Of course, only fuel or repair charges can be placed on the cards, ensuring that employees cannot use the cards for personal purchases or purchases outside of these specific categories. Managers can track card use online for immediate, real time information on purchasing patterns and fuel consumption. Some cards require the driver to input mileage at each use, further refining the information and providing great data for tracking and monitoring over a single trip or a longer period of time.

Theft from the company, either through filling up personal vehicles or using the card to purchase non-approved items, is virtually eliminated by using fleet credit cards. This is because the cards can be customized with purchase limits on a variety of different levels. Use can be limited per time period, per mileage or per dollar value. Since all information about the card use is online in real time, irregular spending patterns can be quickly flagged and investigated by the fleet manager. Cards can be immediately cancelled, often before the driver even realizes that they are missing. Not only does this save the company money but it also cuts down on the time and effort required to deal with issues of identity theft and company theft that are so common with other types of gasoline card programs.