Introducing fuel cards will help you to tailor the way you run your small business fleet, while also helping control fuel spend and potentially, save money.
In order to do so effectively, there are a number of steps to take first.
Use the implementation of fuel cards to do some internal housekeeping. It will provide you with the opportunity to identify the position of your small fleet from a cost and operational perspective, so that you can understand the improvements which the introduction of fuel cards could bring to your bottom line, and how they can support you now and in the future.
How do I work out what type of fuel card I need?
Fuel cards come with many different propositions, each intended to work best with varying fleet and business operations.
So in order to get the right one for you and your employees, you need to have a clear idea of where they drive, how vehicles are used, and what the end goals of using a fuel card are for your business.
Once you have ascertained the requirements of your fleet and the benefits you want to bring to your business, you can then apply these to the various benefits and services offered by different card providers.
At the most basic level, there are some which are effectively company debit cards, allowing your employees only to pay for fuel. This avoids them having to pay using their own money.
But the majority of businesses want more control than simply enabling employees to buy fuel, and so you need to work out which of the many spending controls or associated benefits you need. Cards variously offer:
Discounts on fuel, either at the pump or through wholesale purchasing
Easy access to electric vehicle charge point networks
Access to cheaper fuel at sites such as supermarkets
The ability to prevent purchases at more expensive sites
Payments allowed for oil, AdBlue and other vehicle essentials
Management controls over expenditure
Dashboards and reporting of fuel spend
What type of fuel card payment network do I need access to?
There are many ways to refuel and recharge your vehicles, and the purchasing support you need depends on how your fleet operates.
For example, if you have a fleet of vans that travels across various locations to visit customers, with no particular pattern to their journeys, then you may well need widespread access to fuel sites and EV charging networks through a wide variety of brands and suppliers.
There are many cards which offer this, but at the same time, you need to be aware that allowing drivers to fill up or charge anywhere and everywhere could result in higher running costs.
So you could put in place spending controls that stop them filling up at more expensive sites, such as motorway service stations, or buying premium fuel.
However, you do need to really understand their requirements before putting these protocols in place. It might be that stopping drivers using motorway sites has the unintended consequence of making them drive around looking for cheaper fuel or chargers elsewhere, when their time is more valuable just filling up or charging and getting on with their work. And you could use a card which lowers the higher motorway prices anyway by offering discounts on diesel.
Location is key too. If you have a fleet which operates in urban areas, for example, a card that allows them to fill up with low cost supermarket fuel could help to save money.
With the UK car fleet dominated by petrol and electric, with around a fifth of all registrations being battery-powered and over half are petrol-engines, then you may need a payment card and access to networks that gives drivers both these options too.
What fuel do I need to buy and how?
Once you have ascertained the type of locations you need access to, you can refine exactly which fuel drivers need to buy. This is linked to vehicle choice, both current and in the future. It’s important to ensure you choose a supplier that is future-proof, to save having to change supplier or have a mix of fuel cards supporting your fleet should you change your fuel needs.
Consider which fuel your fleet needs. If you have a lot of commercial vehicles, then the likelihood is you will need a card giving you the ability to buy diesel, and probably one offering discounts too. With Allstar for example, you can save up to 8p per litre off diesel purchased across Allstar’s exclusive, 1,300-strong, Discount Diesel network*. Drivers can also find low cost fuel prices through Allstar’s UK Fuel Price tool.
Take back control of fuel spend
Fuel cards offer huge advantages and will give you insights about driving patterns you never had previously: spending, mileages, usage, fuel economy and operational efficiency.
Get back control of your fuel spend by setting up reporting alerts to be notified if drivers use their fuel card or charge too many times on a single day, or at times outside of work when they shouldn’t be.
Allstar Online provides full visibility on a single dashboard of what is being spent, when and where so there are no unexpected expense claims for fuel spend, helping to better manage cashflow too.
By analysing reports, and working with your fuel card supplier, you can also set realistic goals and targets in terms of efficiencies, which can be reviewed regularly against this data and historic records. Then you will know that you are going in the right direction by tracking data and considerations such as:
Spend by employee
Spend by department
Vehicle economy
Mileage
VAT charges
Overall fuel savings
The Allstar Chargepass card is a combined fuel and electric charging card and enables you to set purchase controls so employees can only purchase what you have set up: fuel only, unleaded, diesel only or even EV charging. So whether your business needs access to 90% of the UK fuel sites, or access to the largest and fastest EV charging payment network, Chargepass does it all.
Communicate and work with your drivers
Being given a fuel card will make most drivers’ working lives and expense management much easier, but they need clear communication from the beginning about why you are rolling them out, and what is expected.
Firstly, when you are considering implementation, talk to drivers about what they need, to ensure that what you are introducing will help to make employees’ working lives better and save time on admin. Once you begin the roll-out, make sure drivers know from the start what they can buy and from where, how the process works in terms of purchasing controls or limits, mileage reporting, products available to buy and card security; so there is no confusion or issues when out on the road.
Explaining what this means to the business’ performance in real terms will help successful adoption of fuel cards.
For more information about which fuel card can help you control fuel spend, click here or if it sounds like Allstar Chargepass is right for you, apply now.
* Savings on diesel can be made at participating Discount Diesel sites on our network when the card is swiped.
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