Is a Fuel Card Right for Your Business?

You run a business with a small fleet of vehicles. You fuel your trucks with the company credit card—maybe you even earn some rewards points. But you’re slowly starting to drown in paperwork. You’ve even noticed that some charges seem a little suspicious. Running your day-to-day leaves little time to track down mysterious purchases, though, so you tell yourself this is the way a small business operates and carry on.

Sound familiar?

As your business grows, keeping track of fueling expenses can become a full-time job. This is where a fleet fuel card comes in quite handy.

Most business fuel cards give you detailed fuel expense tracking. This usually comes with much higher levels of security and spending controls that limit what your drivers can and cannot purchase. You’ll know not only what your drivers are purchasing, you’ll know where and when they fueled up.

Why is this important? If your drivers purchase fuel at a station with high prices, or choose a grade of fuel that’s higher than necessary, you’ll know about it, and can take measures to prevent it from happening again. If your drivers are buying unauthorized items like food and drinks, you can manage that too. You can control the amount spent per day for each employee, and even shut the card down during unauthorized hours.

A good fuel card also lets you save a few cents per gallon, depending on how much fuel you purchase. (For example, RaceTrac fleet cards let you save up to 5¢ per gallon at RaceTrac and RaceWay locations.) If you’re able to consolidate your business fueling at the issuing brand’s locations, you can save even more. Literally, the more you fuel, the more you save.

Not every can consolidate at a single brand—they have to fill up wherever the job takes them. Universal fleet cards are accepted at 95% of gas stations across the country, so you can still track your business fuel expenses—and get extra savings at the issuing brand.

Good business fuel cards—like RaceWay fleet cards—offer more security, more reporting and more rebates than a typical bank-issued credit card, or even cash.