Fuel cards are used in lieu of cash or a credit card to provide your team with a safe, efficient, and cost-effective way to purchase fuel when they travel.
A business fuel card program creates efficiencies and controls that help both the organisation and business travellers, while introducing significant cost savings via fuel and partner discounts.
Benefits of a fuel card program for business
Fuel cards provide convenience and safety for staff who don’t want to carry around large amounts of cash when refuelling their vehicle on work related travel. It’s easier to manage payments at the point of sale, plus card holders and their managers can keep track of expenditure online. Other benefits include:
- A streamlined and efficient payment system, with one invoice for the organisation
- Real-time visibility into transactions and movements for managers
- Control over purchase amounts, items, fuel types, locations and hours
Convenience that also costs less
Purchasing fuel with a dedicated fuel card avoids the need for general purpose business credit cards that come with high fees and more responsibilities for the individual holder.
Fuel cards circumvent the need for staff to carry cash or spend personal funds and then wait to be reimbursed. Tap-and-go convenience and ease of use helps keep staff on the road, not worrying about record-keeping or the logistics of fuel payment.
As an alternative to credit cards or cash, fuel cards place less direct responsibility on employees because the account is restricted to purchasing fuel. This saves time and effort by simplifying the payment process when travelling and eliminates risk of fraud or misuse.
Because fuel cards provide access to discounted prices and related partner special offers, a program can be leveraged to save big on travel annually. Fleet managers also have more control over spending and are better able to predict cost overruns before they occur.
Tighter control of business spending and greater visibility of expenses
One of the biggest risks for fleet managers is card fraud or misuse. Without purchase controls, a bad actor can inevitably find ways around the system, making extra purchases of fuel or store items.
Implementing a fuel card program allows a business to track and automatically enforce purchasing policies. Fuel card programs provide an overview of fuel and other items being purchased per employee or vehicle, and managers can automatically restrict certain types of purchase, such as overspending on snacks and drinks, while ensuring that only the right type of fuel is used.
Online management tools are a helpful way to keep managers across all the moving parts. Communication can be difficult to maintain while keeping everything on schedule, so it helps to have “at a glance” passive visibility of purchases to anticipate time and cost overruns before they occur.
More efficient back-office processing, reporting, and tracking
Online capabilities also offer tracking and reporting to help create an audit trail for reporting. Administrative workloads can be reduced as the need for record-keeping, paper receipts and manual consolidation is eliminated. Having access to a local human-manned support centre for any inquiries that arise can also help clear up administrative issues quickly, with minimal confusion.
CardLink are the trusted name in fuel card programs across New Zealand. Talk to us about where your business is overspending on fuel and related travel, and let’s find some solutions.