Benefits of Fuel Cards

What are the benefits of having a fuel card?

The list of fuel card benefits for businesses is enormous – they save you money, make your company more efficient, reduce your carbon footprint, and much more.

Fuel cards are more than just a convenient way to pay for fuel and this guide explains all the different benefits your business can get from using them.

So, here are the top 10 benefits of a fuel card:

1. They save your business money
2. Offering access to interest-free credit
3. Improving cash flow for your company
4. Provide greater control over expenses
5. Making it easier to budget and plan
6. Simplifying your monitoring of MPG and fleet efficiency
7. Cuts down on admin and makes VAT claims simpler
8. Straightforward monitoring of your fuel purchases
9. Tightening up security for your business
10. Lowering your company’s carbon footprint

It saves your business money

Fuel cards have many benefits, but the top one is something that helps every single business – new, old, large, and small. They save your company money.

Fuel cards save your business money because they cut down on admin time and give you access to fixed weekly fuel prices and pump price discounts. But the money-saving benefits of fuel cards don’t stop there.

There are many fuel cards offering different benefits and savings. Typically, fuel cards can save your business around 3p per litre depending on brand and country. However, with increased efficiency and productivity, your business will be able to enjoy more savings in the longer term.
There are different payment options:

• pump-related prices
• fixed weekly rates
• cards with capped pricing

No matter which card you choose you will have access to fuel at the most competitive prices. Fuel cards are the only payment solution for fuel that can provide this unique benefit.

Interest-free credit

Every business needs access to credit at some stage. It’s a way of helping your company grow and operate in the way you want it to.
One of the main fuel card benefits is that using one gives you access to interest-free credit.

This means that investing in a fuel card can give your company access to the funds it needs to stay on the road. It’s how fuel cards for small businesses can be of great help, for example.

Improved cash flow as a fuel card benefit

Many businesses don’t receive payment until the product or service is delivered, or the project is complete. It’s how the business world works. So, cash flow can often be an issue.

But one of the benefits of fuel cards is that they can be invoiced weekly, based on your agreement. This can help your company by breaking down the monthly cost of fuel into smaller, more manageable bills.

Greater control over business expenses

Fuel cards differ from business credit cards in many ways, but the main point is that fuel cards are restricted to vehicle-related purchases.
And it’s not only fuel you can purchase with fuel cards – you can also buy other vehicle-related products, like:

• Oils
• Lubricants
• AdBlue
• Motorway toll
• Car washes
• Parking

Plus, you get all vehicle-related purchases on the same invoice for the benefit of your business.

Fuel card benefit: making fuel budgeting and planning easy

The benefit of fuel cards for your business is that they come with online account management software.

This allows you to:

• See your fuel usage
• Check out the exact spend
• Easily forecast your fuel costs into the future
• Quickly download HMRC-approved invoices

The reporting tools of account management allow you to identify trends in your fuel spend over the months, so that budget planning long-term is more accurate.

Simple monitoring of MPG and fleet efficiency

As far as fuel card benefits go, they provide accurate and detailed reports of the fuel usage of each vehicle.

This allows you to quickly pinpoint any inefficiencies within your fleet and improve fuel economy.

For example, a report may highlight a driver who is using considerably more fuel than others in the fleet.

You can then investigate this further. You might be surprised to find that this is due to an inefficient driving style. Easily arrange driver training as a method to solve this issue.

Less admin & easier to make VAT claims

One of the nicest benefits of fuel cards is that they come with an easy-to-use online management system.

This makes all admin work necessary to run a fleet business much simpler and more efficient.

Dealing with endless fuel expense forms and collecting and filing hundreds of receipts is a thing of the past. You get all transactions detailed on HMRC and tax compliant invoices. This makes reclaiming VAT easier, saving your business both time and money.

Easy monitoring of multiple fuel cards and all purchases

Here’s a great fuel card benefit! They provide companies with the ability to keep track of fuel spend easily and eliminate any issues with lost receipts and unrecorded transactions.

All transactions for fuel, tolls or oil services are tied into one easy-to-read invoice and can be viewed on an account management tool.

This platform gives you the big picture, with greater visibility of all fuel cards. They can be viewed by an individual driver, vehicle or set up groups. Plus, you can view all transactions on a live map.

Improved security

Security is a top concern for every business and one of the benefits of a fuel card is that it helps to make your company more secure.

Each fuel card is PIN protected. And you can change the PIN in your online management account.

Reporting via account management software can help businesses identify any suspicious behaviour as soon as possible. You can set up alerts for certain events, such as drivers refuelling late at night, weekend usage, large fuel withdrawals, or when fuel outside of a specific area is purchased.

Reduce your carbon footprint

Measuring your carbon footprint is becoming more and more important, with increasing government pressure on businesses to reduce CO2 emissions.

One of the many fuel card benefits is that they can help your business to reduce its carbon footprint. How? By producing reports that help you track your carbon use.

These reports can help your company set reduction targets and measure them. Not only does this help you achieve a greener fleet, but it can also mean an increase in fuel efficiency, which in turn can save you money.

Fuel card advantages and disadvantages

Summing up, here are the top advantages of getting a business fuel card:

• Discounts on fuel prices
• More control over your spending
• Useful data and insights
• Easier to manage the invoices and submit your taxes
• No interest charged

Are there any disadvantages to having a fuel card? We couldn’t find one!

But there are many advantages for businesses of all types and sizes.

Fuel card benefits for fleets

There are some key fuel card benefits for fleets, like:

• Help with managing their fuel better
• Money saving
• Securing the business transactions for fuel
• Reducing their carbon footprint – and that’s a big one

Fuel card benefits for new businesses

The fuel card benefits for new businesses are big and countless as well:

• They make it simpler to reclaim VAT
• It’s quicker to deal with the admin of running a company
• It’s easier to keep track of how much is being spent on fuel

But the key benefit might be that fuel cards give new businesses access to interest-free credit.

Credit is crucial at the early stages of starting a company and it’s important you can get access to it when you need to. By investing in a fuel card, you’ll know that you have the credit you need to keep your business moving.