Common Fuel Card Mistakes Truckers Should Avoid: Fuel cards are truckers’ best friends that help track spending, reduce fuel fraud, and, ultimately, improve fleet efficiency. But given improper usage, even the best fuel card program can bleed you. Understanding the most common fuel card mistakes and knowing duly to avoid them will help maximize savings for your trucking business.
Not Monitoring Fuel Card Transactions in Real Time
One of the major errors truckers make is not monitoring fuel transactions through fuel card mobile apps or fleet dashboards. Without real-time controls, it is all too easy for unauthorized purchases, overpriced fuel, or driver abuse to slip through undetected. With this sort of misreporting, fraudulent activities and nasty surprises surrounding billing become all too probable; leverage location alerts and limits on both transaction value and volume in order to assure every gallon and dollar is accounted for.
Ignoring Fuel Network Optimization and Discount Opportunities
Most truckers simply forget about optimizing their routes based on fuel card networks, thus missing out on discounts. Next to higher pump prices and extra transaction fees, drivers who choose fuel stops outside the preferred network will face all these disadvantages. So, let your drivers review their pricing insights from everywhere they fill up, particularly fuel discount programs, IFTA tax advantages, and partner fuel stations. All these add up to give them the cheapest fuel rates during their haul.
Sharing Fuel Cards or Not Setting Driver Purchase Controls
Allowing multiple drivers to use the same fuel card or skipping controls for driver-level spending can create serious compliance and budgeting problems. Therefore, every fuel card ought to be tied to one specific driver ID and vehicle. Further, custom controls such as gallon limitations, metric restrictions (diesel only), and, finally, PIN-based security could save your business and enhance your fleet accountability.
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