Fuel cards, also known as fleet cards, are used to purchase fuel and can also be used for vehicle maintenance. They provide detailed reports to reduce and detect fraudulent activity, and offer discounts when used with a specific fuel company. Fuel cards have become increasingly secure and durable since their introduction in the 1960s.
Also known as a fleet card, a fuel card looks and functions similar to a credit card, but is used primarily for the purchase of diesel, gasoline, or other fuels. In some cases, these cards can also be used to pay for regular repairs and maintenance of the vehicle to which they are assigned. Normally, the fleet manager has a fuel card, and each driver receives a separate card. This card can provide the fleet owner with detailed reports on how, when and where the card was used, helping to reduce and detect fraudulent activity. While today’s fuel cards use modern credit card-based technology, fuel cards weren’t always as convenient, fraud-proof, or robust.
A fuel card virtually eliminates fraud on behalf of the driver with detailed reporting and restrictions. Without a fuel card, a driver is expected to use a debit or credit card, cash or check, either from themselves or from the fleet owner. These options are open to all kinds of fraudulent activity. For example, if the driver purchased fuel at a gas station, but also went into the store and added a meal to the total bill, there may be no way of knowing which portion of the purchase was food and which portion of the purchase was must be reimbursed by the company.
In addition to added security, an important benefit of fuel cards is the ability to purchase fuel at a discount. This is especially true if the fleet owner decides to issue a fuel card that only works with one fuel company. The discount given to small fleets is generally not as great as that given to fleets with thousands of vehicles that regularly need to be fueled.
Fuel cards have been around since the 1960s, but they were slow and more vulnerable to fraud when they were first introduced. Making a purchase with a fuel card required showing the card and giving the cashier the driver’s name and company information. When computers became popular, both the credit card and the fuel card adopted a magnetic stripe for a card reader to scan and authorize. Since then, fuel cards have become increasingly secure, with fleet owners gaining the ability to view purchases in real time and restrict purchases to certain days or certain times of day. Also, the cards themselves have become more durable as manufacturers realized that frequent use made the card too worn to read.
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