There you are, sitting at your desk saying, “How am I going to track my fuel purchases? Should I have my drivers pay cash and bring the receipts back? Should I hand them my personal/business credit card and reconcile at the end of each day? Should I use a fuel card?”
When making this decision, you have to find out what needs your company has.
Lets pull out some of these options and review them and see which is the best fit for you.
Pay cash and bring back receipts:
- Paying cash can be very dangerous. The possibility of theft, losing the money and not being able to easily track the mileage and time pose a problem here. On top of that, it has been said that you can will spend up to 22% more this way due to administration costs when reconciling the receipts.
Should I hand them my personal credit card and reconcile at the end of each day?
- It’s hard to believe but I have actually heard this one on the phone quite a few times. Usually smaller companies who assume they can trust their drivers and are always ‘on top of it’. The truth is, many times our employees don’t intend to steal, but may buy a soda or candy bar when purchasing that fuel. They have every intention of paying the company, but they usually forget about that soda and candy bar as soon as it’s gone. With this option you still need to reconcile at the end of each day.
Should I use a fuel card?
- Using a fuel card has many benefits for your company. A fuel card offers your company great security as you can set up and track your drivers online at any time. There is no reconciliation since all transactions go through your online account and you can view them in real time. Other benefits of a fuel card include discounts, flexible billing, the ability to limit what and how much your drivers can purchase.
When choosing a fuel card, make sure that it has all the features that your company needs. Don’t just pick the one with the most features. Make sure that you can track every movement, provide money to your drivers when in need but security in case a card gets lost or stolen. Check out our small business gas card if your company uses retail stations or our OTR card if you use truck stops and are stopping all over the country.
-360Fuelcard