Strategies For Cutting Your Company’s Gas Card Costs
When reducing company gas card costs, you should consider tactics that reduce fuel consumption, such as eliminating personal usage. It includes limiting the days of the week when drivers can pump gas and enlisting an app that helps find cheaper fuel prices. The best business gas cards also offer robust controls to prevent fraud and abuse. These include confirming mileage at each fill-up and miles per gallon reporting.
Monitor Mileage
While company fuel cards can help you reduce the amount of money you spend on gas for business purposes, they do not eliminate the need to track mileage. It is because employees who receive a fixed car allowance or a reimbursement per mile overstate their driving expenses to cut costs, and you need to be able to verify that all the gas they use is for business purposes only. Fortunately, implementing the right vehicle tracking software with your fleet fuel card can help ensure you don’t spend on gas or overpay on mileage claims. A GPS tracking system like Timeero is a great option as it can easily connect to your company’scompany’s fuel card and give you visibility into how and when drivers purchase fuel. It also helps you set limits on the number of gallons bought, control where drivers purchase their gas and identify if there are any irregularities with odometer readings or MPG reports.
If your drivers use the card for personal reasons, you can detect this and act accordingly. Alternatively, you can limit the days of the week during which drivers are allowed to fill up so that they don’tdon’t overfill their vehicles. Lastly, you can install a device requiring drivers to enter their trip and fuel station details before purchasing gas. This way, you can ensure all the information you record is accurate and compliant with IRS rules for mileage claims.
Limit The Number of Fill-Ups
One of the most important ways to reduce your fleet’sfleet’s fuel costs is to limit how often drivers are fueled. It is easy to do if you have a fleet card solution because most cards allow you to set policies at the driver or vehicle level. It can include daily transaction limits and at certain times and odometer readings on each purchase. It is a great way to prevent fraudulent or accidental purchases and deter theft from employees trying to pass off personal fill-ups as business ones. It’sIt’s also a great way to ensure drivers always use the cheapest gas available, as prices can vary significantly from location to location.
Truck drivers may sometimes be tempted to make multiple transactions to fill up their tanks fully. It can be expensive if they are on a fixed mileage allowance that is eating into their income. It can be even more of a problem when fuel prices are high. Another way to avoid these issues is to encourage your team to lighten the load, saving fuel. It means removing tools, extra cargo and excess items from their vehicles, which will cut down on weight and reduce the need for an additional trip to the gas station to add more fuel.
Limit The Number of Times a Week
Providing company vehicles makes it easy to steer them toward models with the best fuel efficiency. However, when you give employees gas cards for personal cars or reimburse them by mileage, managing their expenses takes a lot of work. If one employee drives a Toyota Prius and another opts for a gas-guzzling SUV, the latter’slatter’s driving costs will be significantly higher.
Thankfully, there are tactics you can use to limit the number of times your mobile employees fill up on the company credit card. You can start by defining the days of the week that they can purchase gas. It will help discourage them from using the business fuel on weekends or during their time. You can also encourage them to reduce their consumption by clustering deliveries and appointments or encouraging carpooling and other forms of alternative transportation. If possible, have them remove any excess tools, samples or extra items from their vehicle, as this will reduce the load and require less fuel.
Encourage Eco-Driving
Aiming for eco-driving is a great way to reduce fuel costs and carbon emissions. It requires service technicians to adopt a new mindset and modify driving techniques. It helps lessen unnecessary damage to the car, improves safety, and lowers the amount of greenhouse emissions that contribute to global warming. However, to succeed with the initiative, service companies must first ensure their employee’s “buy-in.” It means ensuring they are aware of the issue, properly trained and encouraged to adopt best practices. The key is to use telematics and IoT solutions to facilitate eco-driving by monitoring and rewarding sustainable driving behaviors. For example, if an employee reduces sudden acceleration or braking while optimizing gear selection in manual vehicles, it can help them maintain optimal fuel consumption. It can significantly reduce fleet costs over time.
Another tactic is encouraging drivers to combine trips or take the shortest route possible. It also reduces fuel usage and helps them save on car rental fees and taxi expenses. It’s worth mentioning that this strategy can also be applied to home-to-work journeys. To further reduce fuel costs, look for cards that offer discounts at participating gas stations. Some cards also help control fuel spending by allowing you to set comprehensive card controls or daily, weekly and monthly limits. Additionally, some cards allow you to monitor your fleet’sfleet’s fuel purchases and access analytics and reports.
