Fleet credit cards

[Lawn Lad]

Wondering how you all handle gas/supply purchases with multiple vehicles. I was hoping to get a credit card (rather than one brand/type of gas card) for each truck so the driver could buy gas or parts at Napa if needed. Only problem is that each card needs to be assigned to an individual, and they will only assign one card per person, so my name couldn't appear on multiple cards.

We've have "fleet" cards through a couple of gas companies, but managing their annual expiraiton dates in multiple vehicles is a pain, so I was thinking of consolidating on one card that can purchase gas no matter where the truck is located. I think I've heard of a "universal" type card, but I wonder if you can make parts or material purchases.

If we had one consistent gas station we went by each day we could set up a card/account at the station, but we don't. We go in different directions and need to be able to buy from whereever.

Any thoughts/ideas would be most helpful.

[Lawn Lad]

I found these guys on the internet, but the line was busy and some guy finally answered what sounded like a cell phone "hello" which made me wonder if this outfit is a little sketchy.

Anyone have any experience with this company?

http://www.global-fleet.com

[76chevyman]

I have chase and have 3 buss cards with the company name on them but 3 differant people have them they can buy gas or go to the store and buy supplies or parts. they do have the name of a person on them (managers) but anone can use them. Not many people check Ids. Its a scaryy thought but its true. you can get a buss card just with the company name. Talk to a rep at your bank they should help ou out.

Rich:burnout

[76chevyman]

What ever you do don't go to Wachovia.


Rich:burnout

[Lawn Lad]

Rep at the bank said they could issue up to TWO cards with just the company name on them not assigned to any individual. This gets me part way there, but I need about a dozen.

[76chevyman]

i cant beleave then cant issuie more then 2 cards. But banks these days dont beleave in helping out small buisness

Rich:burnout

[gordyo]

LawnLad,

We have over 40 vehicles at the college. We use Enterprise Fleet Services. Each vehicle has its own card and each driver has his own pin number that will work on any card. As the Fleet Manager at the school I carry a card that is not specific to any vehicle and it is branded with the words Fleet Administrator on the bottom instead of the number of the vehicle and can use my card on any vehicle. I get a print out each month of purchases. We have our cards "Gas Only" but if that restriction was removed you could purchase pretty much anything the fuel station sold from coffee to oil. We have used them for 4 years now and are pretty happy.

http://www.enterprise.com/fleets/home.do?transactionId=WebTransaction2

click on fleet fuel management

[Gypsyking]

We have 4 trucks on our company fleet and our card is a corporate card
each truck has it's own card with the same company name on it but different Pin #
They have full access to any purchase or cash withdrawls required to make a purchase but in order to use it that way you must have a special Pin # which takes 1 minute on any computer with internet access to change
i find this the easiest way to manage our gas and expense bills every month
Our card is a Shell Gold card

[Lawn Lad]

Tony - is your card only good at Shell?

Jeff - thank you for the link to Enterprise. I spoke with them this afternoon. In order to qualify for their program you have to have 15 vehicles in your fleet, therefore I'm just a couple shy.

But the company that co-writes their cards, Wright Express might take smaller accounts. I'm waiting for a return phone call from the regional sales rep.

[Gypsyking]

LAWN LAD

Our card is good in a whole wack of different places
i will name just a few
Chevron,Texaco,Mobil,Citgo,Conoco,Amoco
those are just some of them there is more:canada

[PineIsland]

Doug,

We've used Fuelman, and Wright Express with good results, both for fuel only. In the past, Amex corporate cards were used for other purchases, now that is covered by a corporate Mastercard.

This of course is for State Purchasing, so on a large scale.

[nsmilligan]

I have a commercial keylock pass card, it works really well, each drver is assigned a card and a pin #, and each month I get a report on the purchases by each separate driver. This system was really started for the trucking industry, but they will issue accounts to most commercial users, but they are 1 gas company only. Also I get a discount on the fuel purchased. As far as NAPA I have my own account with the local store, and my drivers are autorized to charge to the account up to $50 if it's more then that the store will call me, or I order online and tell them one of my guys is picking it up. Napa also has it's own credit card, if your local store doesn't run individual accounts, get the card and leave at the store for your drivers to use.

Bill

[Pickering Snow]

Lawnlad

You mention napa iam a napa auto care center and offer my cust and fleet accounts napa cards you can set this up at any napa location . one the account is in place you can purchase parts at any napa store via napa prolink. when i am working on the road i can purchase parts from any napa store on my master account have needed parts from napa has far away has detroit.

Has far has fuel we use pacific pride i have cards for each truck they dont look at fleet size either you get a monthly statment for each card use. One word of caution know your trucks fuel useage i have had my guys take 5gal cans and fill them up when filling trucks my own brother has even done this too me so its not a trust thing and this year with prices were there at i expect it to happen more i know what each one of my trucks burn during a 8hr shift the two 5.4 SD's i have left are the worst and burn around 60 a shift last year i had a single fuel purchase on one truck for 105 dollars i made the guy fess up his wifes car was parked on the other side of island and he filled hers has well took it out of his check and fired him!!!

[Lawn Lad]

Just thought I'd follow this topic up with a report since I was looking for a solution.

We are using Wright Express fleet fuel cards. Two and half months into it I like it very much. We have 10 trucks with drivers that move from vehicle to vehicle, some are full time employees and others are part time. In each truck we keep the fuel card with insurance card and snow plow permits. Each driver has their own pin number.

Our monthly bill gives me more information than I really need when it comes to managing fuel expense, but I now can see for sure what our MPG and cost are for each truck this winter. I can also see who is buying the fuel, when and where. We get a report that states which gas stations we're using and how often.

It's convenient because all of my fuel expenses on are one statement, no longer spread acorss two or three gas cards and our company credit card. Before it was a free for all when it came to buying fuel, using whatever method was at hand to get gas. We haven't had any problem buying fuel at any gas stations either.

The cost for the cards are $2.00 per month per card. Not bad considering all of the information, ease of use and the information is all available on line for me to see past statements or the most recent purchases. I'll be able to recoup the cost of the cards by getting fuel taxes back on equipment that is not used over the road. We simply have our drivers indicate when purchasing fuel with a different pin number if it is a equipment expense (vs. truck). We then are able to add up our truck versus equipment expenses for fuel - this wasn't so easy with regular credit cards.

I'm happy I signed up with Wright Express and would recommend it to anyone who is frustrated and looking for an alternative to credit cards and gas cards.

http://www.wrightexpress.com/

[JCurtis]

The Hospital I used to work for used this company after we got rid of our own fuel tanks.

http://www.fuelrite.com

[bam]

we have voyager cards. they work at most stations. they are a credit card. you provide a vehicle id # and pin #. then each card has a specific card number. one monthly statement lists card/vehicle # and all the info on the purchase.

when I was at Univ. of Delaware, they also used voyager for there fleet.

Locally I assign the card to a specific employee, rather than to a truck. since it is a credit account, it is possible to buy fuel, food, etc. However our company policy is that cards are only for fuel/oil. we have had people fired over filling personal vehicles, and buying meals with them.

[4evergreenlawns]

Lawn Lad,

Can the Wright CC's be used anywhere?? I have the same issue with having two fuel cards now by depending on where you are you can not always getthe fuel you need.

Thanks

[Lawn Lad]

Check out their website - they tell you which stations. I have yet to come across a station that doesn't take it.

[cutntrim]

We don't have a card like that up here, but then we don't have as many different brands of gas station either. I'm only running two pickups this winter (plus a skidsteer), and I've got a card each for Shell, Petro Canada, and Esso. That keeps us covered wherever we plow. Each has detailed statements and offer marginal discounts for commercial users on fuel purchases.

:canada

[Lazer Man]

Lawn Lad we are looking at the same fuel cards. Can the road taxes be taken off gasoline when used for mowing ops I've always thought about the possible savings in that. Also does the mileage have to be typed in at each fuel up to determine mpg on each vehicle.

Bob :D :D :D

[Lawn Lad]

Lazer -

As for mileage - yes, you input the mileage each time you fuel up. You need to fill the tank completely each time so that you do get an accurate MPG and cost/mile. If you don't fill up each time then the calculation will be off.

As for the equipment - if you can accurately track the consumption for off road equipment - you can deduct the taxes. We have not done this yet - as we just began using the cards. Once we have the data it will go to our accountant to determine.

In order to track equipment versus trucks - you have two options. The first option is to get a card for the equipment itself. The cost is another $2.00 per card. With 10 trucks, I did not want to add another 10 cards for equipment, or try to save a few dollars and get only 5 for the five main trucks. What if we are in a truck w/o an equipment card and need to fill gas cans?

Our solution was to use a different driver ID number to identify when equipment versus trucks were being fueled. The drawback is that on the reports it comes up as a fuel purchase for the truck (but then we know which truck/driver the cans were with). So we go through our statement and can add up all purchases made with an driver ID that is unique to equipment fueling.

I've attached the SOP we used to instruct our operators on how to use the card. This might be of some assistance if you're considering this card/program.

As for tracking MPG - you have to make sure you fill/top off the truck prior to filling cans. A little pain in the arse, but this way your last reading for the truck is the accurate cost per gallon/mpg. The second reading for the truck with the same odometer reading will come up as an "exception" in your report, since you have more fuel w/ no miles. No big deal, you just ignore it. And the next time you fill up the truck you'll still have an accurate read since the mileage number was the same when you filled up the truck/cans the last time. So it still works out.