Whether your small business has 2 vehicles or 200, you have to decide how to pay for fuel. The easiest choice would be cash, credit card or debit card. Most people carry one of those at all times. However, a fleet card may be the smarter choice. More and more small businesses have discovered the benefits of fueling up with a fleet card. Keep reading to learn five ways fleet cards can help your small business save money. 

1. Save at the Pump

No matter the cost of fuel, small businesses can save when they use a fleet card. Fuel up at more than 5,000 Sunoco stations, with available rebates up to 6¢ per gallon. These savings add up—the more you fuel at Sunoco, the more you save.

2. Monitor Fuel Spend

No small business owner ever wants to believe their employees would steal from them. Unfortunately, it can be a common problem, appearing in several forms:

  • Siphoning. An employee uses a hose or device to remove fuel from a company vehicle. 
  • Misuse. An employee buys fuel for a non-company vehicle with a company card.
  • Slippage. An employee uses company dollars to buy items such as snacks, drinks, or souvenirs.
  • Overfilling. A driver fills another container after fueling a company vehicle.

Fleet fuel cards help you monitor fuel spend and reduce fraud. The right fuel card allows you to set your own purchase limits, and control employee spending based on dollar amount, product type, location, and more. Plus, each driver also enters a unique driver ID number for every purchase, adding a layer of security that helps prevent unauthorized use. It also allows business owners to track who spends what, when and where.

3. Automatic Reports

It’s often said that you can’t manage what you can’t measure. A fleet card helps you measure and compare spending through automatic accounting and reports. These reports help you identify misuse, monitor purchases, and track fuel expenses. Reports include standard and customizable options to meet the needs of your business. 

Fleet Card Reports

  • Purchase Activity Report. Compile fuel and maintenance purchases for all vehicles or just a few.
  • Premium Custom Reports. Want to see the information in a new way? Create custom exception, transaction summary, and transaction deal reports.
  • Summary Reports. Manage vehicle-related expenses and plan your budget. Summary reports include financial summary, site summary, and exception summary reports. 
  • Tax Exemption Reports. Provides tax information at both the transaction and summary level. (For qualified tax-exempt businesses.)

4. Manage Cash Flow

Even for successful companies, cash flow can be a challenge. The reports mentioned can help you recognize patterns in in your fuel spend. When you understand the ebbs and flows of your business, you can stay ahead of cash flow problems.

5. Track Vehicles

Any Sunoco fleet card customer can upgrade to premium GPS vehicle tracking, which taps into your fuel card data for additional insights. It allows you to:

  • Confirm the time vehicles spend at a job site.
  • Know where vehicles are in real time.
  • Improve driver safety and performance.
  • Identify speeding, excessive idling, or after-hours use as it happens.
  • Lower your operational and fueling costs.

Small business owners and managers already have a lot to think about. Switching to a fleet fuel card is one way to ease the burden of tracking fuel spend and vehicle use. To make it easier to manage your company vehicles and related expenses, choose a fleet card — like the Sunoco Business Fleet or Sunoco Fleet Universal card — for your business.