You are a small business with a brand new fleet - or plans to buy one soon. Maybe you run a retail shop and you're rolling out local deliveries - literally. Perhaps you run a restaurant and are ready to start catering. Or maybe your home repair business is expanding and you're upgrading from BYOV (bring your own vehicle) to company-provided trucks.

Whatever the occasion, the most important detail is that now, employees will be driving company vehicles on their assigned service routes. To keep the vehicles running, they will need fuel, and that fuel should be "on the house" as part of the cost of doing business.

However, how you handle covering fuel costs will vary depending on your business strategy. Is a fuel card/fleet card the right answer for your team? Let's find out.

You Have a Large Service Area

The larger your service area, the more important a refueling strategy will become. A large area increases the chances that your drivers may be low on fuel in the middle of a route, so that routine refueling close to HQ is not always an option. Fleet cards allow your drivers to fuel up anywhere, or at one of many stations within your card's brand service partnership.

You Want Refuelling to Be Easy and Worry-Free

If your drivers do need to refuel on the road, you want this process to be as smooth and simple as possible. You don't want to create a financial burden on drivers, no matter how temporary, based on the cost of fuel or the size of your service vehicle tank. A fleet card removes concerns because your team will always be able to refuel when and where they need to, without thinking about personal funds.

You Don't Want to Handle Endless Reimbursements

When drivers do fill the tank using personal money, you will need to refund that expense through a reimbursement request. If this happens only occasionally, you may not mind. However, constant refueling on the route will result in constant reimbursement. A fleet card can simplify the matter by having your drivers buy fuel directly from a designated company account.

You Want Transparency and Control Over Fuel Expenses

Reimbursement also makes it difficult to gain real oversight for fuel expenses. If drivers bought snacks or even refueled a friend on the same charge, you don't have the transaction records or the control that a fleet card offers.

With a fuel card, you can authorize spending only for fuel, only at specific gas locations, and place an expense limit on each charge. You will also gain oversight on all the transactions and may be able to access digital receipts.

Choosing a Fleet Card Provider

If a fuel card or fleet card sounds ideal for your growing fleet operations, the next step is to find a reliable provider with many partner locations inside your service area. Wilmar Inc. can help you find the ideal fuel card partner who has the coverage, deals, and control tools you need to efficiently provide and control fuel payments for your fleet.

Right now, we are partnered with the WEX card, and for good reason. The robust partner network and useful fleet manager features align with our priorities as a fleet management firm. We would be glad to help you explore the possible benefits of a WEX fleet card for your fleet, including choosing the right card program that matches your fleet's size, routine, and desire for deals.

Contact us today to learn more about fleet cards and discover the right fuel card solution to empower your fleet. We look forward to speaking with you.