Fleet management is a fundamental process for managing vehicles in companies and centralizing all control activities such as maintenance, power source, mileage control, among other details. Knowing how to manage vehicles efficiently helps to control costs, predict situations, and ensure a conscious use of resources within a company.
The person responsible for fleet management has, as part of his duties, to organize, improve, and monitor all expenses and activities related to a company’s fleet. What many people do not know, however, is that the term fleet does not always mean a large number of vehicles or heavy vehicles, such as trucks. A company with only one car available to the commercial department, for example, can now count on the benefits of efficient fleet management. The importance of fleet management for business is very significant.
This management is responsible for designing and elaborating the entire process flow, in addition to assessing the performance of drivers and ensuring the availability of vehicles.
The fuel card is an essential ally for the fleet management system. After all, it is possible to have more precise control over the investment in power source for any fleet. In addition to promoting expense control, the use of the fuel voucher also adds security, ease, and efficiency to the process.
In practice, power source cards work like a debit card to be used for payments for supplies and services related to the vehicle. Typically, they are distributed individually with a specific time limit for the needs of each car or driver.
Advantages of the Fuel Card
Img source: pymnts.com
The main advantages of the fuel card are summarized in economy and management efficiency.
In terms of economics, several points must be considered. The first one is the cost of the fuel card. Usually, it has a small annuity. However, when weighing the costs of the operation using cash, the pension becomes negligible.
Despite the annual fee, the fuel voucher is an excellent management aid. Because of the immediate records, it is possible to analyze the efficiency of each vehicle in the fleet. By the way, the use of the fuel voucher also saves administrative tasks, which also turns into financial savings.
When it comes to fleet efficiency, the power source voucher is also a significant contributing factor. That is because its use makes refueling simpler, as well as faster and easier. Therefore, routes are also more agile and services more efficient.
How to Choose the Fuel Card
Img source: endurancewarranty.com
Some characteristics must be considered when choosing the best power source. An example of this is the structure offered by the voucher operator. Before deciding for any of the operators, a good manager should check the service structure provided by it. In addition to the structure, the integrated solutions added to the card must also be known.
Likewise, it is necessary to find out, before the decision, which services can be paid with the voucher. After all, it is essential to know if the possibilities will meet the needs. Finally, considering that a card is also an administration tool, it is necessary to know what resources it has for the management system.
Currently, there are many options on the market for the adoption of power source cards. Most of them offer the right technology and possibilities. One of them is iCompario. Although the options are not exhausted, their characteristics provide a direction for the functions to be sought, whatever the choice.
In this crisis, all companies are looking for ways to control spending. For the fleet owner, reducing power source consumption is always an important objective, considering that this is the third-highest cost of a fleet, after the expenses of employees and vehicles.
So, we estimate that using a fuel card can generate savings of up to 15 to 20% in fuel consumption. Due to the following factors:
Img source: caradisiac.com
- Fraud detection – It is a story that we continuously hear from our customers. The driver passes 100 dollars of gasoline on his credit card, but only 80 dollars goes to the tank. Fuel card systems generate alerts for the manager when fuel consumption (km / l) is lower than the average indicator, informing the manager when something is wrong.
- Ease of billing – It is effortless to miss a power source “note.” After filling up the car using a fuel card, the system already includes all the transaction information in a dynamic spreadsheet that reduces administrative time. That means more time for you and your employees to devote to the core business.
- Financial analysis – Do you know how much you are spending on fuel per month? Do you integrate this information into your financial projections? Using the fuel card, you only need to touch the dynamic spreadsheet to receive in-depth analyzes and, through these analyses, have greater power source control.
- Discounts – Most fuel cards offer rebates and incentives to reduce the cost of a power source. But stay tuned and read between the lines for all the details on how to get these discounts!
According to TAFS, ultimately, using a fuel card will help you better manage your fleet’s fuel consumption resulting in significant gains.
Are you losing money on power source? You might need to understand how to train drivers for more economical driving and find out how to apply optimized solutions to reduce consumption.
