Fuel cards incorporate security features designed to protect fleet companies against unauthorized activity: purchase controls or limits.
Once a fleet company has determined if the implementation of fuel card limits would be beneficial to their business, they are able to choose the limits that best suit their daily operations.
Setting limits that are satisfactory for the drivers and vehicles that make up a fleet can be a challenging task; if controls are too restrictive, drivers may face delays with lost time and company money as a result. However, if they are too relaxed, vulnerability to internal suspicious activity increases.
Most fuel card programs have various helpful limits available: gallons or dollars allowed per transaction or day, number of transactions per day, authorized fueling times and days, fueling location, fuel only or fuel and maintenance usage, and driver PIN numbers.
Some cards can restrict the fuel or product type that cards can purchase. Product type limits have the ability to prevent unauthorized behavior, as well as to prevent drivers from inadvertently filling the tank with the wrong type of fuel–reducing the risk of maintenance issues down the road.
While utilizing a fuel card can bring significant savings to a fleet company effortlessly, those companies who implemented the limit of restricting the number of gallons or dollars allowed per transaction per day saw an annual savings of at least 6 percent.
When fleet owners begin applying these limits to their cards, they must consider the nature of their business. If all drivers and vehicles have similar needs, one card limit template is acceptable to use for all cards. However, customization by driver or vehicle may be key to defeating unauthorized usage.
At Impac, our comprehensive fuel card program offers customizable limits for fleet companies, including time of day, day of week, purchase amount and fuel type.
In addition, our attentive customer service team notifies fleet managers of unauthorized behavior with real-time text and email alerts, as well as detailed account management.
Whether a business prefers more restrictive or relaxed limits, the purchase limits that are established on fuel cards should fit the unique needs of the fleet. Although there are a number of diverse limits on the market, fleet companies must know how to choose their ideal limits.
In the next article of our series, “How to Set Fuel Card Limits”, you can learn how to effectively choose and implement fuel cards limits that can increase business productivity and help mitigate fleet risk.
