Setting fuel card limits can increase business productivity and help mitigate fleet risk. The automotive fleet industry benefits from implementing company regulations on driver purchases. Below are steps to choosing and setting up fuel card limits to best fit a company’s needs.
Determine How to Assign the Fuel Cards
A company can either assign the fleet card to an individual driver or to a vehicle. If employees drive different vehicles each day or a company has high turnover rates, it might be best to assign fuel cards to a vehicle. To do this effectively, the company should assign each employee a unique pin number usable on every company card. This identifies what driver fueled the vehicle registered to the card.
If an employee drives the same vehicle daily, it is best to assign the fuel card to the driver. Assigning the fuel card to a driver allows management to easily monitor spending habits of employees.
Setting Up Fuel Card Controls
Making sure a fuel card has limits set in place keeps drivers from making unnecessary purchases and expenditures. A company can enforce limits to restrict suspicious activity but still allow drivers to travel efficiently.
First, ensure the fuel card is only able to purchase fuel. This keeps employees from purchasing convenience store items with company money.
Other basic fueling controls include gallon or dollar limits per transaction, time of day or day of week, limits number of transactions per day and fuel type. Controls should reflect the needs of a company, giving management to impose stricter or relaxed limits based on employee spending habits.
It is important to note the controls are tied to the driver, regardless of if the card is attached to the driver or vehicle. Management is responsible for enrolling all drivers in the program with correct controls to mitigate risk.
Get Access to Purchase Information
Purchase alerts allow a company to stay updated with a driver’s spending. These alerts send notifications if a driver attempts to make an unauthorized purchase. For example, if a driver tries to purchase more gallons than assigned, Impac’s customer service team notifies management with text and email alerts.
Being able to monitor all purchases online is also crucial. This allows a company to check spending in real time, taking action to increase productivity and cut unnecessary costs.
The Bottom Line
Fuels cards are an easy and effective way to mitigate risks associated with money. At Impac, our comprehensive fuel card program offers customizable limits for fleet companies and notifies managers of unauthorized behavior. Impac’s customer service team helps determine ideal limits of individual companies and customizes restrictions based on need.
In the next article of our series, “How to Run an Efficient Customer Service Department”, you can discover how to implement strategies within the customer service department to increase efficiency.
