Avoid Common Mistakes: When Using Fuel Cards

Fuel cards are often considered as one of the most practical tools for businesses all around the world, as they are highly effective in controlling the overall fuel costs as well as maximizing security in the long run. Although these fuel cards offer a lot of premium benefits ranging from customized spending limits to top-notch real-time insights, there are some common mistakes you must avoid at every cost, as they can significantly minimize the overall efficiency of these fuel cards over time. Furthermore, here in this article, we’ll thoroughly discuss some of the common mistakes as well as how to avoid them in order to help you maintain the overall effectiveness of these fuel cards over the period of time.

1. Not Making Clear Fuel Spending Limits  

Fuel cards are often considered as some of the best tools to control your overall fuel costs as they provide customized fuel spending limits, but still there are a lot of businesses that are unable to effectively take advantage of these premium features due to lack of awareness.  

Nevertheless, you can now avoid these common mistakes by setting clear fuel spending limits for every fuel card by thoroughly considering your fuel needs, the number of refueling stops on a regular basis, as well as the overall mileage of your vehicles. 

2. Ignoring Tracking of Real-time Data   

The tracking of real-time data is often considered as one of the premium features of these fuel cards as they are highly effective in boosting the overall profitability as well as productivity of businesses over the period of time. Furthermore, whenever you start tracking these fuel cards on a regular basis then, there are high chances that you may end up finding some sort of unauthorized transactions over time.

Nevertheless, you can avoid it by taking full advantage of your fuel card provider’s website as well as mobile app as they can help in tracking all your transactions in real-time at one place.

3. Accepting Unauthorized Transactions 

It is often considered one of the most common problems with these fuel cards as a variety of unauthorized purchases like buying no-fuel items or spending on personal items can significantly reduce the overall profitability of businesses over time. 

However, you can avoid it by allocating one fuel card per individual vehicle or driver as well as setting a certain amount of fuel spending limits on the overall fuel purchases. Moreover, a lot of fuel card programs also give easy access to block certain kinds of purchases that are not permitted by businesses in the first place in order to maximize the overall security over time.

4. Not Giving Proper Training to the Drivers   

A lot of drivers usually don’t know how they should use these fuel cards which can eventually maximize the potential risks of confusion, misuse, as well as errors in the long run. Furthermore, in some cases, drivers mostly forget the PINs of their fuel cards, use fuel cards at unauthorized fueling stations, as well as being unable to strictly adhere to the guidelines of the businesses.

However, you can now avoid these potential risks by giving clear guidelines to the drivers about how as well as where they should use these fuel cards. Moreover, you should cover all these details such as partnered fueling stations, the usage of PINs, as well as what to do in case a fuel card is lost during the guidance sessions in order to avoid any potential risks of misuse in the long run.

5. Ignoring Vehicle’s Regular Maintenance Sessions    

Whenever you ignore your vehicle’s maintenance for a longer period of time, then there are high chances that it may start to show incorrect real-time data which can eventually affect businesses over time.

Meanwhile, you can avoid it by making sure that your vehicle always undergoes certain more than important maintenance sessions like analyzing tire pressure as well as the overall engine performance on a regular basis.

Conclusion  

Fuel cards are often considered as some of the best tools whenever it comes to controlling the overall fuel expenses of businesses in the long run. However, you should avoid some common mistakes such as not setting clear fuel spending limits, tracking transactions on a regular basis, as well as training drivers, as these mistakes can ultimately affect the overall profitability of businesses over the period of time.

Are you also someone who’s looking for an ultimate fuel card to achieve their overall fuel expense goals over time? Then, stop looking any further and contact Ricochet Fuel today to explore our premium range of customized fuel card programs for your business fleets at very affordable rates. Visit us today to let us help you manage your overall fuel expenses in the long run!