Fuel Card

A fuel card is a payment card that a business provides to its drivers so they can buy fuel without using cash or their own money. Purchases are charged to the business's account, which receives a consolidated invoice, often weekly or monthly, with each transaction listed by card, vehicle, driver, site, product and quantity. Many fuel cards offer discounted or fixed prices per litre or gallon, and most include controls that limit what can be bought and when. Fuel cards are used by haulage firms, delivery companies, service businesses with vans, rental fleets and public sector organisations.

Fuel cards are closely related to the fleet card. The terms are often used interchangeably, but "fuel card" tends to refer to cards limited to fuel and related items, while "fleet card" often covers maintenance, tolls and other vehicle costs as well. Both are forms of commercial card.

• Branded cards. Issued by an oil company and accepted at that brand's stations, operating as a closed-loop card scheme.
• Multi-network cards. Issued by specialist fuel card companies with agreements covering many brands and independent sites.
• Truck and HGV cards. Focused on diesel at truck stops and motorway sites, often across several countries, sometimes with tolls and tax refund services.
• Open-loop cards. Run on general card networks with merchant restrictions, giving wide acceptance.

In many markets, fuel card networks operate their own processing so that detailed product data is captured at the pump and passed to the card issuer, which is harder to achieve with general-purpose cards.

Fuel card pricing comes in several forms. With pump price cards, the business pays the price shown at the station, possibly with a small discount. With fixed weekly price cards, common in the UK, the business pays a set price for the week at participating sites, based on wholesale prices plus a margin, regardless of local pump prices. Cost-plus models charge the wholesale cost plus a fixed margin. Card companies also charge account, card or transaction fees. Comparing offers requires looking at the network coverage, price model and fees together.

Businesses can restrict cards to fuel only or to fuel plus specified items such as engine oil, limit spending per transaction or day, restrict merchant category codes, block use outside working hours and require drivers to enter a PIN, vehicle registration or odometer reading. Reports show fuel use per vehicle, fuel economy, spending by site and exceptions such as purchases larger than a tank's capacity. Data integrates with fleet management, telematics and accounting software, and providers often offer apps to locate participating sites and manage cards.

Tax and accounting

A key benefit of fuel cards is simpler tax administration. In the UK and many European countries, businesses can reclaim value-added tax on fuel used for business purposes, and fuel card invoices are designed to serve as valid VAT invoices. Haulage operators may be able to claim back certain fuel duties when vehicles operate in other countries, and specialist providers handle these claims. Consolidated invoices also reduce the work of processing receipts and employee expense claims.

Common risks include drivers filling private vehicles or containers, buying non-fuel goods, sharing cards and PINs, and external fraud through card skimming at pumps. Providers use chip and PIN, contactless payments and app-based authorisation, vehicle-specific cards, fraud screening, telematics matching and automated alerts to detect anomalies. Some providers offer mobile payment at the pump through their app, which links each purchase to the vehicle's location. Prompt cancellation of lost cards and regular review of exception reports remain important controls, and businesses should set clear policies on card use.

Most fuel cards are effectively short-term credit, often structured like a charge card, because fuel is bought before the business pays the invoice. Providers therefore assess customers' creditworthiness, set credit limits and may require deposits or guarantees, especially for smaller firms. Fuel price volatility affects credit exposure, since higher prices increase the amount owed for the same volume. Providers also manage relationships with fuel retailers, who are paid through settlement arrangements set by the network.

Electrification is changing fuel cards. Providers are adding access to public charging networks, home charging reimbursement and mixed fleets of petrol, diesel and electric vehicles on a single card or app. This requires new data, such as energy delivered and charging session details, and new partnerships with charge point operators. At the same time, consolidation among card providers and the growth of app-based payment are reshaping how businesses buy energy for their vehicles.