Fuel Management Advice
By Carl Liver

Fuel management is essential in today’s economic climate; it involves minimising expenditure on fuel and administration of fuel for all of your company vehicles. It is achieved by ensuring you pay the lowest possible price and minimising fuel consumption as well as only paying for fuel used for authorised purposes. Luckily fuel cards are around that can achieve this purpose.

When you are managing fleet expenditure; cost control and reduction is only achievable when you have all the information you need to hand. This normally consists of scrambling together lots of bits of paper and receipts and trying to put together a picture of journeys made and costs. Many companies have realised this is not the best way to go about things and have taken the first step by looking into fuel cards. Fuel cards are used much like credit cards but are solely designed to pay for fuel expenditure and also offer more in the way of feedback.

Like a credit card your drivers present the fuel card at a filling station and the cashier swipes it so it eliminates the need for cash. Each of the fuel cards can be tailored to ensure they are used only by specific named driver or even for a specific vehicle. One of the main advantages is that they can guarantee that your company does not pay for non-fuel items and they cannot be used to put petrol in employee’s private vehicles. This does seem a petty reason but you would be surprised how many companies have found employees doing this.

If you wish the mileage can be noted at each fill up and this can offer a way to track mileage which has a few advantages. You can track when vehicles are due their services or trace their fuel economy. Most cards offer an online tracking facility which you can download periodically which details all fuel economy which allows you to take total control of your fuel costs and manage them as effectively as possible.

You can check on a vehicles efficiency or even go into enough detail to see which employees drive too fast and use more fuel than necessary. You will get exception reports that will show you any usage against the norm which you are able to check for validity and check suspect transactions. Lots of businesses like fuel cards because they efficiently gather fuel expenses without the paperwork, some use them as useful credit facilities to manage cash flow, some for their anti-fraud measures and some for the complete package for effective fuel management.

Due to tax changes a lot of companies have questioned the use of fuel cards that cover personal use too. But as a fuel management tool there is nothing better and the vast majority of companies would benefit majorly from the use of fuel cards. Use an experienced company who can take a close look at your needs and provide advice on the best card for your business ensuring you get the full benefit of a fuel card for your business.

Carl Liver
Advice on Fuel Cards
Fuel Tools

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Carl_Liver

http://EzineArticles.com/?Fuel-Management-Advice&id=3868568