What You Should Know About Fuel Rebates

Your biggest expense item in a fleet is fuel, which can reach between 30 and 45 percent of your total outlay. In a business where the way to savings is through dimes, nickels and pennies on the mile, it’s important to learn what you should know about fuel rebates, which will increase your total savings.

That’s why it pays to shop for the best fuel card services that have rebates to help your bottom line and make the card pay you back with more than what its competitors offer.

Since the bidding war is waged in dollars and cents, figuring out which card beats another is going to be worth a lot as the miles your trucks are driving add up.

Here are some points that you should know as you consider fuel rebates.

Transaction Reports

If you’re managing a fleet and working with a lot fuel, the best way to manage transaction reports comes down to a decision on data. Part of logistics is looking at the true graph of fueling expenses, and the benefit of using a fleet fuel card is the promise of instant access to all of your drivers’ transactions.

So look for a card that allows you to see the transaction reports instantly, from any location, and to view a line by line delineation of expenses, and to create a graph of expenses by the day, week, month or year.

How Do You Earn the Rebate?

The smaller the fleet, the faster you want to earn your rebate, because your vehicles aren’t getting endless mileage.

That means you’ll choose a card that allows you to get a rebate based on individual transactions, or a low threshold of transactions, and not based on mileage, or a high level of transactions.

Fuel and Location Aren’t Always Equal

Different fuel programs have variety of ways to charting which fuel you can receive rebates on and at which locations. Read the fine print and think carefully about what kinds of fuels you run, and where you can buy it.

To Fee or Not To Fee

Is the card in question going to charge a transaction fee when it’s used? Add that into the equation when you’re choosing a card, and make sure the fee doesn’t engulf your rebate, leaving you with less than you could be getting on another card.

If there’s no transaction fee, it will be like paying cash every time your drivers pump.

What Do You Mean You Can’t Reach the Minimum?

Some cards subject you to the penalty of a missed rebate if you don’t use the card for a minimum number of miles. While the card company doesn’t see it as a penalty – you will.

It’s best to take your business to a card company that lets you keep adding miles at the pace you need to drive them without snatching the rebate out from under you.

Finding Mistakes

The fuel card that you choose should clearly show the amount of your rebate, which will help you check for mistakes in the transactions, since every number will be delineated.