With fuel prices at record highs, you can save yourself and your company money. Through our sister company, Fleetmaxx Solutions, we can provide a wide range of household brands to suit your business needs. As a result, we’ve decided to provide a guide so you can learn all about fuel cards, their benefits and factors that affect fuel card costs.
Fuel cards are an excellent way for your business to save on petrol and diesel. Aside from the discounted fuel, you’re buying, the main fee for a fuel card is an annual charge per vehicle, which can range from £12 to £24 per year, depending on your business’ fleet size.
Some providers will also charge transaction fees, while others waive these or don’t charge them as long as you spend a certain amount each month.
How does tax affect fuel card prices?
Like most business operations, the use of fuel cards may be subject to certain taxes. This section will help you determine how small business fuel cards are taxed.
Generally, if you employ drivers or other staff members who use company cars, the company cars and fuel can be used in two ways:
For work only
A mixture of work and private use
If your employees use company cars and fuel for personal trips, you’ll usually need to report it and meet some National Insurance (NI) requirements. Cars and fuel that are used exclusively for work journeys are exempt from reporting, although there are certain conditions you’ll need to meet.
To learn more about them and other exemptions, read the ‘what’s exempt’ section of the Gov.UK guide on expenses and benefits: company cars and fuel.
Which factors affect fuel card prices?
Now we’ve looked at some typical fuel card prices and examined the tax implications. It’s essential to understand what influences these figures. In this section, we’ll discuss the factors affecting fuel card prices.
- Tariff – some cards use a fixed rate (a set fuel price across the country), and some have rates linked to pump prices.
- Network coverage – some fuel cards only allow you to use one provider, whereas other cards can be used at petrol stations operated by different companies.
- Fuel consumption – the type(s) of fuel used by the vehicles in your fleet may affect fuel prices, and you will need to decide whether you need a fuel card that covers all types of fuel or just diesel or petrol.
- Payment terms – when and how you pay your fuel bill may have an impact on the cost, too, with any changes to the standard payment schedule or method likely to cost extra
- Expenses type – whether your drivers can use the fuel card to purchase fuel or also pay for additional items (such as car products) or other driving-related expenses will influence what type of fuel card you’ll need and your fuel card costs.
- Additional services – you may have to pay extra to be able to access your card online or through an app or have an account manager
- Switching fee – if you’re already using a fuel card for your small business and you decide to switch providers, there may be a cost to do so
- Contract length – how long you sign up to use a particular fuel card provider may impact the price you pay
- Extra costs – some fuel card providers may charge for rejected payments or have an additional fee to receive your invoices on paper or to secure your card
- Fleet type – using fuel cards for cars, vans or HGVs (or a mixture of vehicle types) can affect prices.
Are fuel cards worth it?
In short, yes.
It’s a tough time to be a small business owner, and fuel cards are the best way to save money on fuel – with a fuel card, you can expect to save between two and three pence per litre (or even more in some cases), and this can quickly add up to saving thousands of pounds a year for just a small fleet of company cars or vans. And you don’t need to be worried about not finding anywhere to fill up. Leading fuel cards have cross-network coverage that gives you a choice of over 3,000 petrol stations across the UK, and you can check which sites are included before you sign up. Some cards (such as FuelGenie) even let your drivers earn supermarket loyalty points on fuel purchases.
Plus, using fuel cards means keeping track of your fuel spending is easy. You don’t need to worry about keeping receipts and have to pay one invoice each month. Some fuel card providers also offer extra services such as load boards or freight factoring, so you can keep things simple and keep a bunch of your fleet services under the same umbrella.
Through Fleetmaxx Solutions, we can offer fantastic offerings to our customers. We listen to your business needs and match you with the perfect fuel card to suit your business needs to help cut business costs and reduce your bottom line.
Are you looking for more information or the list of cards we can offer? Visit our fuel cards page or contact us directly on 01291 324 019