Fleet cards are unique due to the convenient and comprehensive reporting that accompanies their use. Fleet cards enable fleet owners/ managers to receive real time reports and set purchase controls with their cards helping them to stay informed of all business related expenses.

The advent of fleet cards can be traced back to the 1960s and 70’s when key stops[citation needed] and stand alone card locks[citation needed] were used by independent marketers and gas bar owners. The first commercial fuel cards resembled a credit card with a name and a company logo on them. When a customer entered a fueling station, the cashier would take down the customer’s name and company information to authenticate ownership of the card. This process was time consuming and was vulnerable to fraudulent transactions. With the advent of computers and computer software in the 1980s, the development of the fleet card industry quickly expanded. The invention of the magnetic stripe and magnetic card reader allowed petroleum marketers to control fuel pump transactions, leading to today’s wide range of fleet card security features and state of the art reporting systems to track all of your fleet expenses. These “intelligent” systems make fleet management convenient and secure, as fleet card owners are able to track fleet fuel use with increased accuracy, receiving reports in real time on the fueling habits of your fleet. Business owners are able to limit employee fueling by time-of-day and day-of-week, as well as the restricting payment options to pay at the pump or inside fuel locations, to reduce fraudulent fuel spend and other non-business related transactions.

Commercial fleet cards have developed into a convenient and cost effective way to operate a fleet business. Fleet cards operate by allowing fleet owners and operators the ability to control their company’s fuel and maintenance expenses by assigning purchase controls to cards designated to the specifications given by individual companies.

Fleet cards allow fleet owners and operators the ability to limit fuel purchases to time of day, day of week, number of transactions per day, and the number of gallons per transactions. This saves fleets money by reducing unauthorized transactions and limits purchasing ability to a specified network of filling stations.

Fleet cards, which resemble a standard credit card, are offered to any business that operates a fleet across all industries. Each card comes available with the pre-set purchase controls, which may be adjusted by the fleet owners. These purchasing controls block unauthorized transactions for items other than fuel, and can even lock purchasers out if fraud is suspected.

Real-time reports on transactions can be sent via e-mail or mobile device to fleet management and paper reports are available monthly advising fleet owners of any suspicious activity, the level of fuel efficiency, expense management, account administration, processing, reporting and bills. All of these reports allow fleet owners to better manage their expenses and ensure the fleet is operating at optimal efficiency.

The use of fleet cards has become wide spread among members of the transportation community in the US, due to the level of security and convenience fleet cards offer to private and government fleets. The enhanced security associated with commercial fuel cards is derived from the fleet manager’s ability to set purchasing controls based on the needs of their business, limiting fuel filling to time of day and day of week, transactions per day, gallons per day and tracking of fuel economy.

Fleet owners are also offered real-time alerts for suspicious fraudulent activity. By eliminating fraudulent activity and thus “unnecessary expense and wasted man hours” fleet cards offer a high level of control and involvement to fleet managers where their business expenses are concerned.

Using fleet cards also lowers the risk of drivers being robbed of large sums of money needed to get from A to B. Commercial fleet cards offer fleets a network of fueling stations with the ability to make payments at the pump for convenience and time savings or signature authentication within the fueling location on each card.

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