Fuel Cards
 

What are the better fuel card companys?

And what advantage to useing my visa card would there be useing fuel card companys?

Re: Fuel Cards
 

Reward points !!!

I use my AMEX for all of my fuel and provide a corporate AMEX for my driver in the other truck.

I think Truckersadvantage (Fleet One) through OOIDA is one of the best on the market. There are no transaction fees and you can use it anywhere but Flying J. TCH is another card which is issued by Transportation Alliance Bank (Flying J). There are transaction fees but you get the cash price at Flying J. There are other fuel cards available, such as Comdata and EFS. I believe both have transaction fees. When you use a credit card such as Visa you pay the credit price for fuel at most truck stops. The cost is about $0.06/gallon. That is a high price to pay for your fuel. The advantage to using a credit card is that you have 30 days to pay the bill. Most fuel cards require you to prepay or deposit money into the account or bill you weekly. The entire invoice must be paid each week. Some fuel cards have additional benefits such as discounts on tires and other services.

GMAN: I was thinking about using my Visa/bank card as a debit,an't that the same as cash? Or do you think this is a bad idea?

I believe the truck stops consider the debit card the same way as a credit card since they have to pay a fee to the issuer, regardless. I recall several years ago, I stopped at a Love's in Texas to buy fuel. They charged me the credit price even though I used a debit card. It is less of a hassle to use a debit card rather than cash, but you can save money by either using cash or a regular fuel card. Many independent truck stops do not charge a higher credit price for using a credit or debit card. Some of the chains charge about $0.06/gallon for credit or debit cards.

I use a debit card and it's considered a credit card at all the pumps.

Stop going to the big chain T/S's and you won't have to pay the fee,I go weeks without having to pay a credit premium.

I use a rewards card,last year it was free airline tickets,this year it will be a free suite at a Tigers game for 18 people :lol:

I use TCH for 2 reasons.

1) No up front money needed (at least in my case)... my weekly bill starts at 00:01 MT time wed morning and runs through 23:59 tuesday night, then the bill is auto payed from my checking account each Friday evening.

2) as much as I detest Flying J, they usually do have the most inexpensive fuel, and TCH card users get cash price

There is a $1.80 transaction fee per use, so keep that in mind.

Also, you can manage every aspect of your card(s) on-line and even set it up to allow gasoline purchases.

I had a FleetOne account with OOIDA, but found that I only used it on very rare ocasions, and they suspended my account for non-use after it being idle for six months. One good thing with the FleetOne account is guaranteed pricing on services and products such as tires and road service calls.

TCH regularly offers discounts on tires, but a savy shopper may be able to do better with a local vendor.

I use Comdata, and the only reason I use it is for the fuel discounts that I get through my lease company. I get between $0.04 - $0.06 per gallon discount at all the major chains (except Flying J, of course), and get cost+$0.02 at T/A (which can be very good if and when the price of oil goes down, as the cost price reflects the future price of fuel, rather than what it is costing now).

Keep in mind that most of the major fuel card companies charge a transaction fee. If you get a Fleet One card through OOIDA, you don't pay a transaction fee. There are also some discounts on fuel purchases at some stops, but it is usually only about $0.02/gallon. If TCH didn't charge a transaction fee, I would probably use it exclusively since I can use it at Flying J for the cash price.

Some of the major carriers have discounts at the large chains. Landstar offers a program through Comdata that sounds like the one Rev described. If you run your own authority and do business with Landstar, you can participate in their Savings Plus program through Comdata and get the same discounts as their BCO's. The only problem is that the only way you can fund the card is through Landstar. Unless you run their loads, you have no way to fund the card. CH Robinson has T-Check. Schneider and other major carriers offer Comdata or other fuel purchase programs for carriers who broker freight through them. I have always preferred having my own fuel card.