Fuel cards

[Plonker 3]

Do they give any real benefit to sole traders like discounted fuel or anything else, or are they just aimed more at multi fleet company?

 

[Deleted member 26818]

I'm not aware that the give you a discount, although they might.
They're very usefull for fleets, where a vehicle may have numerous drivers over the course of it's service.

 

[parker56]

companys like all star give discount to fleet user,(1pence per litre)but the main reason fleets use the card is for cash flow, accountabilty of milage,mpg.
cards are of limet use eg fuel,oil & serviceing cost.
Not realy any good for sole trader you may as well use a credit card

 

[Deleted member 26818]

If you allocate a particular card just for fuel and vehicle costs, it can help when doing the accounts.

 

[parker56]

Agree with spinlondon,the amount of people these days that don't cost vehicle running cost correctly & wonder why there not making profit.
So if you keep it all to one card you can see all your vehicle running cost every month (surpise or shock)

 

[D80]

Other than helping with documenting its use, you'll probably find it gives you the pump price, plus the cost of a card (around £3.50 iirc!), plus a small admin fee monthly.

I find it easier when doing my self assessment (sole trader) that for the years fuel costs I have them all in one place and can print them of each April, rather than needing to rely on sometimes very badly printed Garage receipts and also ones which often have other items on them as well.

 

[ian.settle1]

Santandar are doing a card whch gives 1%, 2%, and 3% back off certain items one of them is fuel but not to sure which one.

 

[oldtimer]

Fuel cards are great for a company with 10 motors because they can tell you what you are using plus the card company gets a cut from the credit card set up but a sole proprietor forget it I do and I get at least one call a week with the person asking to speak to the tranport manager I always reply you are speaking to him and he is not interested.

 

[MKS]

We use Fuel Genie and BP, Genie is for Morrison and Tesco pumps. More for ease of payment than fuel savings!!!

 

[tombolton]

Hello ,

I have no more idea for other fuel card but recently I am using the fuel cards from ukfuelcards.co.uk its a good for me because they give the best service and I also get some additional benefits with the use of this fuel card. You can also get the details from their website, I hope its a more helpful for your company and you to purchase a fuel cards.

 

[Dan23584]

I just a use a charge card for my business account for any vehicle related costs, it's another good way of keeping track of it.

 

[Octopus]

I use cash! Saves paying the bank to pay it in my account!

 

[imago]

I have a BP card, no monthly fee or fee for the card, the fuel price is about 1p a litre cheaper than the pump prices, but as the card company update them weekly you sometimes get a cheaper rate. The main reason I use it is that they send an invoice with weekly spend and VAT etc itemised.

So basically it's a free way of making the accounting slightly easier that sometimes saves a few quid.

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I use cash! Saves paying the bank to pay it in my account!

I avoid using/taking cash as it saves getting raped by HMRC.

 

[Octopus]

I avoid using/taking cash as it saves getting raped by HMRC.

It all goes through the books, into the petty cash and back out for fuel and such like. Easy really.

 

[tomspark0]

Avoid using fuel genie, my company recently switched over to them and the problem is tescos and morrisons garages don't open until 7am and you cant pay at the pump. If your working in central london you will have trouble finding anywhere to fill up with this card and most tesco express garages don't accept it yet. We had BP before and it was much easier plus theres a lot more of their garages dotted about.