How do fuel cards work?
A company fuel card is given by the business to each employee who needs to spend money on petrol or diesel to cover professional travel. When they have filled up at the petrol station, the employee presents the fuel card to the cashier as a form of payment.
The balance due is deducted from the card, and the employee’s company is later charged for the amount by fuelGenie. The transaction is recorded and made available to view in an online account management system called Manage My Account. It is also included on a single invoice along with all other fuel card transactions.
What are the benefits for employees?
The major benefit of using the fuelGenie fuel card, from an employee point of view, is the fact that it eliminates the need to spend their own money on fuel expenses incurred in business travel. Instead of spending first and then having to claim the funds back later, employees can charge the company directly and avoid putting themselves ‘out of pocket’.
Another positive aspect is that, because the fuelGenie fuel card is specific to Tesco, Morrisons and Sainsbury’s petrol filling stations, employees can collect supermarket loyalty points on what they spend. This acts as a small perk for them as they can put these points towards their own personal balance.
What about employers?
It’s not only employees who benefit from a company implementing fuel cards as a method of managing fuel expenditure. There are also a significant number of advantages for the employer, ranging from cost savings to administrative ease and more.
Benefits of fuelGenie for employers:
- No fees – The card is free to own, and normal usage of fuelGenie doesn’t incur any fees
- Low-cost supermarket fuel – The card is focused on Tesco, Morrisons and Sainsbury’s petrol stations, where prices are lower than the national average. In fact savings can reach over 3p per litre.*
- Competitive credit facility – Competitive payment terms, helping businesses manage their cash flow
- Easy VAT claim – All of a company’s transactions are available as a single, HMRC-approved invoice which makes VAT reclaim simple and easy
- No minimum spend contract – Unlike other fuel cards, fuelGenie doesn’t require any minimum fuel spend
In addition to these benefits, businesses using fuelGenie also gain access to Manage My Account, an online account management system that allows them to simply and efficiently do things like monitor spending, set credit limits and access invoices.
What about the self-employed?
If we consider the self-employed as a separate, third category, then it will also be seen that this group will enjoy all of the benefits conferred by using a fuelGenie fuel card.
As an employee, they will have the ability to charge fuel spending to the company rather than to their own personal funds. They will also collect the supermarket loyalty points on offer each time they top up at one of the Tesco, Morrisons or Sainsbury’s petrol filling stations.
In their capacity as an employer (albeit of themselves) they will benefit from the company advantages mentioned above, namely: no fees, low-cost supermarket fuel, competitive credit facility, easy VAT claim and no minimum spend contract. Naturally, they would also have access to the Manage My Account online account management system.