When you’re overseeing a fleet, every dollar spent on fuel impacts your bottom line. Selecting the right fuel card isn’t just about convenience or expense tracking—it’s about securing a pricing model that consistently delivers maximum savings. This comes down to understanding the two primary fuel card pricing models: retail-minus and cost-plus.
The difference between retail-minus and cost-plus pricing can translate to significant savings—or missed opportunities—based on where your drivers fuel up. Whether your operations are focused on specific regions or span the entire country, understanding these pricing structures is essential to maximizing fuel savings.
In this article, we’ll explain the details of each fuel card pricing model, guide you in selecting the structure that best aligns with your fleet’s needs, and share a list of cost-plus fuel card companies.
Table of Contents
- What is a cost-plus fuel card?
- Retail-minus vs. cost-plus fuel card pricing
- Which fuel card pricing structure is better?
- Pros and cons of cost-plus fuel cards
- Fuel cards that provide cost-plus pricing
- How to choose the right fuel card pricing structure for your fleet
What is a Cost-Plus Fuel Card?
A cost-plus fuel card is a fleet fuel card for businesses that provides wholesale-based pricing at selected gas stations and truck stops. Rather than paying the posted pump price, you pay the wholesale fuel cost plus taxes and a fuel card rate to determine your total price with a cost-plus fuel card.
Other than pricing structure, cost-plus fuel cards offer the same robust controls, tracking features, reporting options, and security found with traditional fleet fuel cards. In fact, some cost-plus fuel cards provide dual network capability, allowing your fleet to access cost-plus pricing at designated locations and standard retail pricing where applicable.
Retail-Minus vs. Cost-Plus Fuel Card Pricing
| Retail-Minus | Cost-Plus |
| Pump price - discount | OPIS price + taxes + fuel card rate |
| Best in markets with low profit margins | Best in high priced regions |
| Subject to brand or merchant price swings | Consistent pricing across locations |
A typical discount fuel card has a retail-minus pricing structure, where you pay the posted pump price set by the merchant less any rebate or discount the card provides. This pump price already includes the applicable fuel taxes for your city and state.
In contrast, a cost-plus fuel card calculates your final price by adding together the wholesale fuel price published by Oil Price Information Service (OPIS), applicable taxes, and the fuel card rate. OPIS reports wholesale rack prices across the U.S. by geographic area. The "rack" is the terminal where gas stations purchase fuel in bulk. For example, if fueling in San Diego, CA, your total with a cost-plus card would be the San Diego OPIS rack price plus taxes and the card’s rate.
Which Fuel Card Pricing Structure is Better?
The best pricing model for your business depends on where you purchase fuel most often. In states like California where fuel prices, operating costs, and regulatory burdens are high, gas station merchants typically have larger profit margins built into the retail pump price. In these environments, a cost plus fuel card often delivers lower costs by charging the OPIS-based wholesale rate.
By contrast, in regions like the South or Midwest where fuel markets are highly competitive and retail profit margins are slimmer, a retail-minus fuel card can often provide the most competitive price.
Get A Free Cost-Plus Fuel Card Pricing Comparison
Pros and Cons of Cost-Plus Fuel Cards
| Cost-Plus Fuel Cards | |
| Pros | Cons |
|
✅ Cheaper fuel prices in flat or down markets |
❌ You briefly pay more during major price spikes |
Cost-Plus Fuel Card Pros
1. Cheaper Prices in Flat or Down-Market Conditions
Economists often note that retail fuel prices "shoot up like a rocket and float down like a feather" in response to market shifts. When wholesale fuel costs increase, gas stations typically adjust their retail prices upward immediately to maintain profit margins. However, when wholesale prices drop, the reduction in retail pump prices usually lags, allowing stations to retain higher margins for longer.
With a cost-plus fuel card, your pricing is tied directly to the OPIS wholesale rate. So if the wholesale price falls by 50¢ per gallon, your cost drops by the same amount right away, without having to wait for retail prices to catch up.
2. Consistent Pricing Across Locations
Retail fuel prices can fluctuate significantly based on the gas station brand and location. If you check resources like GasBuddy, you’ll often find significant price differences between stations in the same area. These price gaps usually result from differences in brand pricing strategies and the level of competition at specific intersections. When using retail fuel cards, it’s not uncommon for two drivers fueling at different stations in the same city to see price differences of 30¢ per gallon.
With cost-plus fuel cards, however, since OPIS sets the wholesale price for the entire local market, drivers fueling at different locations in the same area pay about the same price per gallon. This provides consistent and competitive fuel costs for your entire fleet, regardless of where each driver fills up within that area.
3. Wholesale Market-Based Prices
Cost-plus fuel cards ensure that you pay OPIS-based wholesale prices every day, so your fleet is always charged according to true wholesale market rates. This protects you from sudden changes in a gas station’s pricing strategy because of changes in ownership, station branding, increased environmental regulations, or other external factors.
Cost-Plus Fuel Card Cons
1. During Rapid Market Changes, Higher Prices May Occur
Remember, retail fuel prices shoot up like a rocket and float down like a feather. When wholesale fuel prices rise, most retail gas stations increase their pump prices promptly to maintain profitability, but some locations may take 24 to 72 hours to adjust their prices accordingly.
Sometimes, stations may delay raising prices because they still have lower-cost inventory on hand and want to attract more customers to their convenience stores, or because they are slower to react to daily wholesale price changes and are late to the party when it comes to adjusting their retail price.
As a result, when wholesale fuel prices spike, a cost-plus fuel card price will reflect the increase immediately, while retail pump prices may take an extra 24 to 72 hours to catch up. During this window, cost-plus pricing can temporarily exceed retail pricing. After the spike, wholesale prices drop more quickly than retail prices, allowing users of a cost-plus fuel card to benefit from faster (and often greater) savings as the market stabilizes.
2. Highly Competitive Markets Can Diminish Cost-Plus Savings
In highly competitive retail markets, some gas stations may sell fuel with little to no profit margin to draw more customers into their convenience stores, where higher profits are made on other purchases. In these areas—such as many parts of the South and Midwest, where retail fuel prices are typically low and stations are plentiful—cost-plus fuel cards could yield less savings compared to retail-minus discount cards.
Fuel Cards That Provide Cost Plus Pricing
Here’s a list of fuel cards that provide cost plus pricing.
- CFN: Cost-plus pricing at 3,000 cardlock fuel stations
- Pacific Pride: Cost-plus pricing at 1,400 cardlock fuel stations
- Fuelman: Cost-plus pricing at select locations
- Comdata: Cost-plus pricing at select truck stops
How To Choose the Right Fuel Card Pricing Structure for Your Fleet
To determine which pricing structure delivers the most value for your business, compare retail pump prices in your fueling areas to the cost-plus OPIS rates available at those same locations.
Check Current Retail Prices
Two reliable resources for retail fuel prices are GasBuddy and AAA Fuel Prices. GasBuddy provides real-time, user-reported pump prices for nearby stations, while AAA offers daily averages for retail fuel prices in your area. Using both sources will give you a good view of current retail pricing.
Get a Quote for Cost-Plus OPIS Pricing
Gathering cost-plus OPIS pricing information requires a bit more effort. You can request a general quote from cost-plus fuel card companies, buy a subscription to OPIS which can be somewhat expensive, or contact P-Fleet and request cost-plus fuel card pricing information to assist with your comparison.
Compare Prices for an Extended Period
After collecting retail and cost-plus pricing, compare this data over an extended period of time, at least 30 days. This approach gives you a better picture of pricing differences during periods of increasing, decreasing, and stable fuel market conditions.
