Effectively managing fuel expenses is crucial for any business operating company vehicles because it impacts both operational efficiency and cost control. If your goal is to optimize spending, streamline reporting, or eliminate the administrative burden of fuel reimbursements, a business gas card, also known as a fleet fuel card, offers a reliable solution for your needs. With a variety of card options on the market, figuring out how to get a gas card for your business can seem complex.
In this guide, we’ll walk you through every aspect of getting a fuel card for your business, including how to determine your company’s fuel management requirements, evaluate the leading fleet fuel card options, and apply for the right card for your fleet. By following these steps, you can confidently make informed choices to strengthen your control over fuel expenses.
Table of Contents
- Make a list of problems you want to solve
- Research and compare fuel cards
- Share your fuel card research with stakeholders
- Apply for a fuel card online
- Order your fuel cards
- Set up your fuel card portal
- Distribute fuel cards to your drivers
1. Make a List of Problems to Solve
Why are you looking into getting gas cards for your business? What are you trying to solve? Write these problems or reasons down as you'll want to make sure the fuel card you choose solves the problems you are facing. If there are other stakeholders that will use the tools a fuel card provides, make sure you get a list of their problems they want to solve as well.
Here are some common fleet fueling problems we see business owners, fleet managers, and accountants want to solve by using fleet fuel cards:
Owner and Management Fleet Fueling Problems
- Drivers are buying fuel for their personal vehicles
- Drivers are purchasing items other than fuel
- No way to set spending limits
- Difficult to track fuel purchases
- Need an easier way to create fuel summary and IFTA reports
Accounting Fleet Fueling Problems
- Reimbursing employees for fuel purchases is labor intensive
- Tired of tracking down fuel receipts from drivers
- Need an easier way to reconcile fuel expenses
- Difficult to allocate fuel expenses by driver, vehicle, department, or job number
Problems with Current Fuel Card Vendor
- Fuel card company has excessive fees: monthly card fees, account fees, out-of-network fees, etc.
- Vendor charges unfair late payment fees
- Vendor changed pricing
- It's difficult to get ahold of customer service
- Fuel cards aren't working
These are just some of the common problems we hear from people who are looking into getting gas cards for their business. Once you identify and make a list of the problems you are trying to solve by getting a gas card for your business, use it during the next step when you start comparing gas cards.
2. Research and Compare Fuel Cards
When you search for business gas cards, there's tons of options, but where do you start? We put together this article for the 10 best fuel cards for business in 2025. This guide compares top fuel cards by features including acceptance, fees, discounts, customer ratings, and more. We also broke down the types of fuel cards that are available on the market and features to look for when comparing fuel cards. Here are the main features you'll want to compare when evaluating fuel cards:
What to Compare When Evaluating Gas Cards for Business
- Accepting locations
- Third party customer review sites (Trustpilot, Capterra, Google)
- Discounts
- Fees
- Customer portal (fuel card management platform)
- Controls
- Alerts
- Reporting
Once you have your top two or three fuel card choices, it's time to book a sales call. Call sales with your list of problems and start asking questions to make sure you'll get your problems solved if you choose their fuel card. After you talk with sales, make a test call to customer support to see for yourself the type of customer service you will receive. How long did it take to reach a live person? Were they friendly and helpful?
Take all your notes and put them into a comparison spreadsheet or a document to share with other stakeholders. You can get a head start by downloading this free fuel card comparison spreadsheet template.
3. Share Fuel Card Research with Stakeholders
Share your findings with other stakeholders in your organization that will utilize the tools a fleet card offers to make sure the card you choose provides solutions for everyone's needs. For example, your accounting team may be interested in the fuel card reporting features to create expense reports, while business owners and finance may want to review fuel pricing to set fuel surcharge rates.
4. Apply for a Fuel Card Online
Most fuel cards have an online fuel card application you need to fill out to get a fuel card and will request the following information:
- General business information (company name, address, EIN)
- Contact information
- Fueling profile (estimated monthly fuel spend, number of vehicles in your fleet)
The fuel card company will use this information to evaluate your company for credit approval. Once approved, the fuel card company will send your credit terms and a fuel card order form to set up your account.
5. Order Your Fuel Cards
Now it's time to order your fuel cards. You'll need to choose your fuel card assignments, set card limits, and set up departments.
Choose to Assign Your Fuel Cards to Drivers or Vehicles
Fuel cards can be assigned to drivers or vehicles. If you need more help with deciding which option is right for your business, check out how to choose between vehicle cards and driver cards.
| Driver fuel cards | Vehicle fuel cards |
| Best for companies where each driver consistently drives the same vehicle | Best for companies where vehicles are often driven by different drivers |
| Driver name is embossed on the card | Vehicle name is embossed on the card |
| Driver fuel card is assigned a pin number | Each driver will be assigned their own pin number that can use any vehicle card |
| Card stays with the driver | The card will stay with the vehicle at all times and drivers will use their personal pins to activate the fuel card for the vehicle they are driving |
Set Card Limits
- Dollars/gallons per transaction (use vehicle tank size)
- Number of transactions per day
- Dollars/gallons per day, week, month
- Valid days: days you want the card to be active (M-F)
- Valid times: hours you want the card to be active (7AM-7PM)
- Product type: alerts you when wrong type of fuel is purchased
Set Up Departments
This is an optional step for businesses that want to assign fuel cards by department so that fuel invoices will summarize the total spend for each department. This will make allocating fuel cost much easier for your accounting team. For example, a construction company may set up the following departments: sales, management, fleet, and equipment.
6. Access Your Fuel Card Portal
While you are waiting for your fuel cards to be delivered, login to your fuel card portal to get familiar with managing fuel cards, checking transactions, and downloading reports. This is a good time to add any additional users that need access to the fuel card portal and set up email alerts for your cards. Here are some of the types of fuel card alerts you can set up.
Fuel Card Alerts
- E-receipts
- Product exceptions
- Driver transaction errors
- Fueling outside of business hours or days
- Fueling away from designated locations
- Alerts when specific cards are used
7. Distribute Fuel Cards to Your Drivers
Now that you have received your fuel cards, it's time to pass them out to your drivers. Here's a few things to consider when launching your new fuel card program.
Create a Driver Fuel Card Policy
Before you pass your fuel cards out, it's a good idea to set expectations on how the company fuel cards are allowed to be used. You can create a driver fuel card policy outlining proper fuel card use and consequences of card misuse. This will increase accountability and clearly communicate expectations so you and your drivers start on the same page.
Provide a Map and List of Accepting Fuel Stations
Direct drivers to what stations or brands you want them to fuel at. Most fuel cards have a site locator that will show all accepting fuel stations and will route drivers to these locations. If you have a specific set of locations you want them to use you can highlight that in your driver fuel card policy.
Who Should Drivers Contact if They have Issues?
When you launch a new fuel card program, usually there are operational issues at first as drivers are getting used to the new fuel cards. Who are your drivers supposed to call when they run into issues at the pump? Do you want them to contact you and other managers at your company or should they contact your fuel card company's customer support directly?
Activate Cards and Give Drivers Their Pin Numbers
The last step may seem obvious, but it's worth mentioning because it will cause major issues if skipped over. Make sure your fuel cards are active and your drivers know their pins. Also make sure your drivers do not keep their pin number with their fuel card. Some drivers might write their PIN directly on their card or keep it on a slip of paper stored with their card. If a driver loses a gas card with the pin number, whoever finds it may try to get fuel at your expense.
Get a P-Fleet Fuel Card for Your Business
At P-Fleet we offer fuel cards to help you take control your fuel purchases. Here's some steps to help you get started with P-Fleet.
- Take a self guided tour of our customer portal to see P-Fleet in action.
- Compare P-Fleet fuel cards to see which card is right for you.
- Apply for a P-Fleet fuel card online - Apply in minutes. No hard credit checks that affect your score.
You can speak with sales at anytime and one of our team members will guide you through the process or answer any questions you may have.
