Geotab launches fleet card as diesel prices pressure trucking

Samsara also launched its Fuel Command Center in August, combining fuel spending, fueling locations, driver behavior and card controls. Through its integration with Coast, Samsara can use vehicle-location data to block fuel-card transactions when the assigned vehicle is not present.

The launch comes as diesel prices remain elevated across the country, with the national average price for on-highway diesel at $6.382 per gallon for the week ending Sept. 28, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. That was about 70% higher than the same week a year earlier, when the national average was $3.754 per gallon.

Geotab analyzed 419,000 diesel fill-ups across 660 U.S. fleets and found that two trucks fueling in the same town could see a price difference of as much as 77 cents per gallon for diesel, according to the company. For a 75-gallon fill-up, that would amount to a difference of about $58.

For fleets with fewer than 100 vehicles, drivers selected the lower-priced fueling option about 17% of the time, according to the company’s analysis. Geotab estimated that choosing the lower-priced station could save about $24 per fill-up, or roughly 32 cents per gallon, and approximately $4,700 per truck annually. The annual estimate is based on about 200 fill-ups per year. The company said the $24 figure was rounded from $23.55 per fill-up, which would amount to $4,710 over 200 fill-ups.

“With fuel costs rising across the U.S., fleets need practical ways to reduce what they spend at the pump,” Steven Berube, Geotab’s vice president of sales, said in a statement.

The card remains locked until a driver unlocks it through the Geotab Drive app while the vehicle is parked at the merchant location. The app also allows drivers to view nearby fueling locations and fuel prices. When a purchase is attempted, the system checks the vehicle’s location, the merchant’s GPS coordinates and the vehicle’s fuel level.

For eligible accounts, telematics-verified transactions are backed by a fraud guarantee of up to $250,000, according to Geotab. The guarantee is provided by AtoB.

Geotab estimated that unauthorized fuel purchases could represent about $2.19 million in annual costs for a hypothetical 500-vehicle Class 8 fleet with $31.3 million in annual fuel spending.

The estimate assumes annual fuel consumption of about 9,752 gallons per Class 8 vehicle, a diesel price of $6.41 per gallon based on the AAA-reported national average, and an approximate 7% annual fuel-fraud rate. The 7% figure is an assumption used in Geotab’s estimate, rather than a measured fraud rate. Geotab’s $6.41 fuel-price assumption is slightly higher than the $6.382-per-gallon EIA national average cited above.

The Fleet Card also can be used for other on-road expenses, including maintenance, tolls, parking, towing and roadside assistance. Fleets can set spending controls based on dollar amount, time frame, location and merchant category, according to Geotab.

The card is issued and operated by AtoB and its issuing bank partners. AtoB provides the payment platform, fuel discount network, spending controls and fraud guarantee, while Geotab integrates the card into its telematics platform.

The Fleet Card is currently available to eligible U.S. fleets.

Why this matters: 

Fuel costs are a major operating expense for trucking fleets, and prices can vary widely between nearby fueling locations. The card adds another way for fleets to monitor fuel purchases and spending. It also links fuel payment activity with vehicle data, giving fleets another source of information for identifying unusual or unauthorized transactions.