FUEL costs – they are becoming increasingly volatile. Having been historically very low, they have risen and risen during the first half of 2018, before dipping slightly in June.
But the RAC is warning that wholesale prices are starting to rise again – with the prospect of further pump increases on the way.
For SME firms, controlling the expenditure on business mileage is crucial against such a volatile background.
How can fuel costs be budgeted? How can they be contained more expertly?
And, more to the point, how do you know that your drivers are being totally honest about what they do at the fuel pumps?
Or are some drivers just genetically leaden-footed?
One way to take control of business mileage fuel costs is through a fuel card.
A fuel card certainly helps administration of the company car fleet. It does this by wrapping up all the monthly fuel bills into one with a proper VAT output that can be exported and is fully HMRC compliant.
But Silvey Fleet goes further than a traditional fuel card. Because it offers some really good analysis of the fuel spend thanks to their Miles Monitor software.
And it’s all delivered via a simple and easy to use online system linked to a driver app.
Comprehensive and usable analytics
If that sort of phrase – comprehensive and usable analytics – sounds daunting, then rest easy. Silvey Fleet provides a picture of your fuel spend.
A picture that allows you to inspect further – to extend the metaphor – the depth of the oil used on the brush strokes.
The Monthly Dashboard shows a historical view of your company’s car and van fleet. However, this can be broken down further:
- to individual drivers
- MPG and CO2 outputs performance of your fleet
It means that the manager of your vehicles can easily see any car’s performance to review its fuel efficiency. For example, is it costing you more for all the business mileage incurred?
Does it highlight the fact that the car – or van – should be replaced with a more fuel-efficient model at the next stage in the vehicle’s lifecycle?
Fuel card misuse – put a stop to funding your drivers
Along with providing you with intelligence about your fleet, the Silvey Fleet Monitor Fuel Card can stop the fraudulent use of your company’s money to fund employees.
It can highlight fuel card misuse – since calls will be made to drivers to find out why these incidents have happened:
- drivers are only allowed to refuel the vehicle assigned to that card
- highlights multiple fills, small fills, incorrect fuel use (eg Super Unleaded rather than standard Unleaded) plus fills over tank capacity
You get the picture.
In essence it provides you with the management information to enable intelligent decisions to be made on fuel spend. Without blinding you in a blizzard of information. Or spending hours on assembling fuel spend expenses and untangling business use from private mileage use. Without being able to see where unnecessary fuel spend is occurring.
And it’s easy for your drivers to use. There’s a simple to use app that drivers can enter mileage directly onto their smartphone; or online via the website.
Which provides an overall view of business versus personal mileage.
This again can highlight vehicle choice suitability: should driver A be using a diesel for such high business mileage rather than a petrol car? Should driver B be using a plug-in hybrid or electric car because mileage is inconsequential?
Controlling business mileage is crucial to your company – but Silvey Fleet Monitor Fuel Card provides even more: administrative efficiency for your company cars and vans; and insight into vehicle suitability.
