So, your company has decided to get its first fleet fuel card. Or maybe you've grown tired of dealing with your current vendor. What are you going to do about it?

There are many different fleet fuel cards on the market, but like most things, not everything is created equal. On the surface, they all may appear to look and work the same. But do they? The short answer is NO!

When looking for a fleet fuel card, the first thing you need to do is determine what kind of card you need. There are cards that work better for Over the Road truck fleets. The card can be used at truck stops like Pilot, Travel Centers of America, etc. The king in this area is Comdata. They were first to market and control about 70% of that market segment.

The other area is what is considered retail fueling. These would be more typical retail locations like BP, Chevron, etc. The leader in this market is Wright Express (WEX). They made their business off small fleets that needed controlled spending at retail locations.

These two fleet fuel cards aren't the only ones in the market; others you may have heard of include FleetOne, Voyager, EFS, T-Chek, 360FuelCard.com, Fuelman to name just a few. Some have connections with MasterCard, making those cards more flexible in the locations they're expected.

What you want in a fleet fuel card is to provide information about your fuel transactions and controls over your fuel spend. When talking to these companies, it's important to find out what services they offer on their fleet card.

The other area you want to pay close attention to is the fees you'll be charged each month. Will it be a flat monthly fee on a per card basis, a transaction fee each time you fuel, an account fee? Also, do they have high late-fee charges or additional charges to get your invoices? The other area of consideration is what they charge the vendor accepting their fleet fuel card. Higher transaction fees charged to the vendor may preclude you from negotiating a discount with that vendor.

If you're thinking of using Visa, MasterCard or American Express as your fleet fuel cards, and your drivers would be buying things other than fuel, keep in mind that not all merchants will accept American Express. It's not that they don't like AMEX; it's that they don't like the transaction fees they charge.

The same holds true for your fleet fuel card. Certain cards, like Voyager and WEX, have higher transactions fees than other cards, like Fuelman and Comdata. If you go to your retail fuel location and ask for a discount, the difference for them to accept one card over another might be 6 cents a gallon or more; they just don't have that much profit margin, forcing them to charge the full retail price.

Another factor to consider: several fuel companies have discounts built into their card that could save you from one to as much as five cents a gallon. It's also important to review and check their list to determine if their locations will work for your fleet fuel.

The best advice I can offer is to review at least 3 different companies to see what they have to offer your company. In summary look for:

• Best acceptance for your operation, retail or over the road (truck stops).
• Research the various card options available to you. Just because they're the biggest, doesn't mean they're the best -- but it probably means they're pretty good.
• What kind of controls do they have around the card to control theft?
• How much are their transactional fees - for all involved.
• What kind of discount fuel network do they have?

Here is a quick reference to a few of the company's websites:
www.fleetone.com
www.comdata.com/
www.fuelman.com
www.360fuelcard.com
www.wrightexpress.com/
www.tchek.com/
These should give you a good start. Are you fueling good today? We are.