Feature:
As Oil Prices Hit New High, Savvy Businesses Can Avoid Pain at the Pump

If you are a business owner, fleet manager or office manager with one or several service vehicles, headlines about fuel prices can make you reach for your bottle of aspirin even before your monthly fuel bill arrives.

What can you do for your business to help be more efficient in fuel? Before we look at answering that, let’s look back in time, just a mere 12 months.

One year ago, oil was trading at $62 a barrel. Today is it is double that and then some. No one had a crystal ball and could have predicted that kind of increase. Hence, no one “budgeted” for that kind of hit to their business operations. If you knew this was coming, surely you would have taken the necessary steps and been prepared.

Well it’s here now and we have to deal with it. What can you do to be fiscally responsible and still maintain the customer service you want to deliver and your customers expect?

You want to be on a fuel management program. This is a program that will help track your drivers and fuel expenses. It should give you information about your service vehicles in a report that is easy to read and at a glance, offer at the very least your miles per gallon and a cost per mile for each of your service vehicles. Less than that and it’s not worth having the program.

If you are using cash, debit cards or your personal credit cards you are asking for trouble. There is no detail tracking or reporting using these forms of payment. Are you sure your driver put the full amount in your company vehicle?

When you inquire about a fuel program, ask about a discount. There should be some discount for your business, even a sign up discount. However, be wary of ongoing discounts. You will most likely be paying for your own continued discount by paying more per gallon each time you fill your vehicle. That is a losing battle for your fuel budget. When you decide on a fuel program, do not pay fees associated with that program at all, not even a sign up fee. You are already paying more at the pump, why should you suffer more pain. Find a fuel management program that will not charge you any sign up fees or any monthly fees to use their program.

Be sure to use a reputable fuel source. Use a retailer you know and trust. If your drivers have to search for miles for a fuel source, it is not a benefit. You should have multiple locations for your drivers to choose from, no matter where they drive. Your customers are not in one specific area.

Do not neglect your service vehicles. They are the backbone of your business. If your vehicles are down and not working, you are not making money and your customers will go somewhere else. Your customer does not care if your vehicle is in the shop for repairs, they need your services.

These suggestions will help reduce your fuel expenses each month. They might even give you a better handle on an area of your business that was not of concern in the past. These tips will help ease the pain for now. At least you will not have to buy the extra strength bottle of aspirin.

Jim Klun is a Commercial Fuels Sales Manager with the Atlanta Division of QuikTrip Corporation. For more information, you can reach Jim at 770-325-6726.