The fuel or petrol card is an increasingly popular means of payment for professionals: it not only makes it easier to manage employees' fuel costs, but also ensures secure transactions. This optimizes monitoring and control of fuel expenditure, and improves organization within the company.
It's essential for professionals equipped with vehicles to have a relevant management service, to control and analyze expenses in detail and in real time.
Who is the Total fuel card designed for?
The Total fuel card is reserved for professionals only, and in particular :
- Employees driving company cars
- Employees with company cars
- Employees driving a commercial vehicle
Advantages and benefits of the Total fuel card
Fuel cards have become increasingly popular in recent years, offering significant advantages in terms of managing fuel-related expenses.
Faster accounting
The petrol card means the end of fuel-related expense claims. Processing them can be tedious and time-consuming, resulting in additional costs. What's more, employees don't have to advance expenses themselves, and don't have to keep receipts. Their personal cash flow is preserved, and payment takes the form of a single monthly invoice covering all expenses.
Detailed traceability
Each fuel card is assigned to a vehicle or an employee, and has a secret code known only to the employee.
This offer provides a global view of travel expenses for each fuel card holder, and helps to ensure that the vehicle is used normally, thanks to mileage feedback.
Negotiated pump prices
The Total fuel card offers a national price scale. A discount is applied to the resale price, saving a few euro cents per liter.
Expanded functions
Fuel cards are no longer just for petrol. They offer a growing number of services linked to the use of fleet vehicles. For example, you can pay for parking, tolls or car washes with the same fuel card.
The Total fuel card also includes a loyalty program, with partner benefits and special offers at Total service stations.
While these programs can be effective, the benefits they offer are not enough to offset the financial cost of fuel cards. In fact, fuel cards don't offer much in the way of savings.
Do I really save money with the Total fuel card?
A very expensive solution
The biggest saving lies in the elimination of indirect costs associated with processing expense claims. However, despite a lower price per liter, the fuel card solution remains expensive. With the Total fuel card, expect to pay 1.5% on petrol expenses and 2% on toll charges. An additional €3 plus VAT must be added to each card order.
For example, a full tank of gas costing €80 would cost €1.20, and a toll costing €25 would cost €0.50.
Although the use of a fuel card is very practical, it remains an extremely costly solution for the company. So don't expect to make any real savings.
A limited network of gas stations
With the Total card, you have access to the gas stations in the Total network. The network is certainly extensive, but it's important to check that the number of petrol stations is sufficient for the movements of employees and the location of the company. If you don't plan ahead, an employee may end up having to pay in advance for fuel at a petrol station that isn't part of the network, which takes all the fun out of the card.
We can also add that the number of countries is limited, whether for fuel distribution or toll payment.
The Anytime card, a real alternative to the Total fuel card
A less expensive solution
With charges of 1.5% on petrol and 2% on tolls, the Total fuel card, despite its practicality, comes at a considerable price.
Using a neobank for your fleet expenses allows you to have a similar service while saving money. With Anytime, once you've paid your membership fee, you have a number of cards included in your package, with no additional usage fees, unlike fuel cards which systematically take a percentage of your expenses. You get a flexible, low-cost solution.
Simple, fluid follow-up
You have a global view of your fleet's expenditure on a single interface. Transactions are reported in real time, so you know exactly who's spending what at any given moment.
Unlike the monthly billing of a petrol card, charges are clear and transparent, and the slightest anomaly is immediately noticed.
Intuitive expense management
Anytime can help you find a solution to make your company's expense management more reliable and simpler. While the Total fuel card simplifies expense management, using a neobank is still an appropriate solution.
Employees simply use the Anytime Mastercard to pay their business expenses, just as they use their bank card in everyday life. Each employee can directly save a photo of the invoice linked to the expense via the application. In this way, receipts are preserved, with no risk of loss or confusion.
Access to the expense report management tool can be given to one or more managers and to managers. Each level has specific rights.
All transactions are reconciled by category and by employee. Transactions can also be integrated into your company's accounting software. Expense receipts are archived on a secure server. A search by keyword, employee name or transaction enables you to find a receipt quickly. A real time-saver!
Easily define each employee's budget
Each card is assigned to an employee with its own PIN code.
You define a limit per card by allocating a budget per employee: when the limit is reached, the card is blocked. You can also accept or refuse payment requests from your employees via SMS or from your Anytime interface. Automatic card top-ups can also be programmed.
An expanded network and services
As well as being used to purchase fuel, the Anytime card can also be used to pay for all general expenses, from tolls to parking and meals. In the event of unforeseen circumstances, your employee can use his or her bank card in any store, for any purchase, at no extra cost, and integrate the expense into the Anytime management interface.
What's more, Anytime cards can be used throughout the Mastercard network, both in France and abroad. Employees can pay in any currency, free of charge and at the interbank exchange rate.
Using the Anytime card is child's play for employees. On the corporate side, it's an intuitive solution that allows you to dematerialize all your expense reports, monitor all your expenses in real time and export entries in just a few clicks, and not just for your fuel expenses. It's a real alternative to the expensive Total fuel card, which is limited to road expenses and available only on the Total network.
If you would like more information about our expense report service, please do not hesitate to contact us.
