Whether you’re brand new as an owner-operator or if you’ve been in the shipping and logistics field for many years, you no doubt know exactly how important it is to control your costs as much as possible.
Sometimes, the money you spend in the operation of your business is beyond your control – you can’t help the expense of that unfortunate unplanned maintenance on your truck, for example. But other times, you do have options, especially when it comes to the amount you’ll pay for fuel.
There are several fuel cards that owner-operators in particular should absolutely be looking into to help maximize their income in 2025.
What are Fuel Cards?
Fuel cards, as the name implies, are a type of payment that is used to purchase fuel (along with other vehicle-related accessories from the same establishment). Although personal users can buy fuel cards, they are often used by truckers and other professionals in logistics to help pay for expenses.
Types of Fuel Cards
As a logistics professional, there are a few different types of fuel cards to choose from depending on your needs. They include but are not limited to ones like:
Cost-Plus
Here, the price that you pay for fuel is determined by A) the base cost of fuel at the station you’re at, and B) an additional fixed markup added. If prices drop, you could pay less for fuel – but prices do fluctuate based on factors like the market.
Retail-Minus
With this type of fuel card, your provider works with a network of gas stations to negotiate what is essentially a discount. The “minus” is the amount you take off whatever the posted price is at the pump – that’s the amount you pay for gas. The downside is that if gas prices are already low, the discount might not be quite as significant.
8 Fuel Cards to Consider for 2025
When it comes to fuel cards, you are certainly not without your options. Here are the ones you should consider to help maximize your spending in 2025 and beyond.
Apex Fuel Card
This is one of the more popular fuel cards out there for truckers in particular because it is accepted at gas stations across the United States. The discounts it offers are known for being very competitive, too.
DAT One Fuel Card
If you’re a business owner with a fleet looking to help simplify fuel management across the board, the DAT One Fuel Card was designed with this in mind. It offers real-time pricing data and more.
Fuelman Deep Saver
This is a type of fuel card that was designed to help small and mid-sized businesses in particular.
Comdata
Comdata provides fuel cards to not only businesses that run large fleets but owner-operators as well. It is looked at very favorably among these demographics.
ExxonMobil BusinessPro
As the name implies, this is a fuel card that is designed to offer savings at both Exxon and Mobil stations across the country. Between the two, you’ll find the coverage quite significant.
Truckers Advantage Fuel Card
This is a type of fuel card intended for not just owner-operators, but small trucking businesses as well. It’s known for being easy to maintain, which is especially useful if you’re trying to get your enterprise off the ground.
Shell Fleet Navigator
This is a type of fuel card that is designed to offer very competitive discounts at Shell stations across the country. If you happen to be based out of an area with a lot of Shell stations, it’s certainly something you’ll want to look into.
Love’s Express
If you frequently shop at Love’s Travel Stops, you’ll know that there are always gas stations attached to them. The Love’s Express is a fuel card designed to offer discounts at those gas stations in particular.
How Do Fuel Cards Help Owner Operators Save Money?
Obviously, the number one way that fuel cards help owner-operators save money is through discounts on the price of gas. Depending on the time of year and the market conditions, the right fuel card could save you hundreds of dollars every time you go to the pump.
They prove invaluable in a lot of other ways, too – especially when it comes to how you run your business.
Simple Accounting
Especially if you’re new to the trucking industry, you understand just how complicated accounting can quickly become. Fuel cards help simplify at least this aspect of accounting by allowing you to easily track the amount of money you’re spending on gas in real-time.
Enhanced Security
Rather than carry cash or use a personal credit or debit card for gas purchases, a fuel card offers sophisticated protection against unauthorized transactions. At the very least, it’s a way to help mitigate the risk of fraud or other unwanted purchases, which will come in handy as you travel the country.
Additional Discounts
Sometimes, a fuel card will offer exclusive discounts on other items that go beyond simply giving you money off the price of gas. This can be a great way to save even more as an owner-operator than you otherwise would.
We Simplify Freight Billing
At Advanced Commercial Capital, we pride ourselves on our ability to simplify freight billing for owner-operators and others in the logistics field as much as possible. We do this in a number of ways, with freight factoring being chief among them.
With freight factoring, you give us your unpaid invoices, and we’ll give you most of the balance the same day. We’ll keep a small percentage as a pee, and work on collecting the full amount from the client. That way, you can preserve your cash flow and rest easy knowing that you’re being paid for a job well done.
If you’d like to find out more information about the best fuel cards for owner-operators to watch out for in 2025, or if you have any additional questions that you’d like to go over with someone in a bit more detail, please don’t hesitate to contact us today.