Are fuel cards gradually turning into all-purpose mobility cards that can be just as easily used to pay the train fare from Amsterdam to Rotterdam as they can to cover the cost of 80 litres of diesel? XXImo of the Netherlands believes that is exactly what is happening and that it is at the forefront of an exciting new trend.

Having launched its all-in-one mobility payment XXImo card in its home market in 2012 it rolled it out into neighbouring Belgium in 2013. It is already accepted at 92% of Belgian filling stations and at all LUKOIL filling stations in both countries.

XXImo may appear elsewhere in Europe: in conjunction with Value Added Tax (VAT) reclamation specialist VATit, the company is already offering a service that helps users reclaim VAT paid in other European countries. ‘We've got international ambitions,’ says chief executive officer, Patrick Bunnik.

Relying on the Visa network, a XXImo card can be used to purchase fuel and for many other travelling expenses as well. You can use it to buy a railway ticket, a plane ticket, a pass to travel by bus, tram or metro or to pay your taxi fare; assuming that the cab driver accepts payment cards.

It can be used to pay for bridge, tunnel, road tolls and parking too. XXImo can be presented when you get the bill for a business lunch or overnight hotel accommodation and you can even use it to hire a bike: a sensible way of getting around bicycle-friendly cities such as Amsterdam.

All transactions subject to VAT are listed on a single monthly statement to ease VAT reclamation and XXImo can provide information on the CO2 emissions from the various different modes of transport chosen. That can be invaluable to companies looking to shrink their carbon footprint while employees can view their own CO2 output on a personal XXImo page.

Employers can limit how much each user can spend per week and set expenditure parameters too, says Bunnik.

‘One employee can be authorised to buy fuel and pay parking fees while another can be authorised to use a national taxi company and book an international rail journey,’ he says.

It is an approach that means less paperwork and reduced administration costs, he adds. ‘The proverbial shoebox bursting with receipts and expenses claims has been consigned to history,’ he states.

Transactions and the budget available to each individual can be viewed online and an App can be utilised to make it easier to find the nearest and cheapest filling station or car park. A route planner is available too.

Athlon Car Lease was the first company to adopt the XXImo card and is offering it to its clients in both the Netherlands and Belgium. A version of the card is being promoted to small- to medium-size enterprises and the self-employed under the MKV Moov banner by MKB-Nederland, the Dutch association for business owners.

Part of Tendris Holding, whose other activities include providing support for users of electric vehicles and developing energy-efficient light bulbs, XXImo is backed financially by the Dutch DOEN Foundation. Funded by three Dutch lotteries – the Postcode Lottery, the BankGiro Lottery and the FriendsLottery – it exists to help sustain a green, socially-inclusive and creative society.

FleetCor continues international expansion

Elsewhere, the onward and seemingly-unstoppable march of FleetCor Technologies continues unabated. Already one of the biggest providers of fuel cards worldwide, the Norcross, Georgia, USA based group is growing even larger as the months slip by.

Over the past year or so it has acquired CardLink, a fuel card issuing and payment processing company based in Auckland, New Zealand, signed a long-term agreement to manage the commercial fuel card programme operated by Husky Oil of Canada and made two acquisitions in Brazil. VB provides prepaid public transport cards issued by companies to employees to subsidise their commuting costs while DB is a leading provider of prepaid fuel and toll cards for use by transport companies.

In addition FleetCor has inked a long-term fuel card marketing agreement with Good Card, a leading Brazilian fuel card network operator with acceptance at approximately 40% of the country's filling stations. It gives FleetCor the ability to deliver a fuel card programme to small- and medium-size enterprises in Brazil.

On top of all that it has signed a long-term fuel card system processing contract with Caltex of Australia plus a deal to provide Quarles Petroleum of the USA with a private label fuel card. Quarles operates fleet fuelling stations in Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and North Carolina.

GPS-added security

FleetCor has not been having things all its own way, however.

With its headquarters in South Portland, Maine, USA, over the past two years fuel card provider WEX has been involved in various initiatives including a deal with Verizon-owned Networkfleet to provide it with a fuel and service card. Networkfleet supplies GPS-based vehicle tracking to operators and the card can help them generate cost-per-mile and mpg analyses as well as enforce purchasing policies.

Prior to the card's introduction Networkfleet was already working with WEX to produce reports that help customers spot dishonest transactions.

The Fuel Guard Report allows them to compare the date and time when fuel was bought and the location of the vehicle it   allegedly went into. A mismatch could mean that somebody is trying to defraud their employer.

By looking at the Fuel Card Transactions Report a fleet manager can examine all fuel purchases over a specified period including date, time and place, how much fuel was involved, and how much it cost.

Last October WEX entered into a long-term agreement with RaceTrac Petroleum of Atlanta to provide it with a private label and universal fleet card. The proprietary fleet card is accepted at all RaceTrac and RaceWay locations – there are 600 of them across the southern USA – while the co-branded universal card is welcome at over 90% of fuel and service locations around the country.

In November it announced plans to acquire the assets of ExxonMobil's European commercial fuel card – better-known as the Esso Card – through WEX Europe Services, a majority-owned joint venture. ‘It will establish our presence in the European fuel card market and allow us to create a substantial and profitable footprint to develop and grow our European fleet card business,’ says WEX chairman and chief executive officer, Michael E Dubyak.

WEX used to be known as Wright Express and still operates under that name in certain markets, including Australia and New Zealand. In the USA its products are accepted at upwards of 90% of the country's filling stations and over 45,000 workshops and its card is used by private and public sector fleets operating over 7.4m vehicles.

Oil-company-branded fuel cards have a strong presence across Europe. Total's Eurotrafic is accepted at over 14,000 outlets in 16 countries while Shell's euroShell is welcome at 24,000 sites in 35 countries, from Andorra and Austria to Turkey and the Ukraine. The latest network to accept it is Romania's recently-established Smart Diesel chain of 13 unmanned forecourts, which are open 24 hours a day.

Keeping a close eye on who is buying diesel or petrol, how much is being paid for it and which vehicles it is being pumped into is one way of controlling fuel costs. Another is to reduce the amount that is being used in the first place: and well-run fleets will of course pursue both approaches.

A growing number of operators – especially those running commercial vehicles – are having in-cab units installed that warn drivers if they are speeding, accelerating too harshly, or braking too quickly: practices likely to push up fuel bills as well as increasing the risk of a collision.

The warnings are often delivered by means of green, amber and red traffic-style lights on the dashboard and the data recorded by the onboard unit can be downloaded and analysed by the fleet manager prior to discussion with the driver concerned. Such packages can be accompanied by vehicle tracking.

A key provider of such systems is South Africa-based MiX Telematics. Also with a presence in Europe, the USA, the Middle East and Australasia, it opened an office in Sao Paulo, Brazil, last year (2013).

In its home country it has signed a deal with Tata Automobile, which will involve the latter offering MiX's fleet management package across its entire commercial vehicle range through its 51 South African dealerships.

‘Those customers that include it with their purchases can look forward to a fuel cost saving of from 5% to 10% after only 12 months,’ contends Steven Sutherland, sales director at MiX Telematics (Africa). ‘Remember too that lowering fuel consumption means a reduction in CO2 emissions: a wise move given the carbon tax legislation.’

South Africa will introduce its first carbon tax in January 2015.

But can MiX's claims be justified? They certainly can, according to Pretoria-based AVBOB, one of the country's best-known undertakers and providers of funeral insurance and a mutual society owned by its policyholders.

Concerned about the on-the-road conduct of some of its drivers, especially in remote rural areas, it initially had MiX equipment fitted to 105 of its vehicles by Hyper Auto and saw fuel costs plummet by 27% in just six months. Not surprisingly, the remaining 500 were subsequently equipped too.

Falling fuel costs were accompanied by a drop in maintenance bills and a reduction in the number of kilometres travelled. AVBOB had for sometime suspected that some of its vehicles were being misused and tighter monitoring clearly eliminated much of this abuse.

The systems installed also made it easier to identify any drivers who needed remedial training and the type of training that was required.

Says fleet manager, Hugo Broodryk: ‘We have witnessed a reduction in costs; and a great improvement in driver behaviour.’

Chip & Pin

FleetCor is continuing to develop fuel card technology while at the time moving into other areas of activity of interest to fleet operators.

Last July it entered into an agreement with Visa Europe, which will involve offering the latter's chip and PIN technology in European fuel cards with the aim of enhancing security. The first FleetCor subsidiary to go down that route is AllStar of the UK.

FleetCor has also acquired Atlanta, Georgia, USA telematics specialist NexTraq which offers fleets services such as vehicle tracking, route optimisation, job dispatch and – perhaps of particular interest to the new owner – fuel usage monitoring.

On the opposite side of the Atlantic it has bought Epyx, which provides UK fleet operators with an internet-based service that automates repair authorisation and schedules service appointments while simplifying administration and controlling costs.

‘We've been looking for ways in which we can expand beyond fleet fuelling and into fleet maintenance,’ says FleetCor chairman and chief executive officer, Ron Clarke. ‘Epyx has developed a highly specialised system that helps its fleet customers better manage their costs and we'd like to bring this solution to a lot more clients.’