Many UK businesses could be saving thousands of pounds each year if they switched from a traditional pay and reclaim method where employees claim mileage expense to a fuel card system.
Recent research, carried out by supermarket fuel card provider fuelGenie, has shown that companies using a traditional pay and reclaim system are not only reimbursing employees more for their fuel expenses, but are also incurring the cost of lost working hours through employees spending time submitting their mileage claims. Further time is also required by the business to process each claim and ensure payment is made.
Research carried out by fuelGenie has shown that over 30% of SMEs are still operating a traditional pay and reclaim expenses structure, with a further 36% of employees paying for fuel at the pump with a credit card.
While initial fuel expense savings can appear minimal, when combined with the cost of time spent submitting and processing, expenses they very quickly mount up. In fact a small company employing four people could be saving more than £1,500 per year by simply switching to a fuel card system.
To help businesses find out how much money they could save on claims if they made the switch, fuelGenie has launched an online savings calculator accessed via its website.
Business owners with a fleet of more than one vehicle can visit the fuelGenie website and simply enter a few details to find out what they could be saving.
By sharing the number of company employees claiming expenses in the business, the frequency at which expenses are claimed and average time spent undertaking these claims, companies can discover what a switch to a fuelGenie fuel card would save them over the course of a year.
By entering the average employee mileage, the calculator will combine this with an estimated annual fuel cost to provide a yearly total.
Robert Pieczka, Managing Director of fuelGenie, said: “We hope the calculator will help demonstrate the benefits of using a supermarket fuel card over traditional expenses methods.
“There are many reasons why using fuel cards can lead to savings for a business, but one of the biggest reasons is the time saving they can offer on the additional administration required by mileage expenses.”
On top of all of this there is no method of ensuring reasonably priced fuel is purchased or mileage is recorded accurately, but with a fuelGenie card, fuel must be purchased from supermarkets meaning on average customers save 3 pence per litre+ when compared to the national average.
The fuelGenie card can also be set up to only allow fuel purchases, however this can be extended to enable card holders to also purchase oil and vehicle washes from supermarket forecourts as well.
For more information about fuelGenie or to use the calculator visit www.fuelgenie.co.uk/comparison