Tips for reducing fuel usage and costs for your business when gas prices go up.

Fuel prices fluctuate all of the time. If you have a business with more than one vehicle then your bottom line can be greatly affected when gas prices go up. However, there are many preventative measures one can take to reduce fuel usage and, in turn, costs for your business when gas prices rise. Here are just a few suggestions:

• Look for the lowest gas prices. Use fleet card networks, online gas price comparison tools and mobile fuel price searches to find the lowest gas prices in the areas where you business vehicles travel. Print out a list of the lowest price options each day or week and encourage (or require) that your employees gas up at those stations.
• Ask for discounts from local gas companies. They may be willing to work with you if they know that you’re a loyal customer purchasing a lot of gas each month.
• Monitor fuel use in the company carefully. You should do this at all times but it’s especially important when gas prices are high. Make sure that employees are accurately reporting their fuel use and the amount of money that they spend on gas. Enroll in a fleet fuel management program so that you can get detailed real time reporting about actual fuel usage in your company. Hold employees accountable for inaccurate or fraudulent reporting.
• Give employee incentives for reducing individual fuel usage in the business. You should never just rely on the so-called stick but should also always dangle the carrot. In other words, don’t just punish employees who waste gas but also reward employees who save gas. Hold weekly, monthly or quarterly competitions to see who has spent the least on gas per mile or reduced their gas usage most since the last check-in. Rewards can be as small as recognition in the company newsletter or letting the winner go home early for the day.
• Get together with employees to brainstorm ways to reduce gas use. Getting employees involved in the discussion about how to save money will encourage them to reduce gas waste in the company. They will feel more loyalty to the company because of their involvement in the discussion. They will also understand that costs are threatening employee perks.
• Tighten up security on who can fill up the company’s cars. This reduces problems of waste as well as problems with fraudulent gas charges. If you’re part of a fleet service network then you should be able to easily change the permissions on gas cards so that fewer employees can use them.
• Look into fleet cards, also known as business fuel cards. They offer significant savings on gas. A good fleet card will help you get the lowest available gas prices at any given time. A cash back rewards card will provide you with money back each month for what your business spends on gas. These savings add up especially when fuel costs are on the rise.
• Go green. Consider looking into alternative fuel options for your company. Switching your fleet to electric or hybrid vehicles can reduce your reliance on the gas industry.

When gas prices rise, you should go on the defensive. Lower your company gas usage and protect yourself from profit losses.

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