How to Create a Company Fuel Card Policy

Last Updated January 20, 2026

Many trucking companies rely on fuel cards to trim fuel expenses, but creating a company fuel card policy often gets overlooked.

A fuel card policy goes a long way to avoiding misuse and fraud. Drivers need to know not only how fuel cards work, but how to best take advantage of the card’s perks, what not to do when using a fuel card, and how to identify signs of fraud.

So if you’re a trucking business owner, continue reading to learn how to create your own fuel card policy to protect your business and ensure you’re getting the most out of your card.

What Is a Company Fuel Card Policy?

A company fuel card policy is a set of rules that govern how employees can use fuel cards. It also provides guidance on how managers should monitor fuel card usage and what to do if they suspect fraud.

The goal of a fuel card policy is to reduce confusion around how to use a fuel card while controlling expenses across your fleet.

For drivers, a company fuel card usage policy tells them:

• Which purchases are acceptable
• Where they can use the cards
• How to handle misplaced or lost cards
• How to prevent and identify misuse or fuel card fraud

Fuel cards offer many benefits, from helping you manage expenses to reducing the risk of theft. Still, your business needs policies in place to ensure proper use.

Why Is Creating a Company Fuel Card Policy Important?

One of the biggest benefits of having a driver fuel card policy in place is preventing theft and fraud. Unfortunately, fuel card fraud is a common and costly issue for trucking businesses. Left unchecked, fraud can quietly erode your bottom line.

While some occurrences of freight fraud tend to occur externally, fuel card fraud can result from employee misuse or from theft by outsiders. Fuel card fraud is harder to catch because it can happen in many ways, including:

• Unauthorized purchases
• Inflated transactions
• Card sharing

Other warning signs can include unusual purchase times, frequent declines followed by manual overrides, or patterns that don’t match your routes.

These activities hurt profits, create inaccurate reports, and strain relationships with your fuel vendors. Setting clear expectations with employees around fuel purchases from the start reduces opportunities for fraud. While policies alone may not prevent misuse, they clearly spell out the consequences of fraud, which will deter some employee theft.

How to Create a Company Fuel Card Policy

A strong fuel card usage policy reduces misuse and ensures everyone, from drivers to your accounting team, understands their responsibilities. Follow these steps to create a clear company fuel card policy.

Summarize Your Fuel Card Policy

First, offer a quick summary of the fuel card policy. This section should explain why you have the policy in place and how it supports your business goals. It should also:

• Outline who the policy applies to, including drivers, dispatchers, and managers
• Emphasize cost control and compliance
• Briefly explain standards for accountability

While you should require employees to read the full policy, adding a quick summary can help reduce confusion before they get into the specifics.

Explain How Fuel Cards Work

Every fuel card usage policy should spell out how to use the fuel card. This section of your company’s fuel card policy should walk drivers through exactly how a fuel purchase should be completed, from arrival at the pump to receipt submission, so there’s no ambiguity about acceptable behavior.

These directions will depend entirely on your business model and which fuel card you use. Keep the directions as simple as possible, since drivers may need to refer to them the first few times they use the card. Adding screenshots or photos can also help.

Emphasize the Importance to Your Drivers

One of the most important parts of your driver fuel card policy is making it clear why adherence isn’t just a suggestion. Drivers are on the front lines of fuel purchasing, and their day-to-day choices directly affect fleet performance. Requiring everyone to follow the policy ensures you can continue to trust drivers to do a good job while maintaining the highest standard of accountability.

Following clear guidelines also supports safer, more efficient operations. For example, responsible fueling behavior can improve semi-truck fuel efficiency, which in turn helps lower overall fuel spend.

Define Proper Fuel Card Usage

Every company fuel card policy must define what constitutes proper usage and which uses aren’t allowed. Start by clarifying that fuel cards are to be used only by authorized drivers for approved vehicles and for fuel-related purchases. It should also specify:

• Which gas stations accept the fuel card
• Required steps, such as entering a driver ID or PIN
• Verifying vehicle or odometer information
• Selecting the correct fuel type
• How to retain and submit receipts or digital logs
• How to report any issues

This section of your driver fuel card policy can also outline what doesn’t count as approved usage. Most of these guidelines are common sense and prohibit personal purchases or refueling at non-approved gas stations. Detailing which uses aren’t allowed may seem obvious, but being as clear as possible will prevent fuel theft or simple misunderstandings.

Explain How to Identify Fuel Card Fraud

Your fuel card policy should clearly explain how fuel card fraud or misuse is identified so drivers and managers understand what behaviors raise red flags. This includes monitoring for unusual purchase times, transactions that don’t align with assigned routes, repeated declined charges followed by overrides, and fuel volumes that exceed vehicle capacity.

Outlining these warning signs helps set expectations and makes it easier to catch fuel card fraud early before it becomes a costly pattern.

Outline Proper Responses to Fuel Card Fraud or Misuse

A company fuel card policy should also outline the exact steps to take when fuel card fraud or misuse is suspected. This may include reporting procedures, temporary card suspension, internal reviews, and disciplinary action depending on the severity of the issue. Clearly documenting how your business responds to fuel card misuse protects your company, ensures consistent enforcement, and reinforces the importance of following fuel card usage guidelines.

Make All Drivers Review and Sign the Policy

All drivers should sign the company fuel card policy before driving for your business. This formal acknowledgment confirms that drivers understand the rules, expectations, and consequences tied to fuel card use.

In many cases, this step primes employees to take fuel card usage seriously, preventing misuse before it can even happen. Requiring a signature can also protect your business. If an employee misuses a fuel card, your policy eliminates any ambiguity about whether they knew the rules.

Review and Refine Your Policy Over Time

A fuel card policy isn’t a one-and-done document. It should evolve as your fleet grows or your fuel costs fluctuate. Revisiting your company fuel card usage policy also allows you to identify gaps or patterns of misuse that may require tighter controls or clearer guidance. For example, recurring exceptions or frequent errors might signal a need to update your processes or monitoring.

For larger fleets, schedule quarterly reviews to update your fuel policies over time. Annual reviews are usually enough for small businesses.

In-Summary: Driver Fuel Card Policy

While it can’t prevent all fraud, a well-defined driver fuel card policy helps reduce fleet fuel costs by promoting accountability across your fleet. Clearly defining expectations and proper usage goes a long way toward protecting your business from unnecessary fuel expenses and misuse.

Pairing these safeguards with regular reviews ensures your company fuel card usage policy stays relevant as your business grows. Instead of treating this policy as a simple rulebook, consider it a helpful framework for building a culture of trust that supports a healthy business.

Michael McCareins

Michael McCareins is the Content Marketing Associate at altLINE, where he is dedicated to creating and managing optimal content for readers. Following a brief career in media relations, Michael has discovered a passion for content marketing through developing unique, informative content to help audiences better understand ideas and topics such as invoice factoring and A/R financing.