“Even at currently reduced prices, fuel represents a lot of money relative to a motor carrier’s margin,” says Ernie Betancourt, president of QuikQ. If a carrier averages 6.5 MPG, and pays an average of $2.50 per gallon for fuel, that represents a cost of $0.38 per mile.

“Managing fuel purchasing is an extremely complex process,” Betancourt continues. “The right information systems can eliminate as many variables as possible and allow fleets to focus on the things they can control.”

QuikQ’s Fuel Purchasing System (FPS), a cardless direct fuel connection between truck stop point-of-sale (POS) and motor carrier enterprise systems, addresses one of those controllable issues by reducing the risk of fuel fraud and errors in processing fuel transactions.

“QuikQ FPS manages the entire process from carrier back office to truck stop back office using live carrier data for real-time reporting, which also improves security and control over fuel transactions,” Betancourt explains.

Authorizing transactions

Recently, QuikQ received a U.S. Patent for its method and system for managing and monitoring fuel transactions. “What we’ve patented is the ability to associate fuel invoices with a specific truck, and relate them to pictures and video from fuel lanes to verify that only authorized vehicles are being fueled and that only authorized drivers are conducting fueling transactions,” Betancourt relates.

QuikQ also announced its new Q-Gate technology. QuikQ Q-Gate employs the same RFID technology used in QuikQ FPS at truck stops. The solution can be customized to open and close individual gates based on pre-determined days and times. The application also tracks and records entries and exits from gated sites, and provides alerts if units and trailers do not match loads or if RFID tags are damaged or inactive.

“With QuikQ Q-Gate, RFID tags installed on trucks or trailers identify equipment entering or leaving an unattended site,” Betancourt says. “When Q-Gate is integrated with a dispatch system it can match units before opening a gate, eliminating the possibility of the wrong trailer leaving a yard or a trailer heading in the wrong direction.

“Low fuel prices are not here forever,” Betancourt adds. “Only a complete IT-based fuel management program that begins with fuel purchasing and ends with vehicle fuel consumption can manage purchases effectively for the long run.”

Optimizing purchases

Whether prices are trending up or down, fleets are effectively using optimization solutions for over-the-road fuel purchases. With IDSC ExpertFuel from TMW Systems, for example, carriers can monitor and audit fuel network discounts to ensure they’re getting prices they have negotiated with fuel providers. IDSC ExpertFuel combines optimization algorithms with dispatch and routing software and daily, commercial diesel fuel pricing to automatically send fueling plans to drivers and know if they are in compliance, and to leverage buying power for better discounts.

Fuel purchase optimization technology like IDSC ExpertFuel takes seconds to evaluate current fuel prices, remaining truck fuel, vehicle fuel consumption, state tax implications, fuel discount implications, out-of-route miles, routing and terminal fueling policies and tank fill policies. With regional and daily differences in wholesale fuel costs, even different truck stops in the same chain vary significantly in pricing along any given route and any given day.

Without fuel optimization capabilities, it’s virtually impossible to realize maximum savings. With IDSC ExpertFuel, according to TMW, daily wholesale and retail pricing feeds help determine a fueling plan for trucks that yields the lowest overall trip expense balanced with the shortest practical driving route. A typical trip plan includes highway-by-highway directions and specific fuel-buying instructions, including the number of gallons to buy at each stop.

According to Comdata Corp., a provider of electronic payment solutions for trucking operations, fleet solutions provide fuel discount opportunities, and control and flexibility to manage fuel purchases at over 600,000 locations. Comdata systems also integrate with transportation management and accounting software. Included are FleetAdvance that uses real-time data to help control costs, and SmartQ, an RFID based system that uses advanced technology to preauthorize purchases automatically.

Drivers could be finding lower fuel prices up to 54% of the time, according to Comdata. Using advanced IT systems can help ensure that happens all the time.