How do you buy fuel?

[Sinister]

Fuel prices are spiking again. You may have noticed.

Recently I heard an ad from OOIDA that they were offering a fuel card for owner operators. My initial thought is that they put a lot of effort into getting that thing accepted everywhere instantly or its going to be very hit and miss until they do.

So, whether you're a company driver with "assigned fuel solutions" or have terminals to fuel at, or just a credit card your boss gave you that you can use anywhere, or if you're an owner operator, how do you buy fuel?

 

[Sinister]

I can fuel at any DC Walmart owns.

If I have to buy fuel on the road, the policy is that I'm only allowed to buy enough to get to the next Walmart facility. I usually just fill one side, let the crossover take care of it and thats sufficient.

 

[Electric Chicken]

I usually got it at my local corner store and filled one side since it's not a dual pump. Just flip the handle and start pumping, walk into the store and pay. No stupid screens or numbers to punch in. I'd turn the truck around and fill the other side if I was super low.

Beats the shit out of stopping at busy peelots.

Not sure what this company is going to tell us to do.

 

[AK7]

MasterCard fleet.
Accepted everywhere and the cashiers love us for it.
No hassle easy peasy.

 

[Humble pie]

I have NASTC’s fuel card. It’s good at TA/petro and ambest. It’s cost plus a nickel, which means I’m only paying a nickel over their cost. I can fuel at loves in an emergency but I only get the cash price there.

 

[mndriver]

OOIDA has had a fuel card for some time called and advantage card. The discounts suck.

Ryan transportation offers a card with slightly better rates, but not as good as BNSF.

NASTC had the best fuel discounts but peelots/ crooked J were off limits. By far the best, IF you can stomach going through his marketing program where he insists how telling you how great he is at trucking.

Not sure the program, but the company card I use now has as good a discount as the NASTC card, but peelot/crooked J are allowed too.

 

[Hammer166]

EFS at Sapp Bros where we have a cost-plus agreement, otherwise NASTC. I just keep a pdf of the current truckstop list on my home screen.

 

[Humble pie]

Pilot will never get my business

 

[Mike]

Fuel prices are spiking again. You may have noticed.

Recently I heard an ad from OOIDA that they were offering a fuel card for owner operators. My initial thought is that they put a lot of effort into getting that thing accepted everywhere instantly or its going to be very hit and miss until they do.

So, whether you're a company driver with "assigned fuel solutions" or have terminals to fuel at, or just a credit card your boss gave you that you can use anywhere, or if you're an owner operator, how do you buy fuel?

My primary is NASTC. OOIDA’s newest program is supposed to be pretty comparable to them, but they focus more on pilot/Loves and I prefer T/A, Petro, kwik Trip, etc.

Usually, the prices are far cheaper than what you see at the pump, usually a few cents cheaper than what you will see at the cheapest mom and pops. This is with NASTC.

Out west, the margins get a bit tighter, so the savings isn’t much off of pump price. I actually got fuel cheaper in California with my Loves and Pilot cards @ .16 cents off.

 

[Mike]

OOIDA has had a fuel card for some time called and advantage card. The discounts suck

It has been revamped and much more competitive now.

 

[Sinister]

So let's say with a NATSC card do you have to have it tied to a bank account or load and account with funds like an iPass or is there monthly billing for you to cry over when you get the mail?

 

[Hammer166]

So let's say with a NATSC card do you have to have it tied to a bank account or load and account with funds like an iPass or is there monthly billing for you to cry over when you get the mail?

I think ours is daily settlements, based on the printouts I see.

 

[mndriver]

All the fuel cards are done one of two ways.

If your credit is good, they give you a weekly credit limit and then on a day you choose, they ACH the amount you used that week to reset your balance to zero.

If your credit is NOT good, then you are told you can prepay your card to a specific amount. Say $1500 per truck. Then just like someone with good credit, you have an ACH draft done on your specified day and they reset to your prepaid amount.

 

[Humble pie]

So let's say with a NATSC card do you have to have it tied to a bank account or load and account with funds like an iPass or is there monthly billing for you to cry over when you get the mail?

I think ours is daily settlements, based on the printouts I see.

Mine is weekly they pull the money directly via ach every Wednesday

 

[Mike]

So let's say with a NATSC card do you have to have it tied to a bank account or load and account with funds like an iPass or is there monthly billing for you to cry over when you get the mail?

Tied to bank account, the ducks once per week. You set your limits on how much fuel you can buy per day how much have anything you can buy per day,, Cash advance limits.

 

[Fast Freddy]

I’m a company driver. We have a fuelman card. But we also have a small mom and pop truck stop with 3 fuel islands a mile from the yard where we don’t use the card we just wave at the guy through the window he turns the pump on and I go in and sign and get a receipt. We’re supposed to only use the fuelman to get enough gas to get us to our preferred stop by the yard.

 

[Electric Chicken]

I used my personal Discover. It has a 16k limit.

 

[Sinister]

I used my personal Discover. It has a 16k limit.

I've had bosses where I used credit cards too. My heavy haul company gave us all American Express Gold cards for fuel, hotels, everything.

I shudder to think what carrying a credit card interest rate does month to month though.

They also gave us unlimited data air cards through Verizon for a while for emails to get permits and stuff.

Thats when I learned all about internet piracy and how wonderful it can be. The IT guy pulled us into the office one day because Verizon was a little wound up.

I came in third place one month. It was 1 - the boss himself at like 25GB. 2- the guy who showed me how to download TV shows and movies at 18GB. 3- me at 17GB.

Which doesn't sound like a lot really but on a cellular aircraft, belive me it is.

I know what the hell me and 2nd place were doing but what the hell was the boss getting into?? We never taught him about torrent sites at all, and the guy can barely send an email to this day.

We never did find out.

 

[Electric Chicken]

I've had bosses where I used credit cards too. My heavy haul company gave us all American Express Gold cards for fuel, hotels, everything.

I shudder to think what carrying a credit card interest rate does month to month though.

They also gave us unlimited data air cards through Verizon for a while for emails to get permits and stuff.

Thats when I learned all about internet piracy and how wonderful it can be. The IT guy pulled us into the office one day because Verizon was a little wound up.

I came in third place one month. It was 1 - the boss himself at like 25GB. 2- the guy who showed me how to download TV shows and movies at 18GB. 3- me at 17GB.

Which doesn't sound like a lot really but on a cellular aircraft, belive me it is.

I know what the hell me and 2nd place were doing but what the hell was the boss getting into?? We never taught him about torrent sites at all, and the guy can barely send an email to this day.

We never did find out.

I had a Comdata but used my Discover so I could hit the local mom & pop a block from my house as a bobtail either before or after my day. It was just easier and less hassle.

Never carried a balance in the 5 years so far of having it.

I have absolutely no intention of ever actually using the 16k balance. It just looks better on my credit profile to have that much of a limit plus my others with almost nothing on them.

I probably have 30k or better in credit limits but most cards go unused and fuel has been the most I've had rolling at a time. Paying it was never a problem with weekly settlements.

 

[AK7]

I've had bosses where I used credit cards too. My heavy haul company gave us all American Express Gold cards for fuel, hotels, everything.

I shudder to think what carrying a credit card interest rate does month to month though.

They also gave us unlimited data air cards through Verizon for a while for emails to get permits and stuff.

Thats when I learned all about internet piracy and how wonderful it can be. The IT guy pulled us into the office one day because Verizon was a little wound up.

I came in third place one month. It was 1 - the boss himself at like 25GB. 2- the guy who showed me how to download TV shows and movies at 18GB. 3- me at 17GB.

Which doesn't sound like a lot really but on a cellular aircraft, belive me it is.

I know what the hell me and 2nd place were doing but what the hell was the boss getting into?? We never taught him about torrent sites at all, and the guy can barely send an email to this day.

We never did find out.

Wow,who knew bruce was into spank-o-vision.....lol