Shell Fuel Cards

About Shell (Royal Dutch Shell)

Royal Dutch Shell PLC, commonly known and referred to as just “Shell”, is a British-Dutch gas and oil company incorporated in the UK. It is one of three oil and gas ‘supermajors’ alongside Chevron Corp. and British Petroleum (BP). It is the world’s third-largest company measured by reported revenues of $USD 388.4 billion in 2018.

The Royal Dutch Shell Group was formed in April 1907 through the amalgamation of the Royal Dutch Petroleum Company and Shell Transport and Trading Company Limited driven by the need to compete with Standard Oil.

In the UK, Shell operates around 1,100 of its own Shell stations, however, their larger network of partner locations with the likes of Esso, Texaco, and Gulf more than triple this number to around 3,500.

About Shell Fuel Cards

The Shell Fuel Cards have been designed to help both small and large businesses maximise their fuel efficiency and savings when operating a fleet in the UK and throughout Europe.

As with many other fuel cards, Shell Fuel Cards provide not only discounted fuel, but access to a range of other benefits such as account management technology, expense tracking, and fuel usage information.

For these reasons, Shell Fuel Cards are a very popular choice amongst businesses both small and large.

What is a Fuel Card?

A fuel card is a payment device designed for businesses that have a fleet of vehicles, whether that fleet consists of one or one hundred vehicles is immaterial—a fuel card works in the same way. Fuel cards allow drivers to purchase fuel for the vehicles they use in the course of their employment or for other business-related or otherwise approved use.

A fuel card looks and works in the same way as a typical credit or debit card, however, it differs slightly in that it can only be used at designated service stations for fuel-related purchases. Any non-fuel purchases often attract an additional fee depending on the card issuer.
Fuel cards are typically printed with your company’s name on and the registration of the fleet vehicle it is assigned to. There is also a signature strip on the reverse, a magnetic strip that is used for data capture, and a PIN number for authentication purposes.

What Changes?

For drivers, nothing. They will fill up their fleet vehicle as normal and then use their Shell Fuel Card or another fuel card, instead of their personal payment card, to ‘pay’ for the drawn fuel. There is no need for them to track anything or keep receipts.

For you, the business operator, things get a whole lot easier. You will be sent an invoice at the end of each week or month with a single figure plus VAT for all fuel drawn by your drivers. Depending on the operator, you may also have access to an online facility where you can track fuel-related data in real-time.

Shell Fuel Cards

Shell Fuel Cards are available for businesses both large and small based up and down the UK. A range of benefits is available that help to keep costs down, keep track of fuel consumption, and access discounts.

With a Shell Fuel Card, fuel transactions are charged at a weekly fixed rate that the fuel card provider will provide in advance. There are no transaction fees, credit is interest-free (if used), and Shell Drivers’ Club points can be collected on all fuel purchases.

The card also helps protect against fraud with the option of being locked to fuel and lube purchases only and a dedicated account manager is available as and when needed. Fuel cost is calculated on a ‘pay as you go’ basis with an invoice sent periodically; there is no requirement to put up money or tie cash up.

Shell Fuel Card users can use the eroute app on Android and iOS to locate their nearest Shell site. This can also be done on iCompario with the added benefit of being able to utilise other services such as an e-route planner.

Where Can Shell Fuel Cards Be Used?

Shell Fuel Cards have extensive coverage throughout the UK. With one, drivers will never be too far away from the nearest place they can fill up. How much of this network a driver can use, however, depends on the type of Shell Fuel Card.

Shell’s single-network fuel card provides drivers with access to 1,100 Shell stations across the UK. These stations cover motorways, towns, cities, and major transit routes. The single-network card is ideal for smaller businesses that cover a smaller geographical area where there is regular access to Shell forecourts on the routes that their drivers use.

The multi-network Shell Fuel Card, however, provides access to over 3,500 stations nationwide at partner locations that include Esso and Texaco. The multi-network card ensures that your drivers, no matter where they are, are never far from a fuel station. This is ideal for larger businesses that cover a larger geographic area where Shell pumps may not always be available, particularly in more rural areas.

Shell’s network and partner network both include specialist on-site facilities at selected locations, too. These specialist facilities include high-speed pumps and HGV-specific fuelling sites.

The Benefits of a Shell Fuel Card

There are lots of benefits associated with using a Shell Fuel Card, or any fuel card for that matter, to help keep your fleet running smoothly.

There is no doubt that fuel cards are the best, most convenient alternative to conventional fuel payment methods. But why? To answer this question, let’s look at some of the most widely applicable benefits of using a Shell Fuel Card, or indeed any fuel card; these are not Shell-specific.

1. Your business will save lots of money

While it depends highly on the card you choose and how big your fleet is, fuel cards typically offer decent savings on fuel costs. Whilst any savings may seem quite marginal, they soon add up and you could find your company saving thousands.

A Shell Fuel Card, for example, offers fixed pricing at Shell’s own forecourts. Other fuel cards may have other pricing terms such as a fixed weekly price model or wholesale discounts for larger fleets that use lots of fuel.

2. Your business will save time on admin tasks

Nobody likes admin, not even admin assistants! Unfortunately, administrative tasks are one of the biggest time consumers for small businesses in general, and this time directly translates to money.

One of the biggest benefits of using a Shell Fuel Card is that your business and your staff can save a lot of time on admin and accounting tasks. With a Shell Fuel Card, gone will be the days of you and your staff having to manually manage and monitor fleets, guess information, and trawl through hundreds or thousands of receipts to calculate a final figure.

When you use a Shell Fuel Card, you will be sent a periodic invoice—usually either weekly or monthly—that gives you a single figure for the cost of your company’s drawn fuel plus VAT. This single, reliable figure can then be used for accounting purposes without you having to double-check it or cross-reference with receipts.

This massively reduces the admin burden that comes with the manual tracking, calculating, and collating of figures.

Furthermore, your drivers will love fuel cards, too, because they will not need to keep hold of receipts or track how much fuel they are using. All this is handled by the fuel card provider

3. Your business will benefit from simple tracking

As we have already mentioned, a Shell Fuel Card comes with the Shell Fleet Hub, a powerful online solution for real-time account management and data tracking round the clock.

Information such as fuel spend, fuel usage, fuel efficiency, driver routes, and driver mileage can be accessed with a few mouse clicks. Information like this provides you with valuable insight into your company’s fuel efficiency and finances, allowing for better planning and more informed decision making.

Picking the Right Business Fuel Card

While all fuel cards largely do the same thing, they are different in the finer details. Pricing, fees, benefits, advantages, disadvantages, and fuel station access are all variables that differ from provider-to-provider.

As such, there is no single, perfect fuel card ideal for all businesses; the right fuel card for you will depend on your company’s own circumstances.

Therefore, it is important to compare the many different fuel card options so that you get the best deal.

Shell Fuel Card Summary

All-in-all, a Shell Fuel Card provides drivers with access to a decent network of Shell-operated and partner fuelling stations, including hundreds of specialist stations with HGV access, that offer competitive pricing. Account managers also get access to the Shell Fleet Hub, a powerful online solution providing comprehensive monitoring and control.

A Shell Fuel Card is available in both national and international variants. You can choose where your drivers can use their Shell Fuel Card and whether you want the card to be a part of the Single Network or Shell’s expansive partner network (Multi Network).

Compare the Shell Fuel Card

Why not compare the Shell Fuel Card alongside a huge range of other ones and see which one will provide you with the best value? The full range of Shell Fuel Cards, and fuel cards from several other providers, is available for comparison through the iCompario website.

iCompario is operated by fuel card experts with over 30 years’ industry experience. By using their clever tool, you can quickly compare the Shell Fuel Cards alongside a range of cards from other providers.