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‘NO HIDDEN CHARGES’

We know it’s a popular buzzword when you hear about fuel cards, in fact almost every supplier out there will say they have no hidden charges.

But when did you last check your fuel card suppliers’ invoice? Are your transactions clearly itemised and charged at the weekly notified price? Are you being charged for additional extras on your invoice that you weren’t aware of? Are you happy paying for things you don’t want or need?

We’ve put together this guide to help you identify some common charges and ‘services’ which we have seen on fuel card invoices when we complete our free, no obligation free invoice comparison service. These are all real fees that are charged by fuel card providers in the UK.

Account Closure Fee

A charge for closing your account. We have seen this at £25.00.

Account service charge (Also known as Administration fee)

A % fee charged weekly or monthly on invoices. This is sometimes a percentage of your invoice value (we have seen this at 0.5% of the value of every invoice) or a fixed fee per card per month.

Anniversary fees (Also known as annual card charge)

An annual charge for plastic cards to customers. This is often around £25 per card. Some suppliers will instead charge a monthly card charge.

Change of Details Charges

A charge for updating details on a card. This could be the company name or card holder name. We have seen this charged at £6 per name change.

Convenience Charge (Also known as third party surcharge)

An extra charge if you do not use certain branded networks or stations. 3% per transaction per purchase.

Carbon count charges

A monthly fee to offset your carbon footprint. Often something you are auto enrolled into after 3 months and charged at around £2 per card per month.

Embossing fee

A fee charged every time you want details embossed onto a new fuel card. For example when your fuel cards expire and are renewed or you need to change details on a card, you will be charged this fee.

Invoice request fees

A charge for hard copies of invoices. We have seen this range from £5-£10 per invoice.

Minimum usage charge

Often fuel card providers will stipulate that customers must draw a minimum amount of fuel each month on each card. We have seen this charged at between £10 and £20 per month for drawing less than a minimum set quantity.

Replacement card charge

A charge for replacement cards. This could be if a card was lost, damaged or stolen. Ranges from £6 per card to £25.99 per card.

Transaction fees (Also known as network service fees)

A fee every time you draw fuel. Up to £2.75 per product per transaction.

This isn't an exhaustive list but these are some of the most commonly seen additional fees that we see when carrying out our free invoice comparison service.

The good news is, AID Fuels does not charge a single one of the above charges. When we say free fuel cards, we really mean it. We pride ourselves on transparency, so the only charge is 85p if a card isn’t used for an entire calendar month. We won’t put our customers on automatic price escalators or auto enrol you for additional services after an introductory period.

If in doubt, it’s always worth checking for any Trustpilot reviews before you jump into what sounds like a good deal.

If you’d like us to carry out a free, no obligation invoice analysis for you, simply get in touch with us on fuels@aidfuels.co.uk. We will identify any hidden charges you may be paying and where immediate cost savings can be made.

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