Fleet Professionals Prefer Expense Cards, Allstar Finds

New research shows that more than one-third of fleet professionals would prefer a single card to make their business travel easier.

Allstar Business Solutions, which polled more than 1,000 SME workers, has also found that business expenses are causing financial stress for U.K. workers. In fact, 57 percent say they have endured financial hardship after putting up their own money for on-the-road work expenses.

In addition, 26 percent have considered changing their job due to an employer’s travel expense procedure, while 62 percent want their companies to take more responsibility when it comes to paying expenses before or during their trip.

“The need for a payments solution to resolve the exasperation over expenses has never been more evident,” said Thore Vestergaard, SVP and MD of commercial cards at Allstar’s parent company, FLEETCOR, according to Fleet World.

With that in mind, Allstar partnered last year with Visa to launch a fuel and travel expense card called Allstar Plus. The contactless card provides users with the ability to pay for fuel as well as other travel-related expenses, including train tickets, meals and hotel accommodations. Businesses still have control over spend limits and categories, while also benefiting from improved expense reporting, single invoicing and extended payment terms.

And earlier this year, Allstar launched an initiative aimed at helping small businesses in the U.K. to save money. The partnership with garage groups in the country provides a 10 percent discount on service, maintenance and repair costs for SMB customers who pay with the Allstar Plus Visa Card. The announcement came as the company’s own research found that 82 percent of small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) have fleets without a discount program for suppliers of SMR (service, maintenance and repair).

“It’s clear that the financial pressure on SMEs is growing, and, as a result, fleet management budgets are reducing,” said Vestergaard at the time. “With that in mind, we’ve achieved an important step in delivering on our promise to bring additional value and support to customers through the Allstar Plus Visa Card.”