Car IQ and BlueArrow Launch Digital Payments Solution for Fleet Operators

Car IQ and BlueArrow Telematics have partnered to offer fleet operators a digital payments solution that replaces fuel cards.

The new BlueArrow Pay is powered by Car IQ’s vehicle-based payment technology and BlueArrow’s connected fleet solutions, the companies said in a Wednesday (July 30) press release.

BlueArrow Pay uses real-time telematics data to authenticate transactions and enables vehicles to connect directly to merchants and complete payments automatically, according to the release.

The solution eliminates the need for manual driver input or physical cards, lowers costs, improves transaction security, reduces opportunities for fraud and administrative error, and simplifies expense oversight, the release said.

It enables digital transactions at all major fuel brands, generates and logs receipts automatically and in real time, guides drivers to the most cost-effective fuel stations, and enables drivers to activate the pump directly from the BlueArrow app, per the release.

Replacing physical cards with a fully digital solution eliminates the complexity and risk of traditional fuel card programs, BlueArrow Telematics President Stuart Lamm said in the release.

“It’s designed to integrate effortlessly with our telematics platform and existing fuel validation tool, BlueArrow Fuel — giving fleets a smarter, more secure way to manage payments without changing how they operate,” Lamm said.

There is growing demand from fleet operators for digital, vehicle-driven payments that are easier to manage and more secure, Car IQ CEO Sterling Pratz said in the release.

“Our partnership with BlueArrow brings that vision to life, combining their decades of fleet expertise with our technology to deliver cardless payments at scale,” Pratz said.

Car IQ’s Know Your Machine platform uses the vehicle’s identity to sync with the bank and the merchant, get approval and then transact without the use of a card, Pratz told PYMNTS CEO Karen Webster in an interview posted in November 2022.

“My thesis has been that cars are just driving around looking for things to pay, and it’s a massive market,” Pratz said.

In May, Car IQ became one of the inaugural partners of Visa Commercial Integrated Partners, a program that helps businesses embed payments into their products and platforms.

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