Marathon is offering small business fuel card choices. Small business cash flow is the deciding factor for those businesses that make it through the first five years and those that don’t make it. As of 2024, there are 34.8 million small businesses in the U.S. and fuel costs are absorbing profits for anyone operating a vehicle, so it’s hard not to see the impact of fueling costs on working capital. Small business fuel card options from Marathon provide a structured way to separate fuel costs from general spending while keeping daily cash flow predictable.
How Unstructured Fueling Drains Cash Flow
When small businesses operate any number of vehicles, they have a big issue of their fuel purchases occurring randomly, using various payment methods. One driver operates a personal card and charges back the receipts for reimbursement. Another utilizes the company debit card. A third player pays cash and returns a handwritten receipt 3 days later.
These all have different time lags to the recordation of the expense, and all carry some risk to cash flow in different ways. This can cause a conflict when reimbursements delay drivers’ payout and tie up cash in the business. Debit card purchases go directly to the bank account, which can cause problems when they occur at the last moment in the billing cycle. Cash payments are not reliable, and do not provide any fraud protection.
All these disjointed transactions are brought together in one billing cycle using a fuel card. The charges are made to the card account when the purchases are made, while the payments are usually made on a regular basis, either weekly or monthly. This allows the business owner to see the exact amount of fuel that cost them this week, but to put that cost off until a date that doesn’t impact their plans. That timing control really is important to companies where 49% or more of their operating expenses are attributed to fuel.
Effective Spending Controls Without a Finance Department
It is rare for a small business to have a full-time accounting staff. Bookkeeping is taken care of by the owner or a part time employee does it along with other tasks. Fuel cards can save time by eliminating the tasks associated with the purchase restrictions, which need to be manually monitored if they are not automated.
Card-level controls allow the business owner to define daily spending limits per driver; limit transactions to just fuel-only categories; and approve certain station networks. When a driver attempts to add a $45 convenience store item to the fuel card, the transaction is declined at the check-out. No need to review these receipts, no need for a awkward conversation afterwards.
Overall, 43% of fleet card users agree spending controls on the card are a top benefit, according to Modern Work Truck Solutions’ 2025 State of Fleet Cards report. For a small business without any management approving or disapproving every step of the way, these automated controls are in place to fill the void between trusting employees and blindly hoping that no one charges anything personal to the business.
Looking for station savings
Card programs are not the same as consumer loyalty programs. Fleet cards that are linked to a fuel network provide automatic discounts on the per-gallon price of fuel. The amount of the discount is frequently based on volume, so the larger a company’s fleet or the more gallons they purchase in a month, the lower the price per gallon.
Branded fuel cards accounted for 45.9% of the U.S. market in 2024 as the discounts and rebates associated with station networks provide measurable savings that are not available with generic payment options. With an average fuel cost of $3.50 per gallon and an average discount of 5 cents per gallon, a small business that spends $3,000 each month on fuel will save around $43 a month or $516 a year. Those numbers double if selling the gas for 10 cents per gallon.
The savings are not limited to per-gallon discounts. Cost reduction includes eliminating unauthorized purchases, reducing premium fuel usage when regular grade fuel is specified, and steering drivers to lower cost stations in the network. According to Shell Fleet Solutions’ 2024 report, fleet managers who implement active monitoring and reporting systems can save between 5% to 15% on fuel costs. If a small business is investing $5,000 a month in fuel, then a 10% savings lets them save $6,000 a year for other areas of their business.
Why Convenience Matters as Much as Price
Small business owners have to manage their business, sales, customer service and bookkeeping at the same time. A fueling solution is not a cost savings solution if it is adding in hours of administration each month.
Fuel cards help with the convenience of expense tracking. All purchases record the station, date, time, gallons purchased, and price. These records can be exported directly into accounting software or spreadsheet formats, saving the hassle of having to gather receipts or manually input the information.
This automation is directly beneficial to tax preparation. For businesses that use vehicles crossing state lines for IFTA reporting, a detailed record of purchases by jurisdiction is required. These reports are generated from a fuel card data in minutes with a clean data system. Manual tracking systems can take days to sort and have a greater risk of errors that could lead to audit problems.
The most popular benefit for fleet card users is easier expense tracking and management (49%) followed by better budgeting capabilities (47%). As a small business owner, you’re juggling a lot of responsibilities in your business, and every hour you save on fuel accounting is a productive hour of working.
Choosing a Card Structure that Fits the Business
There are three main structures of the fleet card market, and it is important to choose the appropriate one for a small business to use depending on how and where it operates.
Closed-loop cards restrict transactions to a particular fuel network. They offer the best rates and security measures, making them viable for local service organizations, delivery services or any business that operates within a specific geographic region where there’s no need to see stations outside the area.
Dual-network cards allow access to several fuel networks, but with the majority of spending controls. This is the fastest-growing card category, expected to grow at the highest rate until 2034. This flexibility is useful for small businesses that are growing and need to expand their operations or send vehicles on infrequent long-distance trips.
Nearly all stations accept universal fleet cards for business travel. They were used for 38% of new cards issued in 2023 and make sense in situations where businesses don’t have consistent routing and/or are operating in locations where branded station networks don’t reach.
The Facts about Small Business Adoption that the Market tells us
SME card uptake grew by 22% YOY in 2024, and was the key driver of new fleets joining.SME card uptake was the main contributor to new fleet card growth, increasing by 22% YOY in 2024. Fuel Card Market in the U.S. is projected to reach $88.03 billion in 2024 with a CAGR of 9.4% over the period 2024-2030. Sixty Two percent of fleets already have fuel cards in place, and in smaller fleets, use is growing faster as fuel card providers reduce the size fleets must be to use their card and streamline their sign-up process.
60% of new fleet cars have telematics integration that includes card-based expense tracking. For a small business that is adding vehicles, this will result in the monitoring infrastructure being installed inside the vehicle. Linking this telematics information to the transaction history on a fuel card allows even a 5-vehicle fleet to enjoy the same degree of cost visibility that typically required a specific fleet management team, and puts a number behind every dollar spent on fuel–making it a budget line item.
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