Geotab launches telematics-locked fleet card to fight fuel fraud

Geotab has launched a fleet card that ties fuel payments directly to vehicle telematics data, aiming to cut fuel fraud and spending waste as diesel prices sit near historic highs, according to FreightWaves on Oct. 2. Developed with transportation payments company AtoB and announced Thursday, the Geotab Fleet Card pairs AtoB's payment platform and fuel discount network with live vehicle data.

Unlike traditional fuel cards that flag fraud after the fact, the card stays locked until a driver unlocks it in the Geotab Drive app while the vehicle is parked at the merchant location. When a purchase is attempted, the system checks the vehicle's location, the merchant's GPS coordinates, and the vehicle's fuel level — and automatically declines a fuel purchase if the truck is not at the pump or the tank does not have room for the fuel. The card also works for maintenance, tolls, parking, towing, and roadside assistance, with spending controls fleets can set by dollar amount, time frame, location, and merchant category. For eligible accounts, AtoB backs telematics-verified transactions with a fraud guarantee of up to $250,000.

Geotab estimates unauthorized fuel purchases could cost a hypothetical 500-vehicle Class 8 fleet about $2.19 million a year on $31.3 million in annual fuel spending — though the company notes the 7% fraud rate behind that math is an assumption, not a measured figure. In an analysis of 419,000 diesel fill-ups across 660 U.S. fleets, Geotab found two trucks fueling in the same town could see prices differ by up to $0.77 a gallon — about $58 on a 75-gallon fill-up. Fleets with fewer than 100 vehicles picked the cheaper option only 17% of the time; Geotab estimates choosing the lower-priced station could save about $24 per fill-up, or roughly $4,700 per truck a year over about 200 fill-ups.

"With fuel costs rising across the U.S., fleets need practical ways to reduce what they spend at the pump," said Steven Berube, Geotab's vice president of sales. The launch follows similar telematics-linked moves: WEX rolled out SecureFuel in July and Samsara launched its Fuel Command Center in August.