For over 20 years, Cam Energy has provided residential and commercial HVAC and plumbing services in the New York tri-state area.
The Challenge
After seven years with his fuel card company, Cam Energy’s manager, Christian, was frustrated. His fleet expense platform was limited in functionality. On a surface level, it was impossible to delegate tasks to his admin team, causing Christian to focus less on proactive fleet management and more time on menial tasks. He also didn’t have a way for his drivers to pay for metered parking.
What was even more frustrating was the excessive fees that ate into his bottom line. Despite being a long time customer, they were being charged costly high-risk fees. They also experienced significant downtime from their cards being frozen from overages. Christian knew that something had to change.
The Solution
“For fleet management,” says Christian, “I generally look for three things: simplicity, saving money, and loss prevention.” He knew that his next fleet expense management solution needed to be easy to use for both managers and drivers, and it needed to help him avoid fuel card misuse. He also needed a solution that offered multiple admin roles and allowed him to delegate tasks to other members of administration.
Enter Coast, a fleet expense management company that allows fleet managers to easily track fleet expenses without the additional fees.
Streamlining Purchases and Mitigating Card Misuse
Based in a busy metropolis like New York City, Cam Energy drivers not only need to purchase gas on their routes, but they frequently need to make purchases on parking meters. With their old fleet card, drivers could only purchase fuel, meaning that they had to get reimbursed for parking later. This was a headache for both drivers and the accounting team that had to reconcile and reimburse drivers each month.
That said, Christian also experienced issues with fuel card misuse. He needed a solution that was flexible enough to let drivers make necessary purchases while also having robust controls.
Switching to Coast gave his team the best of both worlds. Christian was able to set limits and monitor transactions to avoid misuse while ensuring his drivers could make fast and simple purchases.
Using a Card with Transparent Fees and Comprehensive Customer Support
Christian also needed a fleet expense management solution that he could trust. Cam Energy’s former fleet card not only charged hefty fees, but they would also freeze the cards due to overages. The resulting downtime was costly, and it always took hours to get in touch with the card company’s customer support, resulting in further downtime, costs, and disappointment.
With Coast, Christian can easily get on the phone with a support specialist in minutes. The Coast team even reaches out to him proactively if there are signs of card misuse.
Christian is also more than happy to avoid unnecessary fees and save money. Instead of being shocked by hidden fees, he’s found a solution that offers transparent billing and significant savings.
The Results
After a fast and simple onboarding process, Christian partnered with Coast for fleet expense management.
With Coast, Cam Energy is saving $1600 per month on average by avoiding expensive fees and unplanned downtime. Christian is able to monitor purchases and see when and where individual drivers are making purchases in the easy-to-use dashboard. He’s also able to save time and delegate tasks to his administrative team in the Coast portal.
Having a proactive and responsive partner like Coast makes it easy for Christian and his drivers to go about their daily operations while also positively impacting the company’s bottom line.
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