Tool
Fuel card break-even calculator
Enter your weekly fuel volume, the per-gallon discount a card offers, and any monthly fee to find out whether the card saves money — and exactly how many gallons per week you need to pump to break even on the fee.
Card details
Fuel volume
Include all diesel for all trucks in your fleet.
Discount
Enter the typical per-gallon saving vs. pump price. If the card uses retail-minus pricing, use the average discount you'd receive on your lanes.
Fees
Comparison
Enter your current discount if you already use a card. Leave at 0 if you're comparing to paying pump price.
Savings analysis
How to evaluate a fuel card offer
Fuel card programs vary widely in how they charge and how they deliver savings. Some cards have no monthly fee but charge a per-transaction fee — which matters more if you fill up frequently in small amounts. Others charge a flat monthly program fee regardless of how much you pump. The per-gallon discount is only half the story; the total cost of the card relative to the total savings determines whether it actually improves your economics.
Volume is the key variable. A card that saves $0.35 per gallon at $50 per month in fees breaks even at about 143 gallons per week. A single-truck owner-operator pumping 200 gallons per week is in the black; a truck pumping 100 gallons per week is paying more in fees than they save. Enter your actual fuel volume, not an optimistic estimate.
What the per-gallon discount actually means
Most fuel card discounts are network-wide averages, not guaranteed savings at every location. Retail-minus pricing gives you a discount off whatever the pump price is at a specific location — but the pump price varies between truck stops, and the discount percentage may differ at in-network vs. preferred locations. Cost-plus pricing gives you the network's cost plus a fixed markup, which can sometimes be better than retail-minus when pump prices are inflated at certain locations. Get a sample of actual transaction data from the card company for your specific lanes before committing to a long-term contract.