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Service · Fuel management

Fuel is usually the largest controllable cost in a fleet.

Fuel spend is easy to see and hard to interpret — a number on an invoice, without the context of which vehicles are consuming more than expected, or why. SALT reviews consumption against distance and flags exceptions worth investigating.

Fuel management is the ongoing analysis of consumption and spend per vehicle, comparing actual usage against expected norms to identify exceptions worth investigating.

What we monitor

  • Driver-logged fuel entries Litres, cost and odometer captured directly from drivers via SALT's driver app at the point of refuelling — more precise than fuel card data alone.
  • Consumption per vehicle Litres against kilometres, tracked over time rather than per tank.
  • Consumption exceptions Vehicles running meaningfully above their own baseline or similar vehicles in the fleet.
  • Idling-related consumption Fuel used while stationary, where telemetry supports this level of detail.
  • Fuel card and fill pattern review Cross-checking fuel card activity against vehicle travel data where both are available.

Why "exceptions" matter more than total spend

Total fuel spend rises with fuel prices, fleet growth, or more work — none of that is necessarily a problem. What's worth attention is a vehicle consuming more fuel than it should for the distance it's covering.

That gap can come from several places: a mechanical issue, aggressive driving, an incorrect load, or a fuel card being used somewhere it shouldn't. Identifying which one it is — not just noting the spend went up — is the actual work.

Fuel consumption is one of the clearest signals of driver behaviour, and feeds directly into cost-per-vehicle analysis and the monthly report.

Frequently asked questions

How do you measure fuel consumption across a fleet?
By comparing litres used against kilometres travelled per vehicle, then comparing that rate against the vehicle's own baseline and similar vehicles in the fleet. Where drivers log fills through SALT's driver app, each entry is tied to an odometer reading at the pump, which gives a more accurate per-fill figure than fuel card data alone. A sustained shift matters far more than any single fill-up.
How can excessive idling affect fleet costs?
An idling engine burns fuel while covering no distance. Across a fleet, habitual idling — waiting at sites, running the engine for air conditioning — can account for a meaningful share of total fuel cost.
Can fuel card data alone show fuel fraud or misuse?
On its own it shows what was purchased. Combined with tracker data — odometer, location, timing — it becomes possible to flag fills that don't match a vehicle's actual travel pattern.

Do you know which of your vehicles use more fuel than they should?

Most businesses can see total fuel spend. Few can see it broken down by vehicle against an expected baseline.

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