Fuel is one of the biggest costs a school bus contractor has after wages, and the fuel card statement is where it lands each month: a long list of fills, stations, gallons and amounts. Most of it is fine. But a card left in a bus, a fill that never went into a bus, or a pump keyed to the wrong number adds up quickly, and some districts and state audits look at fuel records closely.
Fuel card reconciliation means checking each line on the statement against what you know: which bus, which driver, how many miles it ran. Here's a monthly routine that takes an hour, not a day.
What you need
- The card statement for the month, ideally as a spreadsheet from your card company.
- Your fuel log: each fill with the date, bus, driver, gallons, price and odometer.
- The receipts, or a photo of each one.
- Which driver holds which card, and which cards stay with a bus.
The monthly routine
- Match every line on the statement to a fill in your log by date, bus and gallons. A statement line with no fill, or a fill with no statement line, goes on a short list to ask about.
- Check the odometer goes up with each fill. A reading lower than the last one, or the same reading twice, means it was guessed.
- Check gallons against the tank. A fill bigger than the bus's tank didn't all go into that bus.
- Check the miles per gallon for each bus. A bus whose MPG suddenly drops by a quarter needs a look: a leak, a problem with the engine, or fuel going somewhere else.
- Look at the days and times. Fills on weekends, holidays or school breaks, late at night, or two fills on one day for a bus on one route.
- Look at the fuel type. Gasoline on a card for a diesel fleet is worth a question.
- Settle the short list with the drivers and the office, write down the answer, and sign off the month.
| Red flag | What it may mean |
|---|---|
| More gallons than the tank holds | A second vehicle or a can filled on the same card |
| Odometer the same or lower than last time | A reading made up at the pump |
| Fills on days with no routes | Personal use, or a trip nobody logged |
| MPG down sharply on one bus | A mechanical problem, or fuel not going into that bus |
| A card used far from your routes | A lost or copied card |
Tip: Most card companies let you set limits: gallons per fill, fills per day, fuel type and hours. Set them once, and the statement has fewer surprises.
Good to know: Fuel card rules, district contract terms and state audits differ. Some districts pay a fuel adjustment based on your fuel records, so keep your receipts and statements for as long as your contract and your accountant say.
Doing it in FleetCommander
The log. Each fill on Fuel has the Date, Vehicle, Driver, Fuel station, Fuel type, Payment method (such as Fuel card or Company card), Gallons, Price per gallon ($), Odometer (mi) and a Receipt photo or PDF. The list shows the MPG and $ / mi of every fill, so one that doesn't fit stands out, and the From and To boxes narrow it to the statement's month. Manage › Import CSV loads a month of fills from a spreadsheet, and Export CSV gives you the list to put next to the statement.
The cards and the reports. A driver's Fuel card section keeps the Card number (stored encrypted, or just the last 4 digits) and the Card issuer, and the leaving checklist has Fuel card returned on it. Under Reports, Fuel consumption shows fills, gallons and cost per vehicle, and Fuel economy (MPG) shows each vehicle's miles per gallon. See the Fuel guide and our free fuel log.
Ava (Beta), the assistant in the app, answers Show me last month's fuel costs or Which vehicle cost the most in fuel this month?. More on her page.
Related reading
Questions people ask
- What is fuel card reconciliation?
- Checking each line on the fuel card statement against your own fuel log: the bus, the driver, the gallons and the odometer, and following up on anything that doesn't match.
- How often should fuel cards be reconciled?
- Monthly, when the statement arrives, is common. Larger fleets often look weekly for big or unusual fills.
- How do you spot fuel card misuse?
- Look for fills bigger than the tank, odometer readings that don't go up, fills on days with no routes, the wrong fuel type, and a sudden drop in a bus's miles per gallon.
- Should drivers enter the odometer when they fuel?
- Yes. Without the odometer you can't work out miles per gallon or check that the fuel went into the bus it was charged to.