Fuel card savings calculator: what the discount is really worth

By Edwin Horton · Updated October 2026

How the fuel card calculator works

• Gallons per truck per month = monthly miles ÷ mpg
• Discount per gallon = cents off ÷ 100, or price × percent off
• Savings per truck per month = gallons × discount per gallon − card fees
• Savings per year = monthly savings × 12
• Fleet savings = per-truck savings × trucks

EXAMPLE Two trucks each run 10,000 miles a month at 6.5 mpg, about 1,538 gallons each. With 25 cents off a gallon and no fees, each truck saves about $385 a month, $4,615 a year, and the fleet about $9,230 a year. At the U.S. average price of $6.199/gal (week of Oct 5, 2026)EIA, Gasoline and Diesel Fue…U.S. on-highway diesel, average$6.199/gal (week of Oct 5, 2026)EIA weekly retail on-highway diesel price, U.S. average, week of October 5, 2026: $6.199 per gallon, down $0.183 from the prior week and up $2.488 from a year earlier. Updated every Monday.EIA, Gasoline and Diesel Fuel Update, 2026Checked Oct 2026Close, a 3% discount would be about 18.6 cents a gallon instead, worth less at this price.

The bar shows a month's fuel spend with the discount slice highlighted. It's usually a thin slice, which is the honest picture: fuel cards help, but they don't change your business on their own.

Is the card worth the paperwork?

Savings over a few hundred dollars a month per truck: worth the paperwork, as long as the network covers the lanes you run. A great discount at stations you never pass is worth nothing.

Fees eat most of it: look for a card without monthly fees, or one with a network closer to your lanes.

Compare with deadhead: a truck running 15% empty miles burns about 230 gallons a month on miles that pay nothing. Cutting that to 10% saves about 77 gallons a month, as much as many discounts. See what a run burns with the trip fuel cost calculator, and set aside money for wear with the maintenance reserve calculator.

Fuel, taxes and records

Fuel card receipts also feed your IFTA records, so pick a card with clean reports by jurisdiction. Our guide to the cab card in trucking covers the registration side of interstate travel, and the fleet benchmark report tracks fuel cost per mile over time. On our small fleet dispatch desk, every offer shows deadhead before you say yes.

Look at where the discount applies. A card with a big headline discount that only works at a chain your drivers rarely pass will save less than a smaller discount at stations on your lanes. Pull a month of fuel receipts, note where your trucks really fill up, and use the discount you'd get at those stations in the calculator. That number is the one to compare cards with, and it's often different from the one on the application.

Fuel is also where fraud and waste hide in a growing fleet. Per-driver cards with limits, and a monthly review of gallons against miles for each unit, catch problems early. A truck that suddenly buys more fuel per mile than last month needs a look: a mechanical problem, idling, or a card used for something other than that truck.

Price fuel the way your drivers buy it

• Use the price your drivers really pay on your lanes
• Enter the discount at the stations you use
• Add every card fee, per card and per transaction
• Compare at least two cards with the same inputs