Three in 10 UK fleets have suffered suspected or confirmed fuel card fraud over the past year, while more than half (54%) say the transition to electric vehicles has made payment management harder to control.

New research from Cubic3, the company behind the FleetWallet in-vehicle payment and fraud control platform, reveals that more than nine in 10 UK fleet leaders (93%) are confident they would quickly spot unauthorised or fraudulent spend. Yet only around two in five (41%) say their fleet payment management is “under control”.

The Censuswide research, carried out among 250 UK fleet managers, fleet directors and finance or procurement leads with direct responsibility for fleet spend, shows payment vulnerabilities extend well beyond fuel cards.

Nearly half of respondents (48%) had expense claims they could not fully verify or reconcile in the past year, and some 31% had unauthorised transactions on company or driver-held payment cards.

Recent prosecutions show how fuel card losses can go unseen. A Welsh firm running 45 vans had more than £5,000 taken across seven filling stations in April 2024 and learned of it only when its fuel card provider flagged the activity. Other cases have been reported in Ireland and the US.

The use of electric vehicles raises a further question around how to separate business and personal electricity use. Among fleets whose drivers charge electric work vehicles at home, the most common method, used by 44%, is to ask drivers to report their own kWh. Only one in five (20%) primarily use a dedicated tariff or meter.

More than half of fleet leaders (54%) say introducing EVs has made payment and spend management more complex. On average, fleets expect almost half (49%) of their vehicles to be electric within three years.

The survey also looked at how fleets manage payments. Only one in four (25%) uses a single integrated system, and the average fleet runs two systems, platforms or payment methods.

Fleet teams spend an average of more than 14 hours a month on payment administration, reconciliation and expense management. That is around 170 hours a year, roughly four working weeks. On top of this, some 44% say they manage it, but the process is inefficient, and around one in eight (12%) call it a “genuine problem”.

Paul Foley, vice president of in-vehicle payments at Cubic3, said: “The gap between confidence and control is the real finding. More than nine in 10 fleet leaders believe they would spot fraud quickly, yet only 41% would say their payments are under control. EVs are widening that gap: more than half say they have made spend harder to manage, and the most common way to track home charging is a driver reporting their own kWh. Fleets need to check a payment against company rules before it is made, not reconcile it after the money has gone.”

The survey also asked about priorities. Just over a quarter (26%) say improving fleet spend visibility and payment management is a “top priority”, and that they are actively seeking a solution now. Nine in 10 (90%) say they would be likely to switch if a single payment solution covered fuel, EV charging, tolls and parking.