Car IQ, Visa Team Up to Provide Direct Fleet Transactions

Car IQ Inc, a fleet payment provider, announced July 12 it is partnering with Visa to enable vehicles to transact directly with Visa’s global system of merchants and banks, and purchase fuel, tolls, parking, insurance, service, and repairs using the Car IQ Pay vehicle wallet.

Car IQ Pay’s technology enables vehicles to maintain their own payment accounts to connect and transact directly with merchants without using a physical card.

Bringing this technology to the Visa network greatly expands its reach and will allow the two companies to serve a large share of the connected vehicle payment market, which is expected to reach $600 billion by 2030 according to Ptolemus.

“Through this collaboration with Car IQ, we’re driving growth of vehicle-based payments that allow users to take control of their fleet business through enhanced and timely data capabilities that allow for real-time business decisions,” said North America head of Visa business solutions Veronica Fernandez in a news release.

Core to the collaboration is Car IQ’s ability to add vehicle data to the transaction, which enables new contextual payment experiences such as real-time offers and personalized rewards that benefit fleets, drivers, and merchants. Working with Visa, Car IQ Pay incorporates real-time connected vehicle data before, during, and after every payment.

“Car IQ’s collaboration with Visa underscores the potential that this new ecosystem can offer, facilitating significant productivity benefits around routine vehicle-related charges,” says Mark Vena, CEO and Principal Analyst at SmartTech Research.

The partnership makes use of Car IQ’s technology, Know Your Machine, which authenticates a machine’s identity to enable all types of vehicles to transact directly with merchants.  

"This allows us to accelerate the adoption of vehicle payments and make them a seamless part of the fleet experience," said Sterling Pratz, CEO of Car IQ.

Car IQ is also working with automotive OEMs to embed these payments within consumer vehicles. Recently debuted at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), the Car IQ Pay in-dash vehicle wallet connects vehicles to merchants on the Visa network, enabling payments directly from the car’s infotainment system.

“While our first wallet initiative is focused on vehicles, our platform is designed to easily support any IoT device payment, and we are already seeing interest for connected ‘smart’ city applications and believe the connected home will be next,” Pratz said. “In the future, I believe everyone will have the choice of adding their cars, home appliances, and more, directly to their bank account to transact.”