Automotive Fleet

Fleet FAQ

Fleet FAQ? Fuel Management

Q. In the long run, will we see smartphone payments become a viable long-term alternative or addition to existing fuel cards?

A. I think down the road everybody probably assumes that we end up in a cardless society. You will have some sort of a device that will host all of this information. However, between here and there, the road can be quite long and winding. You need to have other players involved to make that happen. I need to have a Point of Sale device that is activated by that mobile device and can transmit that data to me. So there’s a lot of work that needs to be done, even if you just think of the fueling locations. There are 160,000 locations across the country that need to have some sort of upgrades to their current POS devices to allow these transactions to occur. And we’ll get there. You need to have all pieces coming to play. It’s like the EMV, the standard for chip-enabled cards. We’ve all been to these retail locations with the sign that says “swipe your card” because they don’t have a chip reader yet.

Expert Bio

Answered by : Bernie Kanavagh from WEX

Senior Vice President and General Manager

A 27-year fleet professional, Bernie Kavanagh currently serves as Senior Vice President and General Manager of Large Fleet at WEX Inc. He joined the company in 1996 and his career has been a steady progression of increased sales and marketing responsibility. Kavanagh serves on industry related boards and is a frequent speaker at payment industry conferences focusing on fuel trends and technology in the payment space. He earned a bachelor’s degree from the College of New Jersey and is an active member of NAFA, AFLA, NCSFA and AALA. Prior to joining WEX, Kavanagh held a number of roles with Enterprise Rent-A-Car and Enterprise Fleet Management.

A 27-year fleet professional, Bernie Kavanagh currently serves as Senior Vice President and General Manager of Large Fleet at WEX Inc. He joined the company in 1996 and his career has been a steady progression of increased sales and marketing responsibility. Kavanagh serves on industry related boards and is a frequent speaker at payment industry conferences focusing on fuel trends and technology in the payment space. He earned a bachelor’s degree from the College of New Jersey and is an active member of NAFA, AFLA, NCSFA and AALA. Prior to joining WEX, Kavanagh held a number of roles with Enterprise Rent-A-Car and Enterprise Fleet Management.

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Fleet FAQ? Fuel Management, Questions?

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