Introducing Fleet Payments

Hey, shop owner! We’ve got something exciting to share with you.

We’ve got a brand-new integration and it’s one you’re really gonna like.

Everyone, please applaud warmly for the newest upgrade to Fullbay Payments—fleet payments!

That’s right. You can now accept payments via fleet checks and fleet cards (coming soon). This is kind of a big deal.

How does this upgrade to Fullbay Payments work? How will it benefit your shop? Why is the sky blue? Keep reading. We’ll answer all these questions (and way more!) before this blog is through!

WHAT’S SO GREAT ABOUT FLEET CHECKS AND FLEET CARDS?

Both fleet checks and fleet cards are useful ways for a fleet to pay your shop for its services. But let’s break it down even more.

A fleet check is comparable to a cashier’s check. The fleet itself verifies funds during the payment process.

A fleet card is something drivers can use to pay for things like maintenance and fuel.

Both items ensure a driver doesn’t need to carry cash or be reimbursed after spending on the road.

Fleets like both of these things because it allows drivers to spend what they need to for their truck while remaining beneath a certain amount. You can compare them to company credit cards, but because they’re tightly focused on fuel and maintenance, they allow fleets to more carefully monitor and pre-approve all vehicle-related expenses.

WHY IS THIS SO GOOD FOR MY SHOP?

If you already have customers that pay with fleet checks or cards, then you know processing that payment can be…a trial. There’s a lot of paperwork involved, sometimes you need to do a lot of app-hopping, and sometimes you even need to (gasp) get on the phone.

Let’s break it down more. When a driver wants to use a fleet check or card on the road, the old process often works like this:

1. They call dispatch.
2. Dispatch provides a code.
3. The driver has to put that code on a physical check.
4. The shop (that’s you!) must receive the check.
5. You have to call the company to confirm that all is correct and ready to go.
6. You have to take the check to the bank to drop it off.
7. Your office manager (or you) must reconcile everything at the end of the day.

And if you’re mobile—well, all that stuff is more challenging on the road. Believe us, it’s way too easy to spill coffee or otherwise damage these delicate pieces of paper.

Fullbay Payments makes it easier to collect payment from fleet customers—and you should always be pursuing fleet customers! Especially the big fleets that use checks and cards. Let’s think about that for a minute. Larger fleets + more units = more revenue for you. And because funds are authorized ahead of time, you lower your risk of chargebacks.

For further detail, here’s how Fullbay Payments does it:

1. Fullbay Payments will text the code to the driver or fleet manager.
2. The driver will type that code into Fullbay Payments.
3. Fullbay Payments will deposit the money into your account in four business days if they’ve used a check, and 1-2 days for credit card and ACH.

You’ll make yourself more valuable to your customers by tracking total fleet payment transactions and monitoring payment statuses through Fullbay’s portal. Of course, your fleet customers can see a detailed history of repairs associated with each payment.

And it’s now a snap to accept fleet checks or cards on the road! Fullbay lives in the cloud, and so does its payment portal; it can authorize and verify checks and cards over the air within seconds.

What will your shop do with the time it regains?

WHAT ARE SOME OF THE PAYMENTS I CAN ACCEPT?

EFS Checks
Electronic Funds Sources, LLC checks are issued by WEX, Inc. While it looks pretty much like a run-of-the-mill personal check, it comes with a series of codes—also called EFS numbers—that allow you to authenticate and process them. These number types are:

• Authorization number: This number, unsurprisingly, confirms the check is valid.
• Transaction number: This number is the check’s personal identity, basically.
• Issuer number: This number ensures the check is tracked and processed. It’s also used for identification verification.

If you get an EFS check without one of these numbers…reject! It ain’t real.

The biggest benefit fleets see from EFS checks is the ability to really keep an eye on what and where their drivers are spending. Look, everyone wants to know where the money is going.

Like many twenty-first century companies, EFS is slowly phasing out their paper products—to translate, they’re replacing EFS checks with EFS Money Codes. These 10-digit strings allow drivers to get the funds they need, when they need them.

The biggest drawback to paper EFS checks, as usual, is the time it can take to process and verify them. Drivers usually end up on the phone with the company to get the required numbers, and then the shop owner (or whoever is rendering services) has to call them to get the final code for payment. Maybe this takes 10 minutes…but maybe it takes a lot longer, depending on delays, hold times, typos, and all the other issues that can crop up when a bunch of parties are involved.

Oh, yeah—and even after all that, you, as shop owner, have to march yourself to the bank to deposit the checks.

The good news is—you guessed it—Fullbay Payments crops out all the in-between stuff! It also allows you to accept payments and have them deposited right in your bank account without leaving the shop.

Comchecks
Comchecks also look a lot like regular checks. They’re issued by Comdata and are used by many entities within the industry—but since we’ve been yammering on about fleets in this article, we’ll stick with that theme.

Fleets dig comchecks because drivers can—once again—use them for all sorts of expenses associated with their vehicle. It’s quite a secure system, and allows fleets to see exactly where their money is going. If your shop provides maintenance or emergency repairs to a truck, the driver can use the check to pay you.

Of course, this kicks off the verification process—and this can drag out. You or the driver will need to provide the comcheck number, Comdata number, and the Comdata security code and expiration date. While this should “only” take 10 minutes, there’s always room for human error, which can lead to problems down the line.

(Yes, Fullbay Payments solves these problems, too.)

Much like EFS checks, Comdata is slowly phasing out their paper checks. They’ve introduced Express Codes, which are 14-18-number numerical strings that the driver can get from their fleet over the phone or digitally. It’ll be one less thing for a driver to carry around.

In addition to Comchecks, Fullbay Payments can accept WEX, T-cheks, and U.S. Bank for fleet payments.

(Dude, that is a lot of ways to get your cheddar!)

READY TO START TAKING FLEET PAYMENTS?

Fullbay’s new portal allows you to do all that stuff virtually. Your shop can instantly verify funds so there’s no holdup—and no chargebacks or disputes down the line. You can also manage payment statuses, transaction history, and revenue generated all within that same portal.

Best of all, it’s a smooth experience that takes place entirely within the app you know and love. That’s right: You can accept fleet cards and fleet checks just like any other payment.

Ready to learn more about Fullbay Payments? Want to give it a whirl for yourself? We can’t wait to help you get started.