The Best Prepaid Fuel Cards

gas station
Julia Watts author headshot photo
Maïté Bouhali

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The best prepaid gas cards are: Shell Refillable Gift Card, Brink's Business Expense, Bento for Business, and ARCO PumpPass. With surging gas and energy prices affecting businesses world-wide, we compared prices, additional features, and more, to help you make the right decision for your fleet.

With a solid menu of choice of prepaid gas cards in the market, it's hard to choose the one that fits your business best. To save you time and effort, why not fill out our fleet cards callback quiz? We'll match you with experts in prepaid gas cards who'll get in touch with quotes from the top fuel companies.

Now let's compare the features, pricing and star ratings of each gas card according to our research.

The Best Prepaid Fuel Cards

The best prepaid fuel cards are:

  • Shell Refillable Card
  • Brink's Business Expense
  • Bento for Business
  • ARCO PumpPASS
Swipe right to see more
0 out of 0

Shell Refillable Card

Brink's Business Expense

Bento for Business

ARCO PumpPASS

4.5
4.5
4.0
3.5
Key Features
  • Holds up to $300
  • Top up online
  • Pay at the pump
  • Can't access funds if card lost
Key Features
  • Debit card (Mastercard)
  • Custom spending limits
  • Dashboard to monitor expenses
  • Submit receipts by mobile app
Key Features
  • Visa debit card
  • Can reload automatically
  • No direct deposits, only ACH or wire transfer
  • Spend management software
Key Features
  • Load up to $100 on a card
  • Avoid 35¢ fee on PIN debit cards at ARCO
  • No software
Card Fees

None

Card Fees

$0-$149 per month

Card Fees

$29-$149 per month

Card Fees

None

Network

15,000+

Network

Everywhere that accepts Mastercard

Network

Anywhere that accepts Visa

Network

1,400 stations in 15 states, none in the Midwest


What are Prepaid Fuel Cards?

Prepaid fuel cards (also known as “prepaid gas cards”) are basically gifts card which you preload with money, and your drivers use them to pay for fuel and maintenance. They're reloadable and reusable.

Unlike traditional fuel cards, which are essentially credit cards (your drivers use them to pay for fuel and maintenance, and you then pay that balance off each month), prepaid gas cards – also known as gift cards – are closer to debit cards. You're only spending money you already have, so you can't go into debt with them.

What are the advantages of prepaid gas cards?

Gas cards are a good way to cut the time you spend squinting over accounts. There are no expense forms to process, and you don’t need to spend countless hours trying to find lost receipts and figure out unaccounted for items.

Best of all, with a prepaid fuel card, there are no fees to consider and no minimums to meet. It’s as simple as having your cash in card form. And – gas station dependent – you may get to cash in on cheaper cash prices, too!

But which prepaid fuel card is right for your business? You can request fuel card quotes directly through us, or read on to find out who we've shortlisted as the best prepaid fuel cards on the US market.


The Different Types of Prepaid Fuel Card Explained

When it comes to prepaid fuel card options, you'll likely be choosing between two different varieties:

  • Prepaid gift cards – such as the Shell Refillable Card and ARCO PumpPASS
  • Prepaid expenses management cards – such as Brink's Business Expense and Bento for Business

The route you take depends on what you want from your card. Do you want to benefit from cash prices at specific gas stations? Would you like greater control over your expenses in general? Are you happy to pay a monthly subscription fee for greater spending control and insight, or would you rather go for something cheap and simple?

Let's explore the key differences between these two types of card:

Prepaid Gas Gift Cards

First off, don’t be put off by this label. Instead of insisting that you place each one inside a birthday card, fuel companies actually recommend that small businesses use their gift cards to manage spending.

Most gas companies supply them; it’s just a case of going for the brand with the largest number of gas stations within your business operation area.

For example, West Coast companies should check out ARCO PumpPASS for great value, quality gas.

Those that operate on a wider scale should check out Shell's Refillable Card for pretty solid gas station distribution – certainly in Texas, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Indiana, and along the East Coast states.

checkout page on Shell refillable gift card page showing dollar amounts between $25 to $200
Only pay for postage when you order a Shell Refillable Gift Card online.

Expenses Management Cards

Expenses management card programs like Bento for Business and Brink's Business Expense typically come with rave reviews from users, and are a modern and intuitive way to handle your business expenses. They're also accepted at almost all gas stations.

No, they aren't designed specifically for fleets and fuel spend, but you can easily customize your spending restrictions to make sure your drivers are using them to buy the right things.

The only downside to these cards is you have to invest in the expenses management software, too. But with prices starting from as little as $29 a month, the return of admin time saved and fuel costs limited with spending controls is worth it.

four different styles of brinks mastercards
A Brink's Prepaid Mastercard is a debit card so it requires an ID check when you apply.

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Shell Refillable Card

Best for Simplicity

Shell Logo
Shell Refillable Fuel Card
4.5
Pricing Free
Quick overview

The Shell Refillable Card offers good gas station coverage, with over 14,000 refuel locations across all 50 states. Most gas stations will charge you cash price, so you benefit from the security of a pin number without the credit card charges.

You can load up to $300 onto the card at any one time via your online account and track the balance and spending. Although you won't get any fancy online expenses tracking, the Shell card has no fees unlike Brink's and Bento for Business.

Strengths

No card fees

Pay cash price (gas station dependent)

Weaknesses

No rebate on spending

Only basic online account management

Only accepted at Shell stations


Brink's Business Expense

Best for Nationwide Coverage

Brinks Business Expense
4.5
Pricing $0-$149 per month
Quick overview

Brinks' Business Expense card can be used anywhere that accepts Debit Mastercard. That's about 8 million retailers in the US, so you can rest assured that your drivers will be able to use this card at almost any gas station.

With this fuel card program, you'll gain access to Brinks' intuitive expenses dashboard, which you can use to easily set up spending controls, disable and re-enable certain cards, and see how much each driver is spending, on what, and where.

All that said, you'll need to be aware that this card is designed for use by businesses of all kinds – not just fleets. So if you want your staff to use it for fuel and little else, you'll need to make sure you set up spending controls so your drivers can only use their Brinks card at gas stations, or for travel expenses.

Strengths

Use anywhere that accepts Mastercard debit

Possibility of paying no subscription fee when you spend $20,000 per month

Spending insight with dashboard

Weaknesses

Need to verify your ID, business and address or card use is restricted

Lots of fees to watch out for

Brink's Prepaid Mastercard Fees

Unlike Shell's refillable gift card, there's a whole list of fees to be aware of with Brink's prepaid card. The reason is you're getting a lot more financial services in return for your investment. Brink's card is a lot more formal, and lets you withdraw from ATMs, for instance. You can find the entire list of Brink's prepaid Mastercard fees here.

Keep your eyes on how often you use this card because there's a $5.95 inactivity fee that applies per month if there are funds on your card but you ignore it for 90 days. If you don't really need to use the card for a while, you can avoid this fee by making a balance inquiry (which costs 50¢ at an ATM or it's free online).

schedule of fees screenshot from Brinksprepaidmastercard.com
There's a whole host of fees to get your head around with Brink's prepaid card.

Save money with the business fleet card that's right for you

Bento for Business

Best for Fuel Expenses Management

Bento for Business
4
Pricing $29-$149 per month
Quick overview

If you’re looking for a better way to track your expenses in general, Bento for Business may be the route for you. Use the gas card alongside their software to check in on what your employees are spending. The best bit is you dictate what purchases your employees make. You can choose from gas or fuel cards, employee cards to monitor expenses or even project cards to keep track of budgets.

You’ll receive an alert each time a transaction is made, plus you can check your accounts on the go with the Bento app. So what are the costs? Well, if there are only two of you, you can have the software package for free. The next package is for up to 10 cards and that’ll cost you $29. Not bad. Like Brink's Business Expense card, it has a 60 day free trial.

Strengths

Can set to auto load funds

Easy to use tracking dashboard

Turn cards on and off instantly

Weaknesses

No rewards

Takes time for funds to register on the card

Did You Know?

Prepaid cards are booming in the USA. Between 2022 and 2026, the market is expected to record a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 11.1%.


ARCO PumpPASS

Best for Cheap Fuel

ARCO logo
ARCO PumpPASS
3.5
Pricing None
Quick overview

ARCO has a prepaid card that's as simple to use as Shell's but with less widely available gas stations. This is a no frills card, for sure, and it works like a regular gift card (if you lose it, that means your money is gone). The main benefit is avoiding the 35¢ fee for using PIN cards when purchasing ARCO gas.

Strengths

Easy to use

Access to ARCO’s cheap fuel

Only use on fuel purchases

Avoid fees associated with credit cards

Weaknesses

No account management

Call up to add funds

ARCO PumpPASS Prepaid Amounts

You can load $10, $15, $20, $25, $50 or $100 onto your ARCO prepaid gas card. The maximum amount is much lower for ARCO's gift card than Shell's (which has an upper limit of $300).

It costs nothing to order an ARCO prepaid gas card online. You only have to pay for postage, which is currently $2.95 from USPS First Class or $26.95 UPS Next Day.

map of the USA with Arco gas stations marked predominantly along the west coast, North Dakota and Minnesota
ARCO gas stations are harder to find than Shell, with none at all in the Midwest.

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Expert Verdict

Our four favorite prepaid gas cards are:

  1. Shell Refillable Gift Card – an easy way to avoid petty cash
  2. Brink's Business Expense – submit expenses on a mobile app
  3. Bento for Business – conveniently manage digital expenses
  4. ARCO PumpPASS – for avoiding PIN card fees buying ARCO gas

If you're a small or medium business then any of these cards are a handy alternative to drivers handling cash, paying out of their own pockets, and remembering to keep paper receipts. While we rate Brink's Business Expense for its convenient mobile app technology, that could be overkill if you already have accounting software taking care of this.

On the other hand, it's hard to beat Shell's gift card system with its simple refill. One major drawback is that drivers can buy candy bars and coffee with it as well as gas. Depending on how you scale your fleet, you may appreciate the precise spending limits of Bento for Business or the convenience of the ARCO PumpPASS.

Frequently asked questions

1. What is the best prepaid fuel card for small businesses?
All prepaid fuel cards are good for small businesses. But if your company is very small, prepaid gift cards like the Shell Refillable Card and ARCO PumpPASS are the simplest way to manage fuel spend costs. As businesses grow, expenses management cards like Bento for Business and Brink's Business Expense will help you to manage the spending of a greater number of drivers – but these do come with monthly subscription costs.
2. What are the best prepaid fuel cards for account management?
Prepaid gift cards offer fairly limited account management, so if you’re looking to have more control over spending on your fuel cards, consider a dedicated expenses management card one. Both Bento for Business and Brink's Business Expense come with apps that you can use to easily check in on accounts.
Written by:
Julia Watts author headshot photo
Julia Watts Software Expert

Specialising in business software, Julia writes jargon-busting guides about VoIP, fleet management, dash cams, fuel cards, and more. Having spent almost a decade writing for entrepreneurs and reviewing business solutions, she loves helping exciting ventures – big or small – to flourish.

Reviewed by:
Maïté Bouhali
Maïté Bouhali Business Software Editor

Maite began her career with Expert Market nearly four years ago as a writer. She quickly developed a passion for the challenges faced by small businesses and now endeavours to help them make informed decisions for their future.

In her current position as Business Software Editor, Maite works closely with writers to ensure that each article is informative, well-researched, engaging, and actionable for readers. With extensive knowledge of CRM, vehicle tracking devices, and fuel cards, she is meticulous in her review of each article and provides detailed feedback before publication.

Whether you’re seeking to stay informed on the latest trends in business software or need guidance in selecting the most appropriate software for your organisation’s needs, Maite is here to help. With her sharp eye for detail and commitment to quality, she is dedicated to supporting businesses in achieving their goals.