Voyager Mastercard Fleet Fuel Card Review

There’s no one-size-fits-all solution when it comes to fleet cards, but the Voyager Mastercard fleet fuel card comes pretty close. Formerly known as just the Voyager Fleet Card, it has an impressive 97% network coverage and can be used for several different fleet-related purchases, from gas to maintenance and repairs.

Owned by CSI (Corporate Spending Innovations) and issued and backed by US Bank, the Voyager Mastercard is one of the best fuel cards for monitoring fuel spending closely, offering a high level of customization and flexibility when it comes to setting spending limits.

Despite this, we still think there are a few drawbacks worth highlighting, including the lack of fuel rebate options available. We’ll get to all of them in this review so you can work out if its a good fit for your needs.

The Pros and Cons of the Voyager Mastercard

As we’ve just alluded to, the Voyager Mastercard comes with its fair share of advantages and disadvantages. We’ve summarized them for you below:

The pros

✓ Accepted at over 320,000 gas stations across the US. Stations in all 50 states, with 97% network coverage.

✓ Voyager Acceptance Locator tool lets you find the cheapest fuel in any location.

✓ Highly customizable purchase controls, enabling you to restrict what, when, and how much your drivers buy.

✓ Keep things secure by asking drivers to share ID prompts of your choosing at the point of purchase.

✓ View reports on vehicles and drivers plus historical purchase info.

The cons

✘ Doesn’t come with rebates (money back) on the fuel that your business buys.

✘ While the card itself comes with no fees, the fact that it’s distributed through Voyager partners means they might charge their own service fees – so keep an eye on that.

✘ Voyager mobile app can be prone to glitches and other technical problems

Voyager Mastercard Review: What’s Included?

We’ve reviewed a variety of different fuel cards over the past few years, and Voyager is definitely one of the most expansive and multi-purpose cards we’ve run into. All in all, its fuel card program can offer you:

A wide range of fuel-related purchases

The Voyager Mastercard is somewhat unique in that it can be used for a wide variety of purchases, besides just fuel. These include:

• Gas
• Repairs and maintenance
• Parking
• Tolls
• Hotel stays
• Emergency travel

Advanced spending controls

The Voyager Mastercard program gives you plenty of control over how much your fleet can spend, which is exactly what you need if you’re looking for a way to slash fuel and maintenance costs wherever you can.

Rather than just setting a single blanket spending limit, you can choose separate limits for each individual card you own – which isn’t something all fleet fuel cards offer. For example, you could set limits on:

• What type of purchases the card can be used for (fuel-only or a set of fuel-related services)
• How many purchases can be made per day
• How many dollars can be spent on each purchase
• How many dollars can be spent in a day
• How many dollars can be spent in a week
• How many dollars can be spent in a month

You might find this particularly helpful if you have both part-time and full-time drivers, and so would expect your part-time drivers to spend less.

Unmatched oversight over your fleet

Fleet managers who use the Voyager Mastercard program will also gain access to the Voyager Mastercard online portal.

Through the portal, managers can track invoices and previous transaction details, as well as view reports on drivers, vehicles, and how many miles per gallon they are achieving. These sorts of features set Voyager apart as one of the best fuel cards for owner-operators keen to explore new ways to make their fleet more efficient.

Secure purchase authorization

Purchases made with a Voyager Mastercard are very secure because you can ask your drivers to give ID prompts to prove they’re legitimate cardholders at the point of purchase. Better still, you get to decide what information your drivers are asked to give over. Some of the options include:

• Odometer readings
• ID numbers
• Trip numbers
• Vehicle numbers
• Employee numbers
• A combination of these

If you’re feeling lucky, you can even let your drivers make purchases without having to give any ID info – though we’d advise against this.

What Are Voyager Mastercard’s Rates and Fees?

The Voyager Mastercard is a little unusual when it comes to rates and fees.

It’s distributed through third-party companies, which means that any fees or service charges are determined by them.

This doesn’t change what spend-control or reporting features you get access to, but it means it does mean that what you pay for using the Voyager Mastercard will vary depending on the distributor you choose. Some may charge nothing at all.

The distributor will also be your go-to for customer service queries, not US Bank or Voyager. For this reason, we recommend choosing a distributor that’s local to you, ideally one that doesn’t pile on any additional fees.

Does the Voyager Mastercard Program Have Fuel Cost Rebates?

The Voyager Mastercard does not offer any rebates on fuel costs, which is quite unusual in the industry. Almost all of its competitors give you at least a few cents back for every gallon of fuel you buy.

So why doesn’t this fleet card have fuel rebates? Well, according to US Bank Voyager, the near-universal acceptance of its fleet card makes up for that fact.

As they tell it, since drivers using the Voyager Mastercard can use any gas station, they save fuel by going to the nearest one. Fleet cards with a more limited might cause drivers to waste fuel driving to a station further away, because the nearest one doesn’t accept their card.

We’re not really so sure that’s good enough, given that competitors like WEX also have near-universal coverage and still offer discounts on fuel.

It’s true that the Voyager Mastercard gives you slightly better control over spending than other brands’ cards, which could help curb overspending from drivers. But it might not be enough to make up for the lack of rebate options.

Voyager Mastercard Network Coverage

The Voyager Mastercard is accepted at over 320,000 stations nationwide (including 60,000 maintenance locations). That’s 97% network coverage, making it extremely easy to find a usable station.

So, how has the Voyager Mastercard achieved this? Well, Voyager and Mastercard both have large networks, and the Voyager Mastercard can be used at any of these.

These two issuers have partnered with a range of both national chains and regional companies, from 7-Eleven, Shell, BP, Chevron and ExxonMobil right down to small independent merchants.

Aside from the security of knowing there’ll always be plenty of places to fuel up in your area, this massive variety also allows you to choose cheaper fuel station brands over pricier ones, shaving even more pennies off those hefty fuel costs.

How to Find a Voyager Station

Stations are available in every state and are easy to pin down using US Bank’s online Voyager Merchant Locator. You can also use the free app – Voyager Mobile – which is available for both Apple and Android users.

The Voyager Merchant Locator enables fleet managers and their drivers to filter station searches by fuel type and available amenities. Results are shown on a digital map, and you can even check the current price of your fuel at each location that pops up.

It’s worth being aware, though, that a large proportion of Apple Store customer reviews for the Voyager Mobile app are less than positive – they complain the app is glitchy and sometimes doesn’t work, and overall, it’s been rated a measly 3.3 stars.

Who is the Voyager Mastercard for?

We can honestly say that the Voyager Mastercard is suitable for fleet operations of all sizes, located anywhere.

This is mainly because the card can be used at 320,000 locations across all 50 states, and fees are dependent on the distributor (small fleets can locate a cheap option).

Its wide network coverage makes the Voyager Mastercard popular among large commercial fleets, OTR fleets, aviation fleets, and government fleets. It also makes a suitable fuel card for trucking fleets.

Meanwhile, the flexibility offered by this program makes it a good fit for small fleets, too. With highly customizable reporting, purchase controls and payment options, small businesses can really tailor their Voyager Mastercard to their unique needs, in order to get the value they need out of it.

It’s worth noting that this program also supplies fleet cards to tax-exempt qualified organizations, including government and nonprofit entities.