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Fuel cards for owner-operators

Fuel is one of the largest recurring costs a new carrier controls, and fuel cards compete on discounts that are hard to compare. This page lists the programs whose fees and terms are published on their own primary pages, quotes each discount as the vendor's claim, and explains what to check before signing up.

Cover image: fuel card programs for owner-operators and small fleets

By Evan Reid, Founder of Haul Handbook · Updated Jul 22, 2026

How this comparison works

Fuel card marketing leans on per-gallon savings figures that no neutral body verifies, so this page follows two rules. First, a program is included only when its fees or terms are published on the vendor's own primary page; a sales call is not a source. Second, every discount figure renders as the vendor's own claim with a citation to the page that makes it, because advertised savings are averages or maximums that vary by station and market. The order below is not a ranking, and no card pays to appear.

Why claims spread so widely comes down to how the discount is calculated, which is worth understanding before the numbers sway you: how the discounts actually work covers cost-plus versus retail-minus pricing. For scale, one federal figure frames every claim: EIA's gasoline and diesel fuel update reports that for March 2026, crude oil made up 42 percent of the retail price of a gallon of on-highway diesel, refining 34 percent, distribution and marketing 12 percent, and taxes 12 percent.

The programs with published terms

AtoB

AtoB Flex, the credit card product, lists a $35 account set-up fee, $15 per month covering one to five cards, $3 per month for each active card after the fifth, and an optional $3 per month Premium add-on.

AtoB Unlimited, the prepaid product, lists the same $35 account set-up fee with $3 per active card per month and a 0 percent late payment fee, with approval regardless of credit score.

AtoB's comparison table lists $0 transaction fees, $0 out-of-network fees, and $0 account administration fees on both cards, with a 5 percent late payment fee on the Flex credit card.

The vendor's savings claim: AtoB's published discount claim averages 42 cents off each gallon of truck diesel and 5 cents off each gallon of unleaded through its discount network, a vendor-stated average that varies by station.

The most complete published fee schedule among the fuel cards checked.

TCS Fuel Card

TCS lists $0 activation, membership, monthly, and annual fees, and $0 transaction fees at more than 2,300 in-network locations.

The vendor's savings claim: TCS claims an average saving of 59 cents on each gallon, a figure the site attributes to actual in-network client transactions for the second quarter of 2026, with a never-pay-more-than-cash-price promise at more than 12,000 accepted locations.

Mudflap

Mudflap describes the app as free to download with no application, credit check, or gallon minimums, working with a driver's existing credit or debit card.

The vendor's savings claim: Mudflap claims cost-plus discounts of up to a dollar off each gallon nationwide, with more than 515,000 drivers using it and over $1 billion in claimed driver savings since 2020; discounts vary by stop and market conditions.

An app-based discount network rather than a billing card: purchases run on the driver's own payment card.

RTS Fuel Card

The RTS referral page states the fuel card program carries no annual fees or fuel card contracts, with point-of-sale diesel discounts off the cash price.

The RTS fuel cards page advertises credit lines up to $3,200 per truck, per week on its most popular card option, with card options for any credit score.

The vendor's savings claim: RTS claims an average saving of 45 cents on each gallon at more than 4,000 fuel stations nationwide, a vendor-stated average.

No per-transaction or monthly fee schedule is published. RTS, part of Shamrock Trading Corporation, also sells freight factoring.

What to check before you sign up

Compare programs on the stops you actually fuel at, not the network totals. A discount network is only as good as its coverage on your lanes, so pull each card's station map for the corridors you run. Then read the fee schedule the way you would a factoring agreement: set-up fees, per-card monthly charges, out-of-network transaction fees, and what happens to pricing when you fuel outside the network. Finally, check whether the product is credit or prepaid; a credit line per truck helps cash flow but adds late-fee exposure a prepaid card avoids.

Fuel cards and your IFTA filing

A side benefit worth real money in admin time: fuel card statements itemize gallons and taxes by state, which is exactly the paperwork a quarterly fuel tax return is built from. That card data feeds your IFTA filing, and the per-state tax that filing settles against is in the current IFTA rates. Keeping fuel receipts organized from the first tank is far easier than reconstructing a quarter later.

Sources

Primary statutes and official agency pages this guide relies on. Laws and fees change, so confirm against the current source before you act.

  1. AtoB Fuel Cards: Plans and Fee Comparison · AtoB
  2. TCS Fuel Card · TransConnect Services
  3. Mudflap: Diesel Discount Network · Mudflap
  4. RTS Fuel Cards · RTS, Inc. (Shamrock Trading Corporation)
  5. RTS Referral Program and Agent Program · RTS, Inc. (Shamrock Trading Corporation)
  6. Gasoline and Diesel Fuel Update: What Consumers Pay for a Gallon of On-Highway Diesel · U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)

Haul Handbook publishes educational information about trucking registration and compliance requirements. This is not legal, financial, or tax advice. Rules, fees, and deadlines change; confirm with the agency before you file or pay.