Fuel is often the biggest cost a fleet has, and the easiest to lose quietly. These checks show you where it goes.
Fuel theft rarely looks like theft. It looks like a vehicle that "uses a lot", a receipt that is a little higher than usual, or a tank that is never quite full at the start of a shift. Because it is small and regular, it can cost more over a year than one big loss. The good news: a few simple checks, done every day, make it very hard to hide.
1. Know what each vehicle should use
Every vehicle has a normal consumption: litres per 100 km, or miles per gallon. Work it out from a few honest weeks, write it down, and compare every fill-up against it. A vehicle that suddenly uses 25% more fuel on the same route needs a question, or a mechanic.
2. Record litres and money, not just money
A receipt for "US$40 of fuel" tells you nothing if you do not know how many litres it bought. Ask for both. In Handova, drivers enter litres and cost in the end-of-shift report, and the price per litre is checked automatically.
3. Check the distance against the fuel
Fuel used should match kilometres driven. If the odometer says 120 km but the fuel bought would cover 300 km, something is wrong. Handova compares odometer readings with the GPS distance from the shift and warns you when they differ.
4. Note the fuel level at the start and end of every shift
A quick tap on "full, three quarters, half, quarter, empty" at the start of a shift stops the "it was already empty" argument. Handova asks for it during the start-of-shift check.
5. Watch where vehicles stop
Long stops in places that are not on the route, at night or at the same spot every week, are worth a look. With live GPS you can see routes and stops for every shift, and no-go areas alert you when a vehicle enters a place it should not be.
6. Use one fuel supplier or fuel cards where you can
Buying from a known station, with a card or an account, gives you a second record to check against. The Handova network lists fuel suppliers that offer accounts to fleets in many countries.
7. Make results visible, and fair
Most drivers are honest. Showing each driver their own fuel use, compared with the vehicle's normal, rewards the good ones and makes problems easy to talk about. Always ask first: high use can also mean a fault, a blocked filter or bad tyres.
The short version
Know the normal, record litres, check the distance, and look at it every day. Handova does the sums and raises the warning, so you only spend time on the shifts that need it.
