LONG established commercial vehicle support company, DKV Euro Service, is aiming to bring its money-saving expertise gained in the truck and coach industry to car fleet managers. The Kent-based company supplies a cross-border credit card service to truck, coach and light commercial fleets which travel on the continent.

This can be used to pay for fuel, to book ferries, pay motorway tolls and sort out breakdowns. As well as being able to map out routes to take advantage of the cheapest fuel DKV also reclaims the VAT - leaving fleet managers with a fuel bill in sterling and all the VAT reclaimed for them. Managing director Steve Jones wants to introduce the benefits of the DKV card and service to the fleet market by showing the money saving possibilities and the time saving benefits associated.

'We have 700 fuel outlets around the UK's motorway network and by sitting down with fleet managers we can work out a tailor-made solution,' he said. Jones estimates he will pre-sell more than 10 million litres of fuel this year, primarily diesel but also petrol and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).

He added: 'We know the rise in price of fuel is inevitable and I believe we may well see a return to on-site tanks. Businesses gave them up when fuel differentials and safety regulations made them uneconomical but now operators are already talking about re-installing them, especially if they have very specific routes and can return to depot to refuel. When that happens, we will pre-sell them fuel at more than competitive rates and then provide a service station network as and when they travel further afield.'