Geotab Launches Fuel Transactions and Enhanced Idling Controls Addressing Climbing Fleet Costs
New MyGeotab capabilities help fleets cut unnecessary fuel spend, detect misuse, and measure efficiency
OAKVILLE, ON, April 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ - Fuel accounts for more than 20% of total operating costs for most fleets. With U.S. on-highway diesel now averaging more than $5.35 per gallon — up from $3.66 in 2025, demand for tools that help fleets manage exposure is rising sharply. Geotab, a global leader in connected operations, video and asset tracking solutions has seen a 41% increase in demand for fuel-related insights, and today, the company launched two new MyGeotab solutions: Fuel Transactions and a new Preventable Idling Rule with automatic power take-off (PTO) identification. Together, they help address two of the biggest drivers of unnecessary fuel spend: unauthorized purchases and avoidable idling.
"The challenge most fleet managers face when trying to control costs is that the data they need is fragmented, delayed, and difficult to act on," Charlotte Argue, Senior Manager Sustainable Mobility at Geotab. "Fuel card transactions reconciled once a month, idling reports that lump productive and avoidable engine time together, and anomalies that surface weeks after the fact all contribute to cost leaks that compound before anyone notices."
Fuel Transactions
After a successful open beta, Geotab Fuel Transactions is generally available in MyGeotab for all customers. The solution connects fuel card transaction data with vehicle diagnostics in a single, automated view, replacing manual spreadsheet reconciliation with continuous oversight.
Fuel purchase related data anomalies often go undetected because siloed data prevents fleets from cross-referencing what was purchased against what the vehicle actually needed. According to WEX, fuel fraud rates reached 12% in 2024, including unauthorized card use and skimming at the pump.
Fuel Transactions addresses this by automatically flagging three categories of anomalies:
- Purchases where fuel volume exceeds the vehicle's tank capacity
- Transactions where the fuel type doesn't match the vehicle's powertrain
- Purchases where purchase location does not match the vehicle location
Fleet managers can filter flagged transactions by issue type and click into individual records for full context, asset details, mapped location history, and trip data, giving them a head start for further investigation or driver coaching.
The solution also reflects how different fleets assign fuel cards. Fleets that keep cards with specific vehicles can match transactions by asset; those where drivers carry cards across multiple vehicles can match by driver instead. This ensures the data reflects operational reality rather than a default configuration.
Smarter Idling Controls
Geotab is also introducing a new Preventable Idling Rule, that allows you to automatically filter out Power Take-Off (PTO) activity, a meaningful improvement for fleets where some idling is operationally necessary, allowing fleets to focus exclusively on avoidable fuel waste.
Geotab data from three million gas and diesel fleet vehicles operating in the U.S. and Canada between March 2025 and February 2026 shows that engine idling is substantial across all fleet types. The median heavy-duty truck idles 1.8 hours per day, representing approximately 1,200 to 1,500 litres of diesel burned annually from idling alone. The difficulty for some fleets has been separating unavoidable idle time from waste.
The challenge is particularly common for vocational fleets in sectors like construction and utilities, where PTO activity must be recognized as productive work rather than flagged as an idling violation. Establishing a more accurate baseline is therefore essential, one that separates necessary equipment operation from truly wasteful idling and that gives fleet managers the clarity they need to build effective fuel-reduction strategies
The new rule addresses this challenge, using hardware sensor configurations or engine diagnostics to detect when PTO equipment is active. That time is excluded from idle calculations, giving fleet managers a more accurate baseline for identifying where fuel is genuinely being wasted. Rather than assuming all idling is wasteful, the system now recognizes when a vehicle is stationary but performing essential work.The result is an accurate measure of truly avoidable idling.
Managing What You Can Control
Energy market conditions have placed fleet fuel budgets under sustained pressure, and the margin for invisible inefficiency has narrowed. Fuel Transactions and the new Preventable Idling Rule give operations managers the visibility to find cost leakage early and the tools to act before costs accumulate, shifting control back to the people responsible for managing them.
Fuel Transactions is generally available for all customers and the Preventable Idling Rule with PTO identification is currently in beta.
About Geotab
Geotab is a global leader in connected vehicle and asset management solutions, with headquarters in Oakville, Ontario and Atlanta, Georgia. Our mission is to make the world safer, more efficient, and sustainable. We leverage advanced data analytics and AI to transform fleet performance and operations, reducing cost and driving efficiency. Backed by top data scientists and engineers, we serve approximately 100,000 global customers, processing 100 billion data points daily from more than 5 million vehicle subscriptions. Geotab is trusted by Fortune 500 organizations, mid-sized fleets, and the largest public sector fleets in the world, including the US Federal government. Committed to data security and privacy, we hold FIPS 140-3 and FedRAMP authorizations. Our open platform, ecosystem of outstanding partners, and Geotab Marketplace deliver hundreds of fleet-ready third-party solutions. This year, we're celebrating 25 years of innovation. Learn more at www.geotab.com and follow us on LinkedIn or visit Geotab News and Views.
GEOTAB and GEOTAB MARKETPLACE are registered trademarks of Geotab Inc. in Canada, the United States and/or other countries.
SOURCE Geotab Inc.
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