FUEL PRICES ARE AT AN ALL-TIME HIGH. THE OPPORTUNITY FOR FUEL THEFT SHOULD BE AT AN ALL-TIME LOW. - Autotrak

How Fleet Management Systems Reduce Fuel Theft and Fleet Fuel Costs

Fuel costs account for 40 – 60% of the total operating cost of any commercial vehicle. Theft of this valuable commodity is on the increase. This cost is substantially higher when fuel is not going into your tank.

With the current instability due to the ongoing Ukraine-Russia war and the US–Iran conflict in the Middle East, fuel security is of more concern now than ever before. Fuel is estimated to reach an unprecedented cost of R40 per litre in November/December 2026 in South Africa.

Fuel has turned into liquid gold – and it is literally the lifeblood of your business

You need to know that every drop is accounted for

How does our Autotrak Fleet Management System save you money?

The Autotrak Group of Companies is a leading provider of fleet management and telematics solutions. Autotrak’s AutoFuel is a real-time electronic theft detection and fuel monitoring system, the most flexible and innovative fuel management system on the market. Eliminate confusion and pilfering at the fuel pump by optimising your fuel monitoring system. Modernise your vehicle and fleet management through at-the-minute monitoring to remain one step ahead.

AutoFuel has been developed in Africa for worldwide use and takes into consideration the unique challenges faced by African businesses. AutoFuel provides customers with the opportunity to actively measure, control, and calculate fuel costs to ensure they remain profitable and fuel-efficient.

REAL-TIME FUEL MONITORING CAN HELP BUSINESSES DETECT FUEL THEFT, REDUCE FUEL CONSUMPTION AND IMPROVE FLEET PROFITABILITY.

Our AutoFuel system has saved fleet owners millions with its outstanding features designed around fuel monitoring and fuel theft prevention.

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS?

Businesses can track locations and manage operations in real-time

The AutoFuel system logs and identifies every fuel fill-up – including location, date, and time
Real-time Theft Alerts – be informed as fuel theft happens
Customer receives an alert with exact times, dates, amount of fuel stolen, as well as GPS coordinates
Fuel waypoint reporting

Data at your fingertips, wherever you are

Enhance driver safety and performance
See your vehicle performance with the fuel graph, available to trend consumption along with the vehicle speed profile, and analysis of braking and acceleration, providing valuable information about driver performance.
Fuel consumption reports – fuel economy, fuel cost per 100 km
Fuel reconciliation (Compare fuel fill-ups against fuel billing)
Fuel bowser management system

Ensure vehicle performance and optimize maintenance schedules

Water ingress Identification – Real-time alerts of excessive water ingress into the fuel tank.
Designed to be compatible with multi-tank vehicles.
Compatible with the Autotrak Supreme vehicle tracking product.
Fuel probe installation and calibration completed by Autotrak-qualified technicians and distributors
State-of-the-art fuel sensor and technology utilised to measure fuel levels within the vehicle & bowser tanks.
Fuel probes are customised to each vehicle’s tank.
One-year product warranty

WHERE IS YOUR FLEET MOST EXPOSED?

Trucks are vulnerable to diesel theft when standing at long border queues, port congestion, delivery and loading queues, overnight rest stops, truck yards, repair shops and filling stations.

Sometimes staff are bribed, harassed, threatened, or extorted to provide access to the diesel in the tanks and look the other way when theft takes place.

The fuel theft problem in Africa is worsened by the general poor state of law enforcement and low successful prosecution rates.

Without fleet management and telematics, a fleet of trucks faces high exposure across safety, financial, legal, and operational areas. Autotrak’s AutoFuel monitoring platform uses high-precision hardware to prevent fuel theft and monitor fuel drops.

HOW DOES IT HAPPEN?

Skimming, the “slow bleed” – drivers, or other employees collaborating with criminals, siphon small amounts of fuel during rest stops. These amounts do not show up on normal dashboard fuel indicators in vehicles when tanks hold as much as 800 – 1500 litres. But repeatedly losing 5 – 20 litres at a time, every few days, over a month, adds up to considerable amounts of money and destroys profit margins.

Side-fueling & attendant collusion – drivers pull up to fill their tanks at a petrol station. The attendant (or accomplice) stands by, and fuel is dispensed into a hidden container or even another vehicle standing by, but paid for by the driver.

Diesel spiking (adulteration) – crooked fuel depots adulterate high-quality fuel by adding cheap paraffin or other chemical waste into diesel tanks. Not only is this fraud, but it affects your vehicle’s fuel pumps and injectors, which could result in engine failures and trucks stranded on busy freeways.