Automotive Business Magazine – Q3 2026 – Digital edition - Flipbook - Page 61
OPINION
FL E E T
Payment complexity is
quietly stalling the UK
→ Paul Holland is managing director for UK/ANZ vehicle payments at Corpay, including Allstar
T
he conversation about fleet
decarbonisation tends to
focus on the big, visible
barriers: vehicle cost,
charging infrastructure, range
anxiety and policy uncertainty.
But there is a less visible
problem building beneath the
surface, already holding small
to medium enterprises (SMEs) back.
It is the complexity of paying for fuel
and energy, and it is more damaging
than most people realise. For small fleet
operators, this is something drivers
encounter every working day.
Fragmented systems
Allstar recently commissioned
independent research among 300 UK
SMEs with fleets of between four and 20
vehicles. 97% reported feeling anxious
about managing fuel and EV charging
payments. That speaks to just how much
complexity has crept into something that
should be straightforward.
The reason is fragmentation. The
vehicles in a typical SME are not running
on a single, unified payment system, but
are juggling multiple cards, apps and
providers, often simultaneously.
Eight in 10 (89%) use more than one
payment method or platform to keep
vehicles moving, and 12% are managing
between four and 10. That was already a
problem in a petrol and diesel world. In
a mixed fleet, where some drivers might
be fuelling a diesel van in the morning or
charging an electric one in the afternoon,
it becomes genuinely unworkable.
Feeling it on the road
The impact on drivers is direct and
measurable. Half of SMEs (49%) say
payment problems disrupt their drivers
at fuel pumps ‘often or always’ during
a typical month. At charge points, that
figure rises to 54%. These are regular,
recurring friction points that eat into
productive working time, and 97% of
the businesses we surveyed confirmed
that payment issues at the pump or
plug reduce driver productivity or delay
vehicles getting back on the road.
What SMEs are asking for
This is where the EV transition enters
the picture. Payment complexity is not
only an operational headache today,
but it is actively shaping investment
decisions about tomorrow's fleet.
Almost all respondents (99%) told us
that uncertainty around payments has
influenced their vehicle investment.
That is a striking finding. It tells us
that the barrier to electrification is not
always about the vehicles, but whether
businesses feel confident enough in the
systems around them.
Payment complexity is eroding that
confidence, quietly and consistently,
in businesses across the country.
When businesses cannot get reliable,
consistent, predictable payment
experiences across their current mixed
fleet, confidence in committing to further
electrification is inevitably undermined
The demand for a better solution is
overwhelming and unambiguous. 98% of
the SMEs we surveyed said that having
a single payment method that works
seamlessly across both traditional fuel
and EV charging is important to them,
with 19% describing it as essential.
The infrastructure
The UK's fleet decarbonisation ambitions
require the payment infrastructure to
keep pace. Right now, for the SME fleet
operators who make up the backbone of
the UK's commercial transport sector, it
is not keeping pace.
The good news is that the solution is
not complicated. Businesses are not
asking for anything radical. The tech
and the networks exist to make it a
reality today. The question is whether the
industry moves quickly enough for the
businesses that need it most.
Q3 2026
AUTOMOTIVE BUSINESS
61
