How much do you pay for your garage card?

Some banks offer clients, especially companies, the option of a fuel or garage card. But do these cards offer you any benefits, and how much do they cost you?

We look at the Petrol/ Garage card offerings from various banks including Absa, Nedbank, Standard Bank, and First National Bank (FNB), and consider what clients get for their fees.

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Which bank offers the best garage card? 

Standard Bank

Standard Bank offers a Business Garage Card to cater for your company’s on-road expenses. These include fuel, car repairs, toll fees, maintenance, and spares.

Useful in its capacity as a single account for these expenses, the card can also be linked to your corporate card for easy management. An additional benefit is advanced expense monitoring, where you can integrate travel expense reports with your enterprise resource planning (ERP) and management systems.

In terms of costs, Standard Bank’s Garage Card comes with an annual service fee of R450, a R265 once-off initiation fee, and a fuel transaction fee of R7.

Absa

Absa also offers a Business Garage Card, whose benefits include an option to link the card to your business or corporate card account.

Tshipi Alexander, head of card issuing at Absa, says, “Absa Silver, Gold, Premium, Private Bank and Wealth customers can opt for a garage card linked to a credit card account. Transactions will then be charged directly to the customer’s credit card account.”

It’s important to note, Alexander says, that garage card transactions attract interest from the transaction date, meaning there is no interest-free period. Each transaction costs R6.50.

The monthly fee for the garage card for Business Silver account holders is R28.50. For all other products, the card comes at a cost of R305 per year, with the exclusion of Absa Private Banking and Wealth accounts, where the garage card does not attract an additional monthly fee.

It’s important to note that the Absa Business Garage Card is user-specific, which means it can only be used by the person whose name is printed on the card.

Customers with a monthly income of at least R4,000 can apply for a garage card with Absa.

READ MORE: Reasons to get your first credit card

FNB

The FNB Petro Card is for travellers aged 18 years or older who earn at least R84,000 a year.

This card comes with a monthly credit facility fee of R17, a monthly account fee of R38, a once-off initiation fee of up to R175, and a fuel transaction fee of R6.

Clients have the choice between a Petro Card that’s linked to their existing credit card, and a standalone Petro Card. With the former, there is a combined limit, and all transactions will be reflected on the client’s credit card statement. With the latter, there is a separate card limit and credit card statement.

As a bonus, the product comes with AA emergency roadside assistance. This encompasses services such as free roadside repair, refuelling with up to 10 litres of petrol, changing flat tyres, restarting a flat battery, tow-in services, and key lock-out services.

Nedbank

Nedbank offers a garage card to people aged 18 years or over, who are Nedbank Current Account holders.

“The Garage Debit Card can be linked or issued on any current account,” says Mpho Sadiki, head of function for trading products and solutions at Nedbank. “Because the Garage Credit Card is a credit product offering, it requires an individual to apply for a credit, affordability, and assessment application. Once approved, the garage credit account will be opened in the customer’s name.”

The Nedbank Garage Card allows customers to track their vehicle-related expenses. Fuel transactions can be tracked on a separate statement.

This card comes with a service fee of R40, a credit facility service fee starting at R18.50, and an additional card fee of R30.

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