John McCullough is the service manager at Caplinger, a commercial facility maintenance company that serves industrial, manufacturing, and commercial buildings across the Midwest.
With over a decade of experience and a team of 50+ field technicians, John acts as the conduit between field operations and leadership—solving problems, keeping teams moving, and ensuring service never skips a beat. With 60 to 80 vehicles on the road each day, it was becoming essential to have a fuel card he could trust and better visibility into fleet fuel spend.
The Challenges
Outdated tools, surprising penalties, and poor customer support for a growing fleet
Limited Oversight of Fleet Spending
Caplinger had been using Wex for years, but as the company grew, so did the cracks in the system. John needed a way to spot problems early, but Wex only offered static transaction reports, making oversight cumbersome and time-consuming.
“They gave us a long list of transactions that I would have to review every month. But by the time I’d spot anything odd, the theft had been going on for two months,” he describes.
The lack of automation and contextual data made it easy for misuse to slip through the cracks.
Unfair and Unexpected Fees
Although Caplinger always paid on time, Wex’s processing policies led to significant penalties.
These types of fees created unnecessary financial risk, especially for a company that was doing its best to stay compliant.
Customer Service That Disappeared When It Counted
Perhaps most frustrating of all, the customer service was virtually nonexistent. When a system outage left cards unusable, Caplinger tried to reach out, but couldn’t get a hold of anyone. Wex didn’t call back for days.
That experience pushed John to seek an alternative, one that would provide dependable support and consistent communication.
The Solution
Real-time controls, seamless integrations, and driver-friendly tools that promote accountability
Powerful Controls Leading to a Culture of Compliance
Coast gave John exactly what he was missing with Wex: contextual data to spot anomalies before they spiral. Features such as fuel tank capacity controls help him flag any fill-up that exceeds expected limits. The purchase map makes it easy to see where a transaction occurred.
“It’s like putting a sign in the front yard: people know they’re being watched. That alone goes a long way,” John describes.
More importantly, the integration with their telematics solution, Geotab, also did a lot to control the spend.
- The GPS-based controls catch fraud in real time, blocking transactions where the company vehicle is not at the pump.
- Automatic mileage collection eliminates manual input errors and adds context to every purchase.
- Automatic vehicle data syncs from Geotab that keeps information updated.
With Coast, drivers understand that fuel usage is being monitored, which leads to more responsible behavior, without the need for constant oversight.
Fast, Daily Monitoring in Just Minutes
Rather than digging through static reports once a month, John now spends just five minutes a day reviewing transactions. Suspicious activity that once took weeks or months to detect can now be identified in real-time.
He says, “it’s the difference between catching a problem after two months, and catching it in a few days.”
Driver-Friendly Mobile Check-In for Smarter, Simpler Fueling
Coast’s unique card authentication system was also a big win for the team, providing better security and accurate fuel and mileage data.
Rolling out the new cards and training the team on the new process was very smooth.
“The guys actually really liked it. They could sign in and enter their odometer from inside the vehicle, they no longer to stand out in the cold Midwest winter and type in their PIN and odometer reading on the terminal,” John explains.
The mobile process reduced friction, saved time, and improved accuracy.
The Results
For Caplinger, Coast didn’t just replace Wex—it redefined how the company thinks about fuel spend.
✅ Responsive support they can count on.
✅ Smarter tools that flag fraud before it becomes a problem.
✅ Streamlined workflows that save hours of manual review each month.
✅ Driver buy-in that makes compliance effortless.
