Tristate Plumbing is a commercial plumbing and sprinkler contractor based in New York. With over 200 office and field staff, they serve a variety of industries including commercial real estate, restaurants, and healthcare.
The Challenge
Like most service fleets, Tristate Plumbing puts a premium on driver efficiency and customer satisfaction. While successful in their endeavors, COO Will Breslaw noticed a huge obstacle in the way of achieving efficiency: their fuel cards.
Their current fleet expense management system was causing issues across the board. The fuel card limits were frustrating for drivers who were sometimes required to purchase items aside from fuel. On the administrative side, the platform made it hard for management and accounting to monitor expenses, which not only resulted in hours of number crunching, but it also made it hard to track overspending and inefficiency. “It was difficult to understand what were the actual gas charges and what were the service charges associated with our old card,” Will explained. After seeing the effect on Tristate’s bottom line, Will knew it was time to look for a new solution.
The Solution
Tristate Plumbing needed a fleet expense management platform that offered real-time data to multiple admin staff. They also needed a fuel card that offered customizable controls. The cards needed to mitigate the risk of misuse while still allowing drivers to make necessary purchases. When Will discovered Coast, he knew it ticked all the boxes.
Simplifying Expense Tracking With a Powerful Portal
Before Coast, Tristate’s expense management system made it hard to determine what types of purchases were being made when and by whom. Management and accounting were spending hours deciphering which line items were fuel or service purchases.
Instead of spending countless hours digging for data, switching to Coast instantly gave them the information they needed. Detailed information about each purchase is displayed clearly in the portal and updated in real time. Will and his team love that while the Coast portal is easy to use, the robust platform still provides all the tools they need to manage expenses.
Expediting Purchases and Avoiding Overspending
With a focus on efficient operations, Tristate needed a better, faster way for technicians to make purchases and get back on the road to their next job. Their old fuel cards made purchases cumbersome. The Coast fleet card eliminates the need for technicians to manually enter PINs at the pump and allows them to fuel up anywhere that accepts Visa.
Not only are their techs happy with the switch, but Will loves the level of transparency of the fuel card data. “Coast is super clean,” says Will, “You don’t have to dig for your data, you don’t have to wait until the end of the month to see when someone is filling up too frequently.” With real-time data, Will can proactively reach out to the team member in question and help correct their behavior.
The Results
With Coast’s easy-to-use portal, his management and accounting teams have gained hours of their work day back. Will is also relieved that Coast’s fleet card controls can safeguard Tristate’s budget. Instead of worrying about his technicians overspending, Will rests easy knowing he’s set the proper permissions that will help protect Tristate’s bottom line.
By switching to Coast, Will has already seen massive improvements across Tristate’s operations. Instead of dealing with frustrating processes and confusing data from their previous fuel card provider, his entire team is now able to be more efficient and maximize uptime. “If you have a fleet and you need a gas card,” says Will, “this is the card for you.”
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