How a TMS helps you save on fleet fuel costs

Updated September 2026.

Diesel averaged $5.967 a gallon in the week of September 7, 2026, up $2.20 from a year earlier (U.S. Energy Information Administration, Gasoline and Diesel Fuel Update). A TMS does not buy fuel, but it decides how many miles the truck runs empty, which fuel surcharge lands on the invoice, and whether idle time and hard braking get coached. This post covers the five places a TMS cuts fleet fuel cost: routing and dispatch, the fuel surcharge on every load, telematics data, driver behavior and preventive maintenance, and what each is worth at today's price.

Routing and dispatching

At close to $6 a gallon, every empty mile is the most expensive mile you run. A dispatcher who can see every truck, every load and every driver's hours on one board runs fewer of them; that is the routing gain, and it comes from the board, not an algorithm. It also shows the shipment delays and the deadhead before they are driven.

Poor routing wastes driver time and fuel. The fix most fleets can afford is visibility: positions from the ELD on the dispatch board, appointment windows on the load, and the next load planned before the truck is empty. Manual planning from a whiteboard cannot see the empty leg until it is on the settlement.

The other line a TMS controls is the fuel surcharge on every load. With the Breakthrough Fuel module, fuel surcharge rates are set on customer and outside carrier profiles, estimated from the miles on the order and actualized on the customer invoice and the carrier settlement, so the surcharge you bill and the surcharge you pay both follow the price of fuel instead of a table someone updated last spring.

Telematics data

Idle time, speed and hard braking come from the ELD. Through the telematics integration (Samsara, Motive, ISAAC, Geotab), truck positions, ETAs and messages land on the trip board, and the driver behavior and vehicle diagnostics stay in your telematics provider's platform, where the coaching reports live.

Telematics data shows miles driven, idle time and fuel economy by unit, and flags simple things like low tire pressure that burn fuel. The TMS puts those numbers next to the loads the truck ran, so the fuel report reads by lane and by driver, not just by truck.

Driver behavior

Coaching the three habits that burn fuel is the cheapest saving on this list, and the ELD already records all three:

1. Idling that burns fuel
2. Aggressive driving and braking habits
3. Coasting and cruising

The same data flags off-route miles, so the odometer and fuel figures on the IFTA report match the trips dispatched. TransPlus produces the IFTA report on the Fleet Manager Enterprise plan; it does not file the return.

Preventive maintenance

Maintenance alerts come from your telematics provider's platform and your maintenance system, not from the TMS. What the TMS adds is the miles and engine hours per unit that set the PM schedule and, through the MIR-RT by DataDis integration, the unit's maintenance state on the dispatch board. Tire rotation, filters and alignment on schedule is fuel economy you do not have to coach.

Fuel purchasing: buy where the card discount is

Fuel prices vary by state, province and truck stop. Fuel card integrations bring each transaction into the TMS with the location, gallons and price, so the fuel report shows where drivers bought and what the network discount saved, and the jurisdiction lands on the IFTA report (Enterprise plan) without a second keying. TransPlus integrates with fuel cards including WEX, Pilot Flying J, Esso, Husky and Suncor; the full list is on the integrations page. Plan fuel stops on the trip so the driver is not buying the most expensive fuel on the corridor when the tank hits empty.

Fuel cost questions

Does a TMS calculate the fuel surcharge?

With the Breakthrough Fuel module, TransPlus sets fuel surcharge rates on customer and outside carrier profiles, estimates the surcharge from the miles on the order and actualizes it on the customer invoice and the carrier settlement. The surcharge you bill and the one you pay a carrier both follow the price of fuel, so a diesel spike does not come out of your margin for a quarter.

Does a TMS do IFTA?

TransPlus produces the quarterly IFTA report, jurisdiction miles and fuel by quarter, on the Fleet Manager Enterprise plan; it does not file the return, and Lite and Standard cannot add IFTA reporting. The miles come from the trips dispatch already keeps and the fuel from receipts entered on the trip or imported from a fuel card integration.

What is deadhead and what does it cost?

Deadhead is the miles a truck runs empty between a delivery and the next pickup. It costs what a loaded mile costs and earns nothing: ATRI put the all-in marginal cost of trucking at $2.336 per mile in 2025 (ATRI, July 15, 2026). A dispatch board that shows every truck and every load makes the empty leg visible before it is driven, which is the only way to cut it.

See the fuel card and telematics integrations TransPlus runs, or book a demo: personalized, scheduled the same week you ask, no commitment.