How does Aronson Fuel’s pricing work?

The Aronson Fuel app shows every stop on your route with both the retail price and your price. Pay at the pump with your driver ID and get billed once a week for what you use—simple and transparent.

What makes Aronson Fuel different from other cards?

Aronson Fuel works at over 5,000 major truck stops nationwide, bills once per week, and has no credit check—giving you more freedom, savings, and convenience.

What affects how much I save per gallon?

Your savings depend on where you drive and which stations you choose. Most drivers save about 45¢ per gallon, and you can boost that by planning your route through the app.

How much can I actually save?

One customer with two trucks saved $1,100 in one month—about 48¢ per gallon. Most drivers save $6,000 or more per truck every year.

Why is transparency so important to you?

Small fleets make up 96% of the industry, yet they’re often left out of discounts. Aronson Fuel was built to change that—giving owner-operators the same honest savings big carriers get.

Fuel Is Trucking’s Top Concern Again: What It Means If You Run 1 to 9 Trucks

Oct 19

Written By Kody Fitzjerrells

For the first time since 2022, diesel is the number one worry in trucking. In the American Transportation Research Institute's 2026 Top Industry Issues survey, Fuel Prices jumped 17 spots to take the top ranking [1]. More than 3,000 carriers, drivers and other industry stakeholders answered the survey between August 24 and October 2, 2026 [1].

That headline matters most to the smallest operations. ATRI notes that when diesel rises, a carrier's costs rise immediately, and the pressure lands hardest on small and mid-size fleets [1]. This is also the first year truck drivers as a group ranked fuel as their top concern, pushed there by owner-operators, who put it at number one [1].

Why diesel jumped in 2026

ATRI ties this year's spike to U.S. attacks on Iran, which disrupted oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz and hit regional diesel refineries [1][2]. In August the U.S. diesel crack spread, the margin between crude oil and the diesel refined from it, passed $100 a barrel for the first time [2].

Fuel was also the biggest single driver of inflation, which ran 3.4% year over year in August and led the Federal Reserve to raise rates for the first time in three years [1][3]. For a small fleet that is a double hit: more at the pump and more to finance equipment.

Relief may be slow. The U.S. Energy Information Administration cautions that even if hostilities stopped and tanker traffic returned to normal soon, diesel prices would not get back to 2025 levels until 2028 at the earliest [1][4].

Why a 1 to 9 truck fleet feels it first

ATRI does not publish a separate cut for fleets of one to nine trucks. What it does report all points the same way.

Margins are razor thin. Operating margins in most sectors average under 1% [1][5]. ATRI's cost research found truckload and refrigerated margins below 1.0% in 2025 [5]. With a margin that thin, a few cents a gallon can be the whole profit on a load.
Everything else costs more too. Non-fuel operating cost reached $1.854 per mile, the highest in the 18 years ATRI has tracked it and 4.2% above the year before [5]. Fuel sits on top of that.
The gaps hit small fleets harder. ATRI names three places a fuel spike eats cash flow: fuel surcharges that lag the pump, spot rates that are slow to catch up, and empty miles [1]. A big carrier spreads those gaps across hundreds of trucks. A three-truck operation feels every one.
Owner-operators are the loudest. For owner-operators and independent contractors, fuel is concern number one, ahead of truck parking, broker issues, diesel emissions rules and English language proficiency enforcement [1].
Insurance is climbing at the same time. ATRI found fleets with fewer than 100 trucks saw liability premiums rise 27% to 50% over 2021 to 2024 [1][6]. Fuel and insurance are the two bills a small fleet cannot park.

What the industry wants done, and why you cannot wait for it

Asked for the best fix, 65.2% of respondents chose federal action to steady fuel supply and limit price swings, 17.4% wanted more research into what is driving the volatility, and 6.2% wanted the cost effect of alternative and renewable fuels measured [1].

Early federal moves have drawn mixed reviews. An expansion of dyed diesel use for on-road trucks has been met with doubts about whether it brings real relief or just more compliance work [1][7], and the stated plan to buy Russian diesel has added geopolitical confusion at home and among allies [1][8].

Policy moves on its own clock. A small fleet's fuel bill comes due every week. The lever an owner controls today is the price paid per gallon.

Every cent per gallon, multiplied

An example with round numbers, not a quote: a truck running 100,000 miles a year at 6.5 miles per gallon burns about 15,385 gallons. At that pace, every 10 cents saved per gallon is worth about $1,538 per truck per year, or about $7,692 across a five-truck fleet. Swap in your own miles and fuel economy; the math scales with every truck you add.

Larger carriers already chase this. ATRI's cost research found fuel economy bonuses paid to drivers rose 25.3% in 2025 [5].

What Aronson Fuel members save on average

Across 112 Aronson Fuel accounts, members saved an average of 48 cents a gallon on diesel: $436,943 saved on 907,525 gallons between December 27, 2024 and October 19, 2026 [9]. Over the last 12 months, from October 20, 2025 to October 19, 2026, Aronson Fuel members saved an average of 47 cents a gallon on diesel [9].

One 5-truck fleet saved $92,745 on diesel in 23 months, about $4,000 a month [9]. Individual result; yours will vary.

Those savings add up across every truck in the fleet, with no waiting on Washington.

Ready to cut what you pay per gallon? Apply Now

Sources

American Transportation Research Institute, Critical Issues in the Trucking Industry 2026 (Atlanta: ATRI, October 2026), pp. 1, 3 to 6, 11 and 27 (Table 3). TruckingResearch.org.
Shariq Khan, "US diesel crack surpasses $100 a barrel for the first time on supply disruptions," Reuters, August 17, 2026, as cited in ATRI (2026), p. 1. reuters.com
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, "Consumer Price Index Summary," September 11, 2026, bls.gov; and Jeanne Sahadi, "The Fed just raised rates. Here's what it means for borrowers and savers," CNN, September 16, 2026; both as cited in ATRI (2026), p. 1.
U.S. Energy Information Administration, "Short-Term Energy Outlook," September 9, 2026, as cited in ATRI (2026), p. 1. eia.gov
Alex Leslie and Dan Murray, Analysis of the Operational Costs of Trucking: 2026 Update (ATRI, July 2026), as cited in ATRI (2026), pp. 1, 15 and 21. truckingresearch.org
Alex Leslie and Dan Murray, Trucking's Rising Insurance Costs: Issues and Opportunities (ATRI, May 2026), as cited in ATRI (2026), p. 11. truckingresearch.org
John Kingston, "Red Dye Diesel Break is Being Greeted With a Big Yawn," FreightWaves, October 7, 2026, as cited in ATRI (2026), p. 6. freightwaves.com
Bo Erickson, Timothy Gardner and Jarrett Renshaw, "Trump Says Russia to Supply Diesel to US and Global Markets," Reuters, October 9, 2026, as cited in ATRI (2026), p. 6.
Aronson Fuel analysis of member fuel card transactions, diesel purchases (ULSD and other diesel grades) from December 27, 2024 to October 19, 2026: 112 accounts, 9,855 transactions, 907,525 gallons. Average is weighted by gallons and includes fills bought at full retail. Last 12 months: October 20, 2025 to October 19, 2026, 47 accounts, 539,230 gallons.

Kody Fitzjerrells