Motive Card Review 2026

Pros Explained

Platform Integration Is the Real Product -- The fuel card by itself is not particularly differentiated from other fleet fuel cards. The network is fine. The discounts are competitive. The controls are adequate. What makes the Motive card worth considering is how it fits into the broader ecosystem.

When your fuel data, mileage data, driver hours, vehicle locations, and maintenance records all live in one platform, the back-office work gets simpler. No exporting CSVs from one system to import into another. No manual reconciliation of fuel receipts against odometer readings. No separate logins for six different vendor portals. Everything you need to run the business side of a trucking operation shows up in one dashboard.

For small fleet owners doing their own bookkeeping, that consolidation saves real time. The hours you spend on administrative work are hours you are not spending on the phone with brokers or behind the wheel earning money. Anything that reduces the paperwork burden has value beyond what shows up on a spreadsheet.

Zero Card Fees Matter for Tight Margins -- Some fuel cards charge $1-3 per transaction. On a truck that fuels twice a day, that adds up to $1,500-2,000 per year in fees before you count anything else. Other cards charge monthly maintenance fees ranging from $5-15 per card per month. Motive charges none of that.

For an owner-operator or small fleet already paying the platform subscription, the absence of card fees means every dollar of fuel savings actually lands in your pocket. There is no offsetting transaction charge eating into your discount every time you swipe.

Competitive Discount Rates -- The 21 cents per gallon maximum savings at partner locations is competitive with other major fleet fuel cards. It is not the highest discount available in the market, but it falls within the range you would expect from a serious fuel card program. The $45 million in claimed customer savings during 2024 suggests the discounts are real and accessible rather than theoretical numbers you can only reach by jumping through hoops.

IFTA Pain Goes Away -- Anyone who has spent a Saturday afternoon sorting fuel receipts and comparing them against driver logs and odometer readings understands why IFTA automation matters. The quarterly filing requirement is not complicated in theory, but the data collection and organization is tedious and error-prone when done manually. Motive handles it automatically. The fuel purchases link to GPS-tracked mileage by jurisdiction, and the reports are available when you need them. That feature alone could justify the time spent setting up the fuel card integration.

Cons Explained

The BBB Rating Cannot Be Explained Away -- Motive carries a D- rating with the Better Business Bureau and is not accredited.[^5] The customer review average on the BBB site is 1.05 out of 5. These are not good numbers, and pretending they do not exist would be dishonest.

The pattern in the negative reviews is consistent. Carriers report difficulty canceling contracts. Billing continues after cancellation requests are submitted. Contract renewal terms automatically extend agreements in ways that feel designed to trap customers. Sales promises do not match what appears in the actual contract language.

One review specifically mentioned "crafty renewal contract and procedure" making cancellation difficult. Another described customer service as "slow, dismissive, and inconsistent." These are not isolated complaints. The same themes repeat across multiple review platforms.

The gap between the Capterra[^7] and G2 ratings[^8] (4.5 stars) and the Trustpilot[^6] and BBB ratings[^5] (3.1 and 1.05 stars respectively) tells a story. Enterprise and mid-market customers with dedicated account managers have a different experience than small operations trying to navigate self-service support. If you are a 3-truck fleet without enough volume to warrant a dedicated rep, you may find yourself on the frustrating side of that divide.

Platform Subscription Is Not Optional -- The fuel card cannot be purchased standalone. You need to be a Motive platform subscriber, which means committing to monthly fees in the $25-50 per vehicle range. If you want a simple fuel card without telematics integration, Motive is not the right choice. The product only makes sense for fleets that want or already use the full platform.

Contract Terms Require Careful Review -- The complaints about contract terms and cancellation difficulty appear frequently enough to warrant concern. Before signing anything, read the full agreement rather than relying on what the sales rep described. Pay attention to renewal clauses, cancellation procedures, and what happens if you want to leave before the contract term ends. Getting into a Motive agreement may be easier than getting out of one.

Customer Service

The customer service experience at Motive depends heavily on your account size. This is not speculation. The review data makes the pattern obvious.

Carriers with larger fleets, typically those running 20+ vehicles, report working with dedicated account managers who know their business and respond quickly. The reviews from these customers tend to be positive. Words like "helpful" and "responsive" appear regularly. The onboarding process gets described as smooth. Issues get resolved.

Carriers running smaller operations, particularly those with under 10 vehicles, report a different experience. General support lines. Long hold times. Difficulty reaching someone who can actually resolve a problem. Billing disputes that drag on for months.

This is not unique to Motive. Most fleet technology companies prioritize their enterprise accounts over small operators. The revenue math pushes in that direction. But the gap at Motive appears wider than average based on the review data.

The practical implication: if you are a 5-truck fleet considering Motive, you should ask hard questions during the sales process about what support looks like for accounts your size. Get specifics. Will you have a dedicated contact or are you calling a general queue? What are the typical response times? What is the escalation path if a billing issue is not resolved?

The platform itself, including the dashboard and the driver app, gets consistent praise for being user-friendly. Drivers adapt quickly. The interface is intuitive. If everything works correctly, you may not need much support. The problems emerge when something goes wrong and you need someone at Motive to fix it.

Who Should Use This

Fleets Already Running Motive -- If you are already paying for Motive ELD, GPS tracking, or dashcams, adding the fuel card is straightforward. You are not adding any new monthly costs. You are just activating an additional feature within the platform you already use. The integration benefits are automatic. This is the audience the fuel card was designed for.

Growth-Oriented Small Fleets Planning to Scale -- If you are running 5-10 trucks now and plan to grow to 20-30 over the next few years, choosing a platform that scales with you has value. Motive's infrastructure can handle enterprise-level operations. Starting with them now means you are not switching platforms as you grow. The fuel card fits into that long-term picture.

Compliance-Burdened Operations -- Carriers who struggle with IFTA filings, HOS paperwork, and the general administrative load of running a trucking company will benefit from the integration. When fuel data, mileage, driver hours, and vehicle locations all live in one place, the compliance work gets simpler. If you are spending weekends on paperwork that could be automated, the platform approach makes sense.

Technology-Forward Operations -- Some carriers want a single vendor for their fleet technology stack. They prefer one dashboard, one login, one support relationship. Motive offers that. If vendor consolidation is a priority, the fuel card fits the strategy.

Who Should Look Elsewhere -- Carriers who want a standalone fuel card without a monthly platform subscription should look at WEX, AtoB, or other fuel card providers that do not require a telematics package. You will get similar per-gallon discounts without the ongoing monthly costs.

Carriers who are contract-averse should proceed with caution. The complaints about difficult cancellations and automatic renewal terms are worth taking seriously. If you want month-to-month flexibility and the ability to walk away without friction, Motive's contract structure may not fit.

Smaller operations that need responsive support should also consider alternatives. The review data suggests that 3-truck fleets do not receive the same support experience as 50-truck fleets. If personalized service matters to your operation, you may find it elsewhere.

Final Verdict

The Motive fuel card is not a standalone product. It is a feature within a larger platform, and evaluating it requires understanding that context.

For fleets already running Motive or planning to adopt their full ecosystem, the fuel card adds real value without adding real cost. Zero card fees, competitive fuel discounts, GPS-verified spend controls, and automatic IFTA data integration make the card worth activating. The 21 cents per gallon savings at partner locations is money in your pocket, and the time saved on IFTA filings has value that does not show up on a monthly statement.

The problems emerge at the edges. The BBB D- rating is not something you can dismiss. The gap between enterprise customer experiences and small fleet customer experiences is real and documented. The contract and billing complaints appear too frequently to ignore.

If you are a 30-truck fleet with the volume to warrant a dedicated account manager, Motive will probably treat you well. If you are a 4-truck fleet calling general support and hoping for the best, your experience may be different.

The score is 4.2 out of 5, with the Best Platform Integration badge. The integration genuinely is best-in-class for fleets that want everything in one place. The qualification is that "everything in one place" comes with some baggage around support quality and contract flexibility that you should understand before signing.

If a friend called and said they already run Motive ELD and wanted to know about the fuel card, I would tell them to activate it. Free card fees, good discounts, automatic IFTA data. No reason not to.

If that same friend called and said they were looking for a fuel card and had never heard of Motive, I would point them toward standalone fuel card options first. The platform is good, but it is also a commitment, and the fuel card by itself is not a sufficient reason to make it.