Introducing the WEX Index: Real data for a complicated fuel economy

Fleet management has never been simple. Fuel prices are unreliable and ever-changing. Fraud schemes have grown more sophisticated as AI use has become more widespread. Through all of it, fleet managers are expected to make sound decisions and stay steady through difficulty.

That is why we built the WEX Index.

The WEX Index

A way for fleets to benchmark their fuel spend and strategize for the coming year.

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What is the WEX Index?

WEX processes payments for over 600,000 mobility customers across its North American local fleet, Over-the-Road (OTR), and International business units. From small and mid-sized businesses to enterprise accounts, for internal combustion and mixed-energy fleets alike, that volume of transactions generates a massive, real-world data set. No survey or industry estimate can match what that data reveals.

The WEX Index is a benchmark built entirely from real transactions. It is not based on projections or estimates. It shows how fleets are actually buying their fuel, and where they could save money. Use it to see how your operation compares to others in your industry, spot the weaknesses affecting your balance sheet, and identify the opportunities that could save your business money going forward.

Why now?

2026 gave fleet managers plenty to react to. The average U.S. fuel price rose approximately 43% year over year in Q3. At the same time, fraud is becoming harder to catch. Phishing attacks have climbed more than twelvefold since A.I. tools became widely available.

Macroeconomic context tells you what is happening to the marketplace as a whole. It does not tell you how your fleet compares to similar operations working inside that same environment. Are your drivers fueling during expected hours and at the lowest available prices? Do you have strong fraud protections in place? What tools are available to you that you are not yet using?

Those are the questions the WEX Index is built to answer.

What the data shows

A few patterns are our focus for this first edition. Prices climbed sharply, but fleets kept operating: Total fuel volume purchased was essentially flat, even as per-gallon costs spiked. Off-hours fueling, one early signal of possible fraud, held steady for WEX customers even as fraud risk climbed. 

Dig deeper into the report and a clear pattern emerges: Fleets did not meaningfully cut fuel consumption when prices spiked. Drivers have routes to run and jobs to do. 

The report also finds that most fleets are consistently paying more than they need to at the pump. The majority of transactions across the five top fleets we studied came in above the local WEX Fuel Price Index (FPI), the benchmark WEX uses to track what average pricing looks like in a given market. 

On the fraud side, there are ways fleet managers can direct their attention. Phishing attacks have climbed sharply this year. While fraud was on the rise, WEX customers saw off-hours fill rates, one indicator of potential fraud, remain relatively stable through that same period. 

On the mixed-energy front, when fuel prices become unpredictable, fleets should be looking at each vehicle and its use case and deciding whether an EV would be more cost-effective.

Built with our customers, for our customers

The WEX Index is grounded in fleet manager experiences.

Fraud protection is a place where the index adds value. “WEX’s data is the gold standard,” says Michelle Luhrs, Vice President of Fleet Services at Pike Electric. “With tools like ClearView^®, I can pull an outlier scatterplot, determine where the unapproved spending is happening, and strategize with confidence.”

Neil Hartzell, Vice President of Logistics at TopBuild, points to the value of having a shared benchmark. “As a national organization, our drivers fuel across a wide range of locations, with thousands of vehicles traveling regularly across state lines,” he says. “Tools that come with our fuel card program help us manage how our drivers are fueling. We see the WEX Index as a trusted resource as we project into the future and build on the operational strategies foundational to our business.”

Billy Dobosz, Assistant Vice President of Business Development for Enterprise Fleet Management, sees the Index as a way to reinforce the value of the protections already in place. “It’s helpful for our clients to know the wider industry fraud trends so they see how the measures we have in place through the WEX fuel card help mitigate their exposure to fraud. We’re excited to continue bringing our clients new innovations from WEX, such as SecureFuel^®, that help protect their bottom line.”

How to use it

The WEX Index is designed to be a working tool, not a one-time read. A few questions to start with:

• How does your fraud exposure compare to the benchmark? The report benchmarks two key risk signals, off-hours spend and high-spend driver outliers, so you can see where your fleet stands and what typically warrants a closer look.
• How much is premium fuel costing you in unnecessary spend? Across industries, the gap between premium and regular adds up faster than most fleets expect, and the report breaks down exactly how much.
• Is your fleet ready for mixed energy? If you have not run a vehicle suitability analysis recently, the total cost of ownership math may have shifted in your favor since the last time you looked.

The world economy is complicated right now. Your data does not need to be.

The WEX Index gives fleet managers a fixed point of reference: Real transaction data from real fleets, refreshed with each new edition. This means that no matter what conditions look like next, you will be prepared.

Explore the full report to see how your fleet compares.

WEX is a global leader in intelligent payment solutions, simplifying payments and back-end business processes in the fleet management, employee benefits management, and corporate payments areas. To learn more, please visit the company’s About WEX page.

Copyright ©2026 WEX Inc. All rights reserved. The information in this document is subject to change without notice.