Credit card processing for a vehicle fleet

A fleet management central control center, central the control center comprising:

• a communication gateway, said communication gateway being adapted to maintain a plurality of simultaneous wireless communication connections with a respective plurality of vehicles in a fleet and to receive a plurality of messages at said central control center said messages including credit card transaction information;
• a database, for the plurality of vehicles, collecting and storing said plurality of messages and said credit card transaction information in real-time or near real-time;
• and
• at least one control center computer programmed to aggregate said credit card transaction information at said central control center for the plurality of vehicles, assign a merchant information at said central control center to said credit card transaction information, the merchant information including a driver, a vehicle, groups of vehicles or a fleet of vehicle information that corresponds to the credit card transaction information;
• and control authorization and settlement of the credit card transactions at the central control center based on said credit card transaction information received from said plurality of vehicles and said merchant information assigned at said central control center.

A software program product recorded on a tangible medium, said software product, when executed by at least one computer, causes said at least one computer to carry out functions utilizing credit card transaction information in a motor vehicle fleet, said functions comprising:

• maintaining a plurality of simultaneous wireless communication connections between a respective plurality of vehicles in a fleet and a central control center;
• receiving credit card transaction information at said central control center from the plurality of vehicles;
• and
• collecting and storing said plurality of messages and said credit card transaction information in said central control center in real-time or near real-time;
• aggregating said credit card transaction information at said central control center for the plurality of vehicles;
• assigning a merchant information at said central control center to said credit card transaction information, the merchant information including a driver, a vehicle, groups of vehicles or a fleet of vehicle information that corresponds to the credit card transaction information;
• and
• controlling authorization and settlement of the credit card transactions at the central control center based on said credit card transaction information received from said plurality of vehicles and said merchant information assigned at said central control center.