Contents11 sections
The most common objection before rolling out a fuel app: "How much effort is it really to onboard my drivers?" The honest answer for DKV InstantFuel: around 5 minutes from the first click to the first in-app payment, and roughly 2 minutes of app installation per driver. No hardware to ship, no credit check, no DKV contract with a lead time. This guide walks through every step in detail, including the pitfalls that come up in practice.
Prerequisites: what to have ready beforehand
Before you get started, gather these four things:
- Company credit card (Visa, Mastercard or V-Pay). It is stored on file and individual fuelling transactions are charged directly to it. This is the company's own credit card model — no DKV credit line, no credit check.
- Your drivers' email addresses: one per driver. Shared accounts or functional mailboxes (info@…) don't work, because every driver uses their own personal account (PACE ID) on their smartphone, and every fuelling is assigned to that account.
- Company registered address and VAT ID (for issuing invoices)
- Tax adviser contact (optional, to review the tax export after the first fuelling transactions)
With this information to hand, the dashboard setup is done in just a few minutes.
Step 1: Register in the dashboard (fleet manager)
Open dashboard.dkvinstantfuel.com and create a new account. You need a business email address for the main account — this person is the fleet manager and can later invite drivers, set limits and export receipts.
After registering with your PACE ID, the dashboard guides you through the initial setup:
- Company details — company name, address, tax number/VAT ID and billing email address
- Store a credit card — see Step 2.
You receive the DPA document (data processing agreement under Art. 28 GDPR) as part of concluding the contract; it also lists the TOMs (technical and organisational measures). More background: DPA for cloud-based fuel management: 6-point GDPR checklist.
Step 2: Store the company credit card
This is the point where many onboarding processes stall: with classic DKV fuel cards, the credit check and a supposed contract download come up now. With DKV InstantFuel it's different, because the card is charged directly:
- Enter the card details in the wizard (card number, expiry date, CVC)
- As a rule, a 3-D Secure authentication from your bank is triggered (e.g. a push confirmation in the banking app or an SMS code). Important: the card must be enabled by the card issuer for online payments and 3-D Secure — with company credit cards this isn't always the default
- The card is tokenised, which means it isn't stored on the smartphone but held server-side as a payment token. The driver's device never sees the card number.
Practical tip: If you have security reservations about storing a card online, use a dedicated company credit card with a limit of, say, €5,000/month. The limit acts as a hard cap — even if your account were compromised, the maximum damage would be capped.
Step 3: Invite drivers
In the dashboard, generate an invitation link under "Drivers → Invite more drivers". You send it to the driver yourself, by email or messenger, just as you'd normally communicate internally.
What the driver does next
- Click the invitation link and register with their first and last name
- Create a free PACE ID (the central login for the app and dashboard)
- Download the DKV InstantFuel app (App Store or Google Play) and sign in with the PACE ID
- Accept the terms of use, choose a preferred fuel type
Incidentally, the driver doesn't need a company phone — private smartphones work just as well.
Step 4: Confirm the driver in the dashboard
The most important step — and the one most often forgotten in practice: after registration, you have to confirm the driver in the dashboard, a single click in the driver list. Only after this approval can they use the shared payment method.
This intermediate step is a security feature, not a bureaucratic relic: because drivers register via an invitation link, your confirmation ensures the company's payment method is only released to the people you actually want to enable.
Step 5: First fuelling (driver)
Once the app is installed and the driver is confirmed in the dashboard, they're ready to fuel immediately. At the filling station:
- The driver finds the partner filling station via the map in the app (with current prices and navigation)
- At connected stations, the app switches to fuelling mode
- Tap "Start fuelling" and select the pump number
- Fuel as usual
- After hanging up the nozzle, tap "Pay securely now!" and confirm the payment
- The digital receipt is instantly in the app and in the fleet manager's dashboard
There's no trip to the till at all — the back and forth between car, pump and shop noticeably saves time with every fuelling. Note for individual brands (e.g. Esso): there, an amount is reserved before fuelling — complete the reservation first, then remove the nozzle.
Step 6: Receipts + tax export for accounting
Right after the first fuelling, the receipt appears in the dashboard under "Transactions". Per fuelling:
- A PDF invoice with all the mandatory details required by Section 14 of the German VAT Act (UStG), at the same time an e-invoice in ZUGFeRD format (embedded XML per EN 16931)
For accounting:
- In the dashboard, you use the monthly export to create the tax-compliant receipt export: a clear transaction list plus the associated fuel receipts as e-invoices (ZUGFeRD), bundled as a ZIP
- This ZIP goes straight to the tax adviser — no more manual entry. Because the receipts are e-invoices per EN 16931, common accounting software can read the invoice data in a structured way, without retyping
Common pitfalls — and how to avoid them
"My driver can't sign in, the app says." → Most common cause: the DKV Mobility app was installed by mistake — that's a different product. DKV InstantFuel requires the DKV InstantFuel app. Second cause: the link is out of date — in that case, simply generate a new invitation link in the dashboard and send it again. Third cause: the driver hasn't been confirmed in the dashboard yet — without this approval they can't pay via the shared payment method.
"The filling station isn't recognised." → The quickest check is for the driver to look directly in the map in the app; beforehand you can also use the live map in the browser. Important to know: not every station in the classic DKV card's acceptance network is also a DKV InstantFuel station. If a station is missing: switch to the nearest one, or report it via Support — we'll check the integration with the station operator.
"The payment is declined." → The three most common reasons:
- The bank declines the charge, for instance because the stored company credit card has expired, has insufficient funds, or isn't enabled for online payments and 3-D Secure (dashboard → check payment method)
- The driver hasn't been confirmed in the dashboard yet — without this approval they lack the shared payment method (see the first pitfall)
- A transaction limit has been reached: a maximum of €500 per individual fuelling, €10,000 per company per calendar month
"How do I quickly deactivate a driver (e.g. when they leave)?" → Dashboard → driver list → deactivate driver. Effective: immediately. The driver loses access to the shared payment method and so can't even enter the fuelling process any more. The tariff automatically adjusts to the current number of drivers.
Tip for the first 4 weeks: pilot instead of big bang
If your fleet is larger than five vehicles, don't start with all drivers at once — stagger it instead. The reason: with a small pilot group you test your processes and tax export on a small scale first, and driver queries come in spread out rather than all on day one. Here's what that looks like:
- Week 1: You as admin + 1–2 pilot drivers (ideally experienced, tech-savvy ones)
- Week 2: First handover of the tax export to your tax adviser. Check that the format suits their processes and that input VAT is shown correctly.
- Week 3: Invite the remaining drivers, with a short internal info email including screenshots
- Week 4: Draw up your first monthly overview (review the transaction list in the dashboard by driver and station, test the monthly export)
This phase is also the right moment to activate number-plate and odometer capture (dashboard: Company, Settings). It lets your drivers enter the number plate and odometer reading when fuelling, so you can cleanly assign fuelling transactions to vehicles.
In short
DKV InstantFuel onboarding is structurally simpler than with classic fuel cards, because the two most common delay factors fall away: the credit check (the company's own credit card model instead of a credit line) and hardware shipping (purely digital). Setup time for a 10-driver team: approx. 5 min company setup + 10 × 2 min driver app installation = around 25 minutes including all ten drivers. The company setup alone takes around 5 minutes.
If you want to understand more about the thinking behind it: the Fuel Cards 2026 Guide explains the company's own credit card model compared with the classic credit-line model. And if you are planning the app rollout as part of a bigger transition: the Fleet Digitalisation 2026 guide places the fuelling workflow within the five building blocks of the digital fleet.
Frequently asked questions about setup
Is the DKV InstantFuel app the same as the DKV Mobility app?
No. DKV InstantFuel is a standalone app with its own account system. Logins for the classic DKV products (DKV Card, DKV Mobility apps) don't work here, and vice versa. If a registration fails, the first thing worth checking is whether you're in the right app. If you want to use an existing DKV Card via smartphone, use DKV APP&GO in the DKV Mobility app.
How long does setup take?
For the company, around 5 minutes (account, storing the company credit card, inviting drivers); per driver, about 2 minutes for app installation and sign-in.
Which payment methods can I store?
One company credit card: Visa, Mastercard or V-Pay. American Express is not supported.
Does every driver need their own smartphone?
Yes, approving the fuelling runs through the app on the driver's device (iOS or Android).
Further reading:
- Fleet Digitalisation 2026: The Complete Guide, the bigger picture behind the fuelling workflow
- Live map — all acceptance points at a glance
Quick start:
- dashboard.dkvinstantfuel.com — create an account
- Glossary — all terms (company's own credit card, DPA, GoBD, acceptance network) explained