How Fuel Check spots suspicious fuel bills
Fuel is the biggest running cost for most fleets, and a fuel bill is also the easiest thing to fake, inflate or short-fill. Fuel Check reads the photos of a single fill-up and tests whether the numbers are consistent with each other and with your vehicle. It is a hands-on demo of the fuel verification that Kawst runs for fleet owners.
What you provide
Required: the vehicle's manufacturer, model, variant, year and fuel type, plus three photos:
- the fuel gauge before filling,
- the fuel gauge after filling, and
- the fuel pump display or receipt showing the quantity dispensed.
Optional, but each one unlocks another check: the odometer reading the driver typed, the odometer and gauge level at the previous fill, the GPS location of the fill, and the tank capacity and fuel consumption if you want to override the vehicle's standard specifications.
What it checks
Every report shows each of these checks as PASS, FLAG, SKIPPED or NEEDS INPUT, with a plain explanation.
- Mileage drop or stalling. Using the previous fill's odometer, it works out the mileage since then and compares it with the certified range for your vehicle. Far too little distance for the fuel used points to fuel going somewhere other than the engine.
- Missed fill between refuels. The opposite case: mileage well above what the vehicle can deliver usually means a fill is missing from the records, or a gauge was misread.
- Driver odometer vs photo odometer. If the driver typed an odometer reading, it is compared with the reading on the dashboard photo. A gap beyond a small tolerance is flagged.
- Fuel gauge vs pump quantity. Knowing the tank size, it checks whether the rise between the before and after gauge photos matches the litres on the pump. A gauge that barely moved for a large bill suggests a short fill, an over-read gauge or a pump photo from another vehicle.
- Fuel-pump location. If you share the GPS location of the fill, it is recorded with the check and kept to help future checks recognise known pumps. It is not yet matched against a list of fuel stations. Without a location this check is marked needs input, or skipped if you switch off "Require GPS location" under Strict-check parameters.
- Vehicle identity and odometer calibration. It checks that the instrument cluster in the photo matches the make, model and variant you selected, and flags it if the dashboard looks inconsistent with the stated year.
- Maker-checker agreement. Two separate AI agents read the photos. One extracts the values and the other verifies them; any corrections are listed so you can see what changed.
- Learning setting. An information row about how checks learn over time: once enough samples exist for a make, model, variant and fuel combination, that combination stops being re-learned, which keeps results stable.
How to use it
- Sign in with your Kawst account.
- Choose the manufacturer and model, then enter the variant, year and fuel type.
- Upload the before-gauge, after-gauge and pump photos.
- Open "Optional details" and add whatever you have: more inputs mean more checks.
- Select Analyse with AI. The report opens with a summary of how many checks passed, were flagged or were skipped, followed by each check in detail. The full raw response is available too.
A clean report does not prove a fill was honest, and a flag does not prove it was not. Treat the result as a quick, consistent second opinion that tells you which bills to question first.
Running a fleet? The Kawst app applies the same kind of check to the fuel entries your drivers submit, surfacing mismatches for you to review alongside trips, expenses and vehicle documents.
Frequently asked questions
- Do I have to fill in all the optional details?
- No. Only the vehicle details and the three photos are required. Each optional detail unlocks a specific check. If you leave one out, that check is marked skipped or needs input, with the reason, so you always know what was and was not verified.
- Does a FLAG mean my driver has cheated?
- Not on its own. A flag means the numbers do not add up and the fill deserves a closer look. A blurred gauge, a mistyped odometer or a missing earlier fill can also cause one. Read the explanation on the flagged check, look at the photos and talk to the driver before deciding anything.
- What kind of photos work best?
- Take the gauge photos straight on, in good light, with the needle or bars and the odometer clearly visible. Take both gauge photos in the same vehicle, one just before and one just after filling. For the pump, capture the full display or receipt so the quantity can be read.
- What does "vehicle identity failed" mean?
- The dashboard in your photo does not look like the instrument cluster of the make and model you selected. Either the wrong vehicle was chosen, or the photo came from a different vehicle. Most other checks cannot be trusted until that is resolved.
- Why do I need to sign in?
- Each check runs an AI analysis of your photos on Kawst servers, so it needs a Kawst account. Sign in with the same account you use in the Kawst app. See our Privacy Policy for how uploaded data is handled.
- Where does the tank capacity come from if I leave it blank?
- From the specifications Kawst holds for the make and model you selected. If your vehicle has a non-standard tank, or no specification is available, enter the tank capacity yourself. Without it, the gauge-versus-pump check is skipped.