Buy cheap Avios points with Tesco Fuel Save

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Earlier this week, Tesco launched its latest promotion – Fuel Save.

It is new scheme which offers you discounts on Tesco Petrol based on how much you spend in the store. Effectively, for every £50 (cumulative, does not need to be in one transaction) you spend in Tesco each month, you will be credited with a 2p fuel credit.

The credit is valid for the rest of the current and the following month, on one petrol transaction at a Tesco garage. The maximum discount you can obtain is 20p per litre.

Since 3V Virtual Visa cards stopped being accepted for financial services transactions, they have become a lot less attractive. However, many Tesco stores still sell £50 Visa gift cards.

These £50 gift cards carry a fee of £3.95. However, unlike 3V cards, you can redeem these for financial services transactions. This means that you can pay them into a National Savings account, against your council tax or against any Inland Revenue bill. Effectively, it easy to get your £50 ‘out’.

Tesco is still giving 150 bonus Clubcard points for every £50 you spend on gift cards.

Assuming you own a car which you fill up with 60 litres at a time, this is how the maths would work:

For every £50 of £3.95-fee £50 Visa gift cards you buy, up to £500-worth per month, it looks like this:

Money spent on card fee: £3.95

Avios earned from 150 bonus Clubcard points: (150 x 2.4 =) 360 Avios

Amex points earned on an Amex Gold charge card at 2 points per £1 for supermarket spend: 106 = 106 Avios

Fuel saving of 2p per litre x 60 litres: £1.20

Your total net cost is therefore £2.75 for 466 Avios, or 0.59p per Avios point.

Remember that you can scale this up to £500 per month (ie 20p off per litre of petrol) which would mean 4,660 Avios per month at 0.59p. Fuel Save will run until September, so you could earn over 25,000 Avios between now and then.

The maths is dependent on your car, of course. You are allowed the 2p discount on up to 100 litres in one transaction, so a 4×4 owner would make a far bigger saving. If your car never takes 60 litres at once, however, your Avios won’t be as cheap as the example above.

I have also assumed that you are using an American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card which offers 2 Avios (= 2 Amex points) for every £1 you spent at a supermarket in the first year. You also receive up to 20,000 Avios for signing up! If you use a less generous card, the maths will be a little less attractive.

Personally, I do not like this promotion (ignoring the Avios-earning side). It discriminates against people without cars – probably poorer than people with cars. The bigger and more expensive your car, the more benefit you get – which seems wrong.

It will also encourage people to fill up a couple of jerry cans with petrol and put them in the boot, since you need to buy the 100 litres in one trip to make the saving. You cannot buy 50 litres one week and another 50 litres another week and get the saving both times. This is not exactly the safest thing to do.

Full details on Fuel Save can be found here.

How to earn Avios points from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (December 2021)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards. Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

British Airways BA Amex American Express card

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up, no annual fee and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending ….. Read our full review

British Airways BA Premium Plus American Express Amex credit card

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

25,000 Avios and the UK’s most valuable credit card perk – the 2-4-1 companion voucher Read our full review

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points, such as:

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & two airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

30,000 points and an unbeatable set of travel benefits – for a fee Read our full review

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital On Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios:

Capital On Tap Business Rewards Visa

The most generous Avios Visa or Mastercard for a limited company Read our full review

You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus: