How to earn Virgin Points via Tesco Clubcard when buying fuel or food at Esso

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We have spent some time recently covering the new Avios and BPme Rewards partnership – click for details.

I thought it was only fair to look at how to earn Virgin Points when buying petrol.

The dedicted Virgin Atlantic partnership with Texaco ended some years ago. You can earn Virgin Points by transferring Tesco Clubcard points, of course, which means that you can earn whenever you shop at a Tesco filling station.

You can also earn Virgin Points at Esso due to its partnership with Tesco. Tesco and Esso have not done a good job of promoting this, however, which is why you might not know about it.

Can you earn Virgin Points via Tesco Clubcard points at Esso?

YES – but only if you shop at an Esso station which include a Tesco Express store. The Esso website confirms this.

For clarity, this applies to purchases of fuel and shop purchases.

How do I find a participating Esso garage?

There are almost 200 participating garages across the UK. The easiest way to find them is via the Esso Fuel Finder website here.

Esso Fuel Finder has an option for ‘Clubcard Points on Fuel and Shop’. Select this box and it will only highlight participating garages near you.

How many Virgin Points do I earn?

At Esso garages with a Tesco Express store, you will earn:

1 Clubcard point (2.5 Virgin Points) for every £3 spent on fuel, up to 100 litres per visit

1 Clubcard point (2.5 Virgin Points) for every £1 spent in the Tesco Express shop

1 Clubcard point (2.5 Virgin Points) for every £1 spent on car washes

For clarity, the only points you can collect at Esso garages which do not have a Tesco Express store are Nectar points, which you can convert to Avios.

Can I spend Clubcard vouchers at Esso garages?

You can spend Clubcard vouchers on fuel or store purchases at Esso garages with a Tesco Express onsite.

This is a VERY bad idea, however, and you should never use Clubcard vouchers at face value to pay for shopping if you can help it. You would get far better value by converting them to Virgin Points because – at 2.5 Virgin Points per 1 Clubcard point (worth 1p) – you are basically ‘buying’ Virgin Points for 0.4p. This is good value.

How else can I earn Virgin Points on fuel?

You can also collect Virgin Points via Tesco Clubcard when you buy fuel at Tesco petrol stations. This is 50% more lucrative, at one Clubcard point for every £2 spent.

You can no longer earn Virgin Points via Texaco, as this scheme has been closed.

How to earn Virgin Points from UK credit cards (December 2021)

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

You can choose from two official Virgin Atlantic credit cards (apply here, one has a bonus of 15,000 points):

Virgin Atlantic Reward Mastercard

The UK’s most generous free Visa or Mastercard at 0.75 points / £1 Read our full review

Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard

15,000 points bonus and the most generous non-Amex for day to day spending Read our full review

You can also earn Virgin Points from various American Express cards – and these have sign-up bonuses too.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold is FREE for a year and comes with 20,000 Membership Rewards points, which convert into 20,000 Virgin Points: