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For drivers, pumping petrol is a fact of life. You’re probably looking forward to pulling up at your favourite petrol station, parking beside your preferred pump and the pump attendants all know you by name (or face).
But in this time of high inflation, petrol prices are soaring and pumping petrol is a less joyful affair than before. Despite the high costs, cars are still essential for many of us — maybe we have young children to ferry around, or our jobs require a form of personal transport. In other words, petrol is a necessary expense for some.
But it’s nice to know that we can still save while pumping!
Other than switching to the world’s most fuel-efficient car, limiting your use of the vehicle or learning how to drive in the most efficient manner, one thing you can also do is to find a rewards programme that lets you save and squeeze more value out of every trip to the petrol station.
More Smiles with Esso
One such rewards programme is the Esso Smiles Driver Rewards programme.
As an Esso Smiles member, each time you pump petrol, you earn Smiles points that can be exchanged for rewards like fuel vouchers and bonus discounts.
There’s also an Esso app that enables you to check how many Smiles points you’ve accumulated, stay up to date on app-exclusive perks and see the various services and facilities available at Esso stations.
Here are five ways you can benefit from the Esso Smiles Rewards programme.
1. Redeem instant rewards
You earn one Esso Smiles point for every litre of petrol you pump. So, if you pump 50 litres, you get 50 Smiles points.
Esso Smiles points never expire so long as you pump petrol at least once every 12 months.
Earning points is easy — just get a free Esso Smiles card from any Esso service station. Each time you pump petrol at an Esso station, simply present your Esso Smiles card to the pump attendant during petrol purchase or at the cashier counter when you pay.
Let’s say you drive 30km to work and back every day — that’s kinda like driving from Toa Payoh to Shenton Way daily (about 11.8km via the MCE), with a bit in between for lunch, dinner, errands and sometimes refuelling. You’d drive over 600km in one month. If you drive a Toyota Camry, whose fuel consumption is 7.7 litres per 100km, in one month you’d pump more than one full tank of 50 litres. Thus, you can expect to earn over 50 Smiles points per month.
You also receive 35% more bonus Esso Points when you pump more than 250 litres of Esso Synergy fuel in a calendar month.
So, what can you do with your points? Other than fuel redemptions, some instant rewards you can redeem include $10 FairPrice gift cards, $10 Deliveroo e-vouchers, $50 IKEA e-gift cards and many more merchants.
Besides rewards points, you also save money on every fuel bill as the Smiles card boosts any existing credit card fuel discounts. To top it all off, when you pump more than 250 litres a month, you get an additional 2.4% savings.
2. Turn land miles into air miles
Thanks to Esso’s synergy with partner companies, you can now convert your Esso Smiles points to KrisFlyer miles.
Conversion of points can be done either manually or automatically, then further broken down into blocks. You can automatically convert blocks of 100 Smiles points to 100 KrisFlyer miles, or manually convert blocks of 150 Smiles points to 100 KrisFlyer miles.
What’s more, for every 1 litre of Synergy Supreme petrol that you pump, you earn 1 KrisFlyer mile on top of any Smiles points awarded.
Alternatively, you can exchange your Smiles points for Asia Miles instead. This programme includes airlines like Cathay Pacific, Japan Airlines and Qantas. You just need to fill in and submit an Asia Miles conversion form.
3. Claim the welcome offer on the Esso app
Here’s another good reason to download the Esso app: there are some juicy welcome offers available to new users logging in for the first time including:
- Three $3 off $50 Synergy fuel eVouchers
- One $5 off $60 Synergy Supreme+ eVoucher
eVouchers are valid from the date they are issued until the end of the following month from your first login to the Esso app.
The easy-to-use Esso app lets you check your Smiles point balance, grab exclusive deals, manage your account, convert points to air miles and redeem rewards. You’ll never again have to worry about forgetting to redeem rewards or not knowing what you can do with your Smiles points.
Some of the exclusive in-app perks and promotions that only Esso app users can enjoy include redemptions of instant car wash, BoberTea, Heavenly Wang and more!
4. Connect with a bank partner for bigger savings
The DBS Esso Credit Card offers the highest savings on Esso petrol when used in combination with your Smiles card. They’ve also got a sweet $120 fuel savings welcome gift* for new sign-ups. *Terms and conditions apply.
Other credit cards offering petrol discounts at Esso include Citi Cash Back Card, OCBC 365 Card to name a few!
Any of these cards will give you a generous petrol discount when used with the Smiles Card. However the DBS Esso Card is the most generous of them all, and is thus highly recommended.
5. Exclusive promotions galore
Being a Smiles member gives you access to lots of perks, including fuel discounts that non-members do not receive.
On top of the usual fuel discounts, you can also enjoy special members-only periodic fuel promotions through the Esso app’s surprise fuel e-vouchers.
That’s not all! Esso members enjoy various in- and out-of-store redemptions, including discounted convenience store items and seasonal red-hot special offers.
Don’t forget to keep an eye out for the Esso app’s exclusive partner promotions for fuel savings when you use credit cards like the DBS Esso Credit card and the DBS Vantage Visa Infinite Card to pay for your fuel.
For instance, right now, you can get up to $120 fuel savings and up to 21.6% fuel savings and 2.4% Smiles savings when you sign up for the DBS Esso Credit Card. You’ll also earn Smiles Points on all card spending.
Thanks to Esso Smiles Driver Rewards, pumping petrol is now more rewarding than ever.
Sign up to be a Smiles member now by picking up your Smiles card at the nearest Esso station, and downloading the app to start enjoying your rewards.