With Esso having the most branches in Singapore, finding a good card to make the most of our Esso visits is important.
Luckily, there are quite a few Esso credit cards in Singapore fighting for customers, which means the petrol discounts are quite generous.
While DBS Esso Card still reigns top for its onsite discounts, there are a few other cards you can consider:
Best Esso petrol credit cards in Singapore (2020)
| DBS Esso Card | OCBC 365 Card | Citi Cash Back Card | |
| Station Discount | 5% | 5% | 5% |
| Loyalty Card Discount (Esso Smiles) | 5% | 5% | 5% |
| Card Discount | 8% | 4% | 4% |
|
Card Rebate (applies after all discounts) |
$7 (min. $180 fuel spend per calendar month) |
4.3% (min. spend $600/month) |
8% (min. spend $888/month) |
| Additional card rebate | Up to 2.4% for Smiles members when 250 litres of Synergy fuel is purchased within a calendar month | 2.1% | – |
| Total Discount | 21.1% | 20.4% | 20.88% |
Best for total savings – Citi Cash Back Card
- Cash Back on Groceries, Petrol & Private Commute
- Up to 8%
- Total Cash Back Cap, per month
- S$80
- at Caltex, Shell & Esso
- Up to 23.64% savings
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There are many reasons to get the Citi Cash Back Card, whether you’re looking for petrol discounts at Esso, commute mostly by Grab or simply eat a lot.
But since we’re here to talk about petrol discounts, this card also gets you up to 20.88% off your petrol at Esso.
In addition to the station discount of 5% and loyalty discount of 5% that any customer can receive, the Citi Cash Back Card gets you an additional 4% discount when you pay at the cashier.
When your statement arrives at the end of the month, you’ll get a further 8% cash rebate on your petrol spending, provided you meet their minimum monthly spending requirement of $888.
$888 might sound like it’s on the high side for a petrol credit card, but it’s really not when you consider the fact that the card also gets you 8% rebates on Grab rides, groceries and dining.
The only troublesome part is that you are entitled to up to $25 cash rebates in each category (petrol, Grab, dining, groceries). But that means you enjoy the maximum rewards for up to $312.50 worth of petrol, which is more than enough unless you’re a Grab driver or something. If you regularly spend more than $312.50 on your petrol, consider OCBC 365 credit card.
Here’s how much you would spend on $200 worth of petrol with the Citi Cash Back Card depending on your spending:
| Monthly expenditure | $1000 | $300 |
| Station discount | 5% | 5% |
| Esso Smiles loyalty card discount | 5% | 5% |
| Citi Cash Back card discount | 4% | 4% |
| $200 of petrol after discount | $172 | $172 |
| Additional cashback rebate | 8% ($13.76) | 0% ($0) |
| Total savings | 20.88% | 14% |
Best for instant discounts at Esso – DBS Esso Card
So you hate trying to meet minimum spending requirements or waiting around to see if the bank has awarded you your cashback? You want your Esso petrol credit card to get you instant discounts?
Then the DBS Esso Card is for you. This card gets you a generous 18% at the counter the moment you flash your card (the other two cards on this list get you 14% at the counter).
And thanks to an ongoing promotion, if you do manage to meet their minimum spending requirements by spending at least $180 on petrol every month for three consecutive months, you get an additional $7 cashback, which brings your total savings to a max of 21.1%. This offer is good till 31 December 2019.
DBS Esso also the only card that lets you utilise your miscellaneous spending into Smiles Points. Every litre of Synergy fuel from Esso gets you 1 Smiles point. If you don’t like Synergy fuel, every $10 charged on whatever else equates to 1 Smiles point.
Here’s how much you would spend on $200 worth of petrol with the DBS Esso Card:
| Normal tier petrol | |
| Station discount | 5% |
| Esso Smiles loyalty card discount | 5% |
| DBS Esso card discount | 8% |
| $200 of petrol after discount | $164 |
| Additional rebate | $7* |
| Total savings | 21.5% |
*Additional $7 fuel savings are based on the assumption that you consume $180 worth of fuel every calendar month in 2019.
Highest rebate cap – OCBC 365
- Cashback on Fuel Spends
- 6%
- Cashback on Everyday Dining
- 5%
- with min. spend of $1,600 per month
- Unlock up to $160 Cashback
For most drivers, Singapore is too small to ever have to spend more than $300 or $400 a month on petrol.
But what if you’re a Grab/Uber/taxi driver, go on road trips to Malaysia every day, have a sales job that requires you to run around a lot, or are unlucky enough to work in Changi while living in Jurong West (and no way are you braving public transport for 3 hours a day)?
Most petrol credit cards impose a cap on the amount of cash back you can receive in a month, so for petrol guzzlers, it’s important to choose a card that will be able to reward you for as much of your consumption as possible.
That’s where the OCBC 365 comes in handy. The card gets you up to 20.4% fuel savings at Esso stations (by the way, it also gets you even better discounts at Caltex, so if you happen to have a Caltex station nearby, it might be worth the switch).
But more importantly, the monthly cashback cap is a very high at $80 per month.
How it works is that you get a 14% upfront discount when you pay thanks to the station discount, Esso Smiles loyalty discount and your OCBC 365 on-site discount.
You then receive 4.3% (cashback on the remaining amount when you receive your account statement at the end of the month, so long as you have spent at least $800 in a calendar month. Until 30 June 2019, you also receive an additional 2.1% rebate on gross fuel spend, based on a rebate of $5 for a minimum of $200 nett Esso fuel spend during the promotion period. Your total petrol discount will be 20.4%.
If you’re the kind of person who has to pump that much petrol, meeting the $800 minimum spending requirement won’t be a problem, especially as you also receive 3% cashback on weekday and overseas dining, groceries, telco bills and online shopping, as well as 6% on local weekend dining.
Here’s how much you would spend on $200 worth of petrol with the OCBC 365 card depending on your spending:
| Monthly expenditure | $800 | $300 |
| Station discount | 5% | 5% |
| Esso Smiles loyalty card discount | 5% | 5% |
| OCBC 365 card discount | 4% | 4% |
| $200 of petrol after discount | $172 | $172 |
| Additional cashback rebate | 4.3% ($7.40) | 0% ($0) |
| OCBC 365 additional rebate | 2.1% ($3.61) | 2.1% (3.61) |
| Total savings | 19.5% | 15.8% |
Do you pump petrol at Esso? Do you have any other tips and tricks we might have missed out? Let us know.
Image credit: synx508 via Flickr
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