If you’re an Esso customer in S’pore who’s not earning Smiles Rewards, here’s how you’re missing out

I’ve been a driver for some years now, and I’ve never been too picky about where I refuel.

But, with the prices of almost everything seemingly going up, I figured that it’s about time to end my days of paying for fuel without rewards.

Here’s how I got started.

Collecting an Esso Smiles card

I walked into an Esso petrol station and asked the cashier for an Esso Smiles card, and received one right away.

As simple as that, I instantly became a Smiles card holder.

Esso’s Smiles Rewards programme is easy enough to understand: Just swipe the card whenever you pay for petrol and earn Smiles points.

It’s also easy to follow, as rewards can be tracked and redeemed via the Esso SG mobile app once you sign up for an account.

Registration took me around five minutes, and only required the Smiles card number and my contact details.

In-app vouchers and rewards

To get you started on Esso Rewards, the app offers a bunch of free welcome e-vouchers.

The ones I got were S$3 off S$30 of Synergy Supreme fuel, S$5 off S$50 of any Synergy fuel, and an e-voucher for a “Mystery Gift” — something I can redeem by simply scanning a QR code at any Esso service station’s cashier counter.

All this without even paying a single cent.

Nice.

1L = 1 point

Once you start refuelling at Esso, you start earning Smiles points, and every litre of petrol converts to one point.

Those who pump more than 250 litres of Esso Synergy fuel in a given calendar month will also receive a bonus of 35 per cent additional points for that month.

You can check your points balance, as well as your transaction history, under the “My Smiles” tab of the Esso app.

How can you redeem points?

There is a surprising number of ways you can redeem your Smiles Rewards points. Here are some of the ways:

• S$30 fuel voucher, redeemable with 750 points.
• S$10 vouchers for purchases on foodpanda, deliveroo, iTunes, Qoo10, FairPrice, and more, redeemable with 350 points.
• A medium-sized drink from Bober Tea, redeemable with 100 points

Here’s quick browse through the “Rewards” section:

Conversion to air miles

Another interesting option for redeeming Smiles points is to convert them into air miles.

You can convert the points to either KrisFlyer or Asia Miles, and there’s also an option to have your Smiles points automatically converted via the “Auto” tab.

Once you have it set up, you’d basically be earning air miles by clocking miles on the road.

Other cards under Smiles Rewards programme

Those who frequent Esso can consider other cards under the Smiles Rewards programme for even better deals.

For example, the DBS Esso card offers 18 per cent instant fuel savings, along with S$8 off a minimum spend of S$180 in a calendar month. This works out to a total discount of up to 21.6 per cent.

And, you’ll earn Smiles points from these transactions too.

There’s also the Esso Smiles Private Hire card and the Esso Smiles Taxi card, offering fuel discounts and exclusive promotions specially for private hire and taxi drivers.

This sponsored article by Esso Singapore helped the writer spend (and save) on petrol.

Top photo courtesy of Esso and via Bober Tea on Facebook