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72 people will win 1 million Avios points with Shell Drivers Club

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Shell Drivers Club is a partner with both avios.com and British Airways Executive Club.  In December, they are giving away 72 million Avios points in a major competition.

First, a quick reminder of how Shell Drivers Club works.  It is a simple system.  You earn 1 Shell Drivers Club point for every litre of basic fuel you buy and 2 points per litre of V-Power premium fuel.  When you have collected 500 points, you can exchange them for:

250 Avios points (see the BA website for the official details, scroll down)

£2.50 Waitrose voucher

£2.50 Shell voucher

It is worth noting that, because of the relatively poor conversion rate, you may want to take the Waitrose or Shell vouchers instead.  You are effectively ‘buying’ Avios points for 1p by taking the miles option, and that is not the cheapest of prices.

The only advantage of taking Avios is that it is a better deal for small spenders.  If you set up auto-convert, you only need as few as 20 Shell points to qualify to receive Avios (in this case, 10 Avios) at the end of each quarter.  You need to buy 500 litres of fuel to get enough points for a Waitrose voucher!

Shell has launched a big competition for Christmas

Every day until Christmas Eve, Shell is giving away 1 million Avios points to THREE people.  This means that 72 people are going to become Avios millionaires.

Entering is a little tricky.  You need to visit a Shell garage and pay for your fuel with Paypal via the Shell Motorist app on your smartphone.  This instantly knocks out people without a smartphone or who live in rural areas with poor mobile reception.

The minimum purchase is £20.

I have never tried this app, but it apparently allows you to pay without having to visit the cashier.  This could be a handy time saver and will cut down on random junk food purchases in the shop as well.

You can find out more on the Shell Drivers Club website here.  Good luck – it would be fantastic if a Head for Points reader was a winner.

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2024)

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

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

Barclaycard Avios Plus card

Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review

Barclaycard Avios card

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review

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

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

25,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending £15,000 Read our full review

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points. These points convert at 1:1 into Avios.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

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

The Platinum Card from American Express

40,000 bonus points and a huge range of valuable 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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 12th May 2024, the Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa card is offering a bonus of 30,000 points, convertible into 30,000 Avios. You must have a Limited Company to apply. Click here to learn more and click here to apply.

Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa

Huge 30,000 points bonus until 12th May 2024 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.

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

There are also generous bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These cards are open to sole traders as well as limited companies.

American Express Business Platinum

40,000 points sign-up bonus and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

20,000 points sign-up bonus and FREE for a year Read our full review

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.

Category

British Airways and Avios

Comments (83)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • JoshBosh says:
    2 Dec2 December 05:59

    It works especially well in those London petrol stations that lock up after 22:00, and demand cash or fuel card only. The authorisation takes up to 20 seconds sometimes, after login and scanning the QR code.
    Make sure you open the app before you visit the forecourt for the first time, as it makes you watch a video on every fresh install.

  • Adam says:
    2 Dec2 December 06:07

    It’s worth joining and downloading the app just to take part in the comp – imagine 1,000,000 avios 🙂

  • TimS says:
    2 Dec2 December 06:14

    To clarify, the minimum purchase to enter the million point draw is £20 but the Shell app requires you to set a maximum purchase/dispense amount too.

    As I found out the first time I used the app last week, as soon as you release the pump trigger the fuel stops dispensing and tge sale completes so make sure you have put in the full £20 of fuel already or else you could waste a draw entry trying not to go too far over the minimum!

    • JoshBosh says:
      2 Dec2 December 06:18

      I’ve been using it for a few weeks, my diesel always knocks the trigger off because of the back pressure, and i just release and carry on pumping. I only get one receipt, and it often cuts out 5+ times whilst filling 80+ litres.

      • TimS says:
        2 Dec2 December 06:43

        Maybe I was just unfortunate then but the first time I used the app last week it cut out as soon as I released the trigger (before the capped limit in the app) and wouldn’t let me put any more fuel in, no matter how many times I tried to squeeze the trigger.

        Other than that, the process worked fine. The app was simple enough to use (if set up in advance before your first forecourt visit!) and easier than queueing in the shop to pay.

  • JoshBosh says:
    2 Dec2 December 06:15

    The QR code is on the side of the pump. It is the more than 300x300mm, so over a foot square. The video, and i believe the text says to use it whilst in the car, and after it says ‘authorised’ you get out and start pumping.

  • harry says:
    2 Dec2 December 06:41

    It will be interesting to see if HFP readers get a couple of wins.

    Looks mighty complicated for a non-smartphone, non-app person such as myself – so I wonder if take-up will be low, hence chances high.

  • Stu R says:
    2 Dec2 December 07:04

    Didn’t MythBusters bust that myth? I recall they filled a tent with petrol vapour then repeated rang a selection of phones within the tent – zero reaction ….

    • Stephenr says:
      22 Dec22 December 15:31

      I believe Top Gear also did a test a few years back, trying to blow up a caravan full of petrol and fumes using mobile phones.

      That was obviously unsuccessful, but they did manage to blow it up using a static shock from a shell suit!

  • Greg says:
    2 Dec2 December 07:15

    I was part of the trial team when the app was first introduced and was determined to maximise the bonus I was being offered as a guinea pig.. Unfortunately I either had no signal (In the centre of Wokingham, Berkshire) or got a message “please drive closer to the pump” which was impossible as I would then not be able to open the car door. Despite being up by backside about collecting Avios I vowed never to use this crazy system again and will stick by my principles (assisted by the fact that I now work and live in Mauritius otherwise I may well have been tempted)

  • harry says:
    2 Dec2 December 07:52

    And bravo to the anti-car Raffles for writing about cars 🙂

    My free petrol/ hit spend targets/ generate Avios route @ Morrisons nearly got extremely interesting yesterday when I read that you could use your Amazon balance to pay with Amazon Payments.

    Sadly, turned out not to be true.

    Yet.

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