Get bonus Avios points with Shell’s silly Pump Challenge game

Shell Drivers Club is the loyalty scheme for Shell garages in the UK.  Joining is simple – pick up a card at a Shell station when filling up and register it online.  You earn 100 bonus points just for registering your card.

It is an Avios partner and your Shell Drivers Club points can be converted automatically if you wish.

Shell has now brought back a silly but fun promotion to earn bonus points and therefore bonus Avios:  The Pump Challenge.

The person who devised this should be congratulated for appealing to the inner child in all of us.

This is how it works.

Next time you visit a Shell garage, you need to get your V-Power petrol or diesel bill to land on an EXACT amount of money to within 2p either way.  Manage it and you get a bonus.  Miss it and you don’t.

Note that only V-Power fuel counts for the offer.

Here are the bonuses available (remember that 2 Shell points = 1 Avios):

£30.00  – 30 Shell points

£40.00 – 40 Shell points

£50.00 – 100 Shell points

£60.00 – 120 Shell points

£70.00 – 150 Shell points

£80.00 / £90.00 / £100.00 – 200 Shell points

You get a 2p margin of error each way so any total amount from £29.98 to £30.02 would get you 50 points.  This is apparently because it may not always be possible – because of the way the price totals up – to always land on an exact amount however carefully you try.

The logic is interesting.  Whilst some people may spend less than usual (if your tank only takes £45 of fuel you will stop at £40), some others will spend more.  There will also be ‘breakage’ from people who fail to hit the target.  Some people may miss one target and then decide to spend another £9.95 trying to hit the next one.

The bonus points are on top of the standard points.  You earn 1 Shell point for every litre of petrol you buy, and 2 points = 1 Avios.

As well as Avios, 500 points can be turned into £2.50 of Shell vouchers or £2.50 of Waitrose vouchers. The benefit of taking Avios is that Shell converts (once a quarter) your points in multiples of 20 (ie 10 Avios) with no minimum, unlike the 500 point minimum for other rewards.

Of course, if you buy enough Shell fuel to get to 500 points on a regular basis, you will effectively be ‘paying’ 1p per Avios (since 500 points is worth 250 Avios or £2.50 in Shell or Waitrose vouchers).  This is not necessarily a great deal.

On top of the bonus points, you should also note that five winners each day will be randomly chosen to receive a £100 Shell V-Power Fuel voucher.

The Pump Challenge runs until 31st October so heavy drivers could do OK out of it.

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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:

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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