How to earn Virgin Points via Tesco Clubcard when buying fuel or food at Esso

How can you earn Virgin Points when buying petrol?

The dedicted Virgin Atlantic partnership with Texaco ended some years ago. You can earn Virgin Points by transferring Tesco Clubcard points, of course, which means that you can earn whenever you shop for fuel or food at a Tesco filling station.

You can also earn Virgin Points at Esso due to its partnership with Tesco.  Tesco and Esso have not done a good job of promoting this and you might not know about it.

Can you earn Virgin Points via Tesco Clubcard points at Esso?

YES – but only if you shop at an Esso station which includes a Tesco Express store.  The Esso website confirms this.

For clarity, this applies to purchases of fuel and shop purchases.

How do I find a participating Esso garage?

There are almost 200 participating garages across the UK.  The easiest way to find them is via the Esso Fuel Finder website here.

Esso Fuel Finder has an option for ‘Clubcard Points’.  Select this box and it will only highlight participating garages near you.

How many Virgin Points do I earn?

At Esso garages with a Tesco Express store, you will earn:

• 1 Clubcard point (2.5 Virgin Points) for every £3 spent on fuel, up to 100 litres per visit

• 1 Clubcard point (2.5 Virgin Points) for every £1 spent in the Tesco Express shop

• 1 Clubcard point (2.5 Virgin Points) for every £1 spent on car washes

For clarity, the only points you can collect at Esso garages which do not have a Tesco Express store are Nectar points, which you can convert to Avios.

Can I spend Clubcard vouchers at Esso garages?

You can spend Clubcard vouchers on fuel or store purchases at Esso garages with a Tesco Express onsite.

This is a bad idea – you should never use Clubcard vouchers at face value to pay for shopping if you can help it.  You would get far better value by converting them to Virgin Points because – at 2.5 Virgin Points per 1 Clubcard point (worth 1p) – you are basically ‘buying’ Virgin Points for 0.4p. This is good value.

(Note that the conversion rate from Tesco Clubcard to Virgin Points is changing to 1:2 in June 2023. This is still a better deal than using your Clubcard vouchers at face value in Tesco – you are ‘buying’ Virgin Points for 0.5p which is still attractive.)

How else can I earn Virgin Points on fuel?

You can also collect Virgin Points via Tesco Clubcard when you buy fuel at Tesco petrol stations.  This is currently more lucrative, at one Clubcard point for every £2 spent.

From 14th June 2023, this rate is changing. You will collect 1 point for every 2 litres of fuel, instead of 1 point for every £2 you spend. Nothing is changing at Esso, which means that the collection rate will be roughly equal between Tesco and Esso petrol stations.

---

How to earn Virgin Points from UK credit cards (April 2024)

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

You can choose from two official Virgin Atlantic credit cards (apply here, the Reward+ card has a bonus of 15,000 Virgin Points):

You can also earn Virgin Points from various American Express cards – and these have sign-up bonuses too.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold is FREE for a year and comes with 20,000 Membership Rewards points, which convert into 20,000 Virgin Points.

The Platinum Card from American Express comes with 40,000 Membership Rewards points, which convert into 40,000 Virgin Points.

Small business owners should consider the two American Express Business cards. Points convert at 1:1 into Virgin Points.

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Virgin Points. 

(Want to earn more Virgin Points?  Click here to see our recent articles on Virgin Atlantic and Flying Club and click here for our home page with the latest news on earning and spending other airline and hotel points.)