Do you earn more Avios from BP or Esso when buying fuel?

Three weeks ago we went back over the basics of the Avios and BPme Rewards partnership, showing how you can transfer your BPme Rewards points into Avios.

The transfer rate is attractive. If you have 200 BPme Rewards points, you can get 125 Avios or a £1 discount on your fuel. At 0.8p per Avios, you are ‘buying’ them at a good rate.

Is this better than earning Avios from Esso though?

Esso is not an Avios partner. You can, however, collect Nectar points when you buy fuel at Esso and these can be transferred into Avios.

Let’s have a look at the numbers.

Earning Avios at BP garages

The earning rate for BPme Rewards points at BP garages is:

• 1 BPme point for every litre of regular fuel purchased
• 2 BPme points for every litre of Ultimate fuel purchased
• 1 BPme point for every £1 spent in a BP forecourt shop

If we convert these to Avios, you get:

• 0.625 Avios for every litre of regular fuel purchased
• 1.25 Avios for every litre of Ultimate fuel purchased
• 0.625 Avios for every £1 spent in a BP forecourt shop

Earning Avios at Esso garages

The earning rate for Nectar points at Esso garages is:

• 1 Nectar point for every litre of fuel purchased
• 2 Nectar points per £1 spent on other items, including in the store

If we convert these to Avios, you get:

• 0.625 Avios for very litre of fuel purchased
• 1.25 Avios per £1 spent on other items, including in the store

Remember that you do not earn Nectar points at the 200 Esso garages which have a Tesco store attached. You can earn Tesco Clubcard points at these garages, which can be converted to Virgin Points if you wish.

Which is better?

It’s not difficult to analyse these two earning rates.

The deals are identical for standard grade fuel.

But if you buy premium fuel ….

The only exception is if you pay for premium fuel, in which case BP is the better choice due to double points on Ultimate.

But if you spend in the shop whilst buying fuel ….

On the other hand, if you tend to buy something in the shop alongside your fuel, Esso is the better deal due to the higher rate on in-store earning – unless it is an Esso with a Tesco store, in which case you can’t earn Nectar points at all!

Coupons and bonuses may make the difference

Both Esso, via the Nectar app, and BP, via the BPme Rewards app, offer bonus points from time to time.

Given the relatively small number of Avios earned from filling your tank at standard rates, a bonus is likely to make the difference as to which is more rewarding. In my personal experience, BPme Rewards is more aggressive with promotional offers.

Perhaps more realistically, the fairest thing to say is that buying petrol is unlikely to earn you a huge amount of Avios irrespective of whether you shop at Esso or BP.

You will probably earn more Avios from the credit card you use to pay for your fuel than from the fuel itself.

It might be worth settling for an easy life and filling up at the garage most convenient for your home or office, irrespective of what you earn. You are also likely to find fuel cheaper at your local supermarket (although the gap these days is smaller than it has been historically) – and you would earn Nectar points to convert to Avios at a Sainsbury’s petrol station, of course.