Best way to save on fuel in South Africa

South Africans can save up to 30% of their fuel spend by using their bank’s rewards programme to get cash back at petrol stations.

Banking rewards programmes offer customers benefits for spending with specific partnered retailers or fuel stations. These rewards are most commonly a percentage of their spend back in cash or virtual currency.

When receiving a virtual currency, users can spend it at other partnered retailers.

For instance, FNB customers can earn up to 15% of their spending at Spar or Checkers, and Absa clients can earn up to 30% back at Woolworths and Pick n Pay.

Both banks’ customers earn cash back from their transactions. However, FNB customers earn eBucks, the bank’s reward virtual currency, whereas Absa clients receive actual rands, which can then be spent on anything.

Most banks have tiered rewards programmes, meaning users earn rewards based on their reward level or tier.

Each bank ranks users differently according to points — not rewards points but points used to rank users. In Discovery Bank’s case, users are ranked according to how well they bank measured against a set of criteria.

Absa, FNB, and Standard Bank rank users according to which banking products they have and how they transact.

Nedbank has a tiered reward system, but it does not apply to fuel rewards.

Capitec is the only bank in this list where all customers earn the same rewards.

These reward tiers come into play when making fuel purchases as they determine how much is earned.

Standard Bank’s UCount rewards programme offers users up to R10 back per litre when purchasing fuel from a Caltex or Astron Energy station.

In this case, the amount is determined by the customer’s tier and by which type of Standard Bank account they use — debit or credit.

If a customer is in the first tier, using their credit card will give them 60 cents back per litre bought, whereas using their debit card will return 40 cents per litre.

Users in the fifth tier will earn R10 back per litre when using a credit card and R4 per litre when using a debit card.

UCount users can earn cash back from a maximum fuel spend of R2,500 per month.

Absa, which also uses a tiering system to award rewards, offers users 30% cash back on fuel purchases at Sasol on its highest tier.

Like Standard Bank, using a credit or debit account to pay yields different rewards.

Using a credit card while in the first tier will provide a 0.20% cash back return, while using a debit card earns clients 0.15% of their purchase.

Paying with a credit card in the fifth tier will earn users 30% and a debit card 4.5%.

The return on fuel Absa offers is only valid for the first R3,000 spent every month.

FNB customers who are part of the eBucks rewards programme can earn up to R4 back per litre at Engen fuel stations.

The bank also offers an additional R2 back per litre if users have an active vehicle finance agreement with WesBank or Toyota Financial Services and another R2 if they have an FNB Short Term Car Insurance policy.

FNB users must be in the fifth tier to earn the full R4 per litre when purchasing fuel at Engen.

Customers in the first reward tier will only earn 20 cents per litre.

FNB eBucks users can claim a maximum of 20% of their monthly fuel spend in eBucks or between R2,000 and R3,000, depending on their account type, whichever comes first.

Discovery Bank clients have two fuel stations from which to earn rewards: Shell and BP.

Customers can earn up to 20% back of their fuel spending and the same rewards for Uber trips.

The cash-back reward is only valid for the first R1,000 spent.

Nedbank customers earn a fixed amount of 25 cents per litre from BP garages, regardless of their reward tier.

They also earn a reward for every litre of fuel purchased, as there is no cap, unlike other banks mentioned on the list so far.

Like Nedbank, Capitec’s rewards programme also offers its clients a fixed return of 20 cents on fuel bought from Shell garages.

Although there are few terms and conditions for receiving the reward, users must use a registered Capitec card in conjunction with a Shell V+ card when making the purchase.

Instead of the cash-back going to the user’s Capitec rewards account, it will be loaded onto their Shell V+ card.

The table below shows each bank’s fuel station partner, the reward, whether the reward programme is tiered, and the maximum spend the user can earn rewards from.

Bank	Fuel station partner	Reward	Tiered reward	Spend cap
Standard Bank	Caltex/Astron Energy	Up to R10 back per litre	Yes	R2,500
Absa	Sasol	Up to 30% back	Yes	R3,000
FNB	Engen	Up to R4 back per litre	Yes	20% of monthly fuel spend or R2,500 — whichever occurs first
Discovery Bank	Shell, BP	Up to 20% back	Yes	R1,000
Nedbank	BP	25c back per litre	No (for fuel)	No spend cap
Capitec	Shell	20c back per litre	No	No spend cap