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Gas Reward Programs in Canada

With oil prices reaching new highs, it is important to get the most rewards for all the money you are spending on gas. The following are the gas reward programs in Canada:
  1. Canadian Tire: 2.7% - 29.1%.
  2. Petro-Canada: up to 6-26%.
  3. Shell: ~5.8%.
  4. Loblaws: 4.7% - 12%.
  5. Esso: 3.6%.
  6. Sunoco: 3% for CAA members only.

Petro-Canada's Petro-Points

For every dollar spent at Petro-Canada, you earn 10 Petro-Points. Your eventual reward can be as high as 6-26%!
  1. Buy the Petro Canada discount gift cards. You can save up to 20% with discount GC, plus $1 off on each car wash.
  2. Apply for both the Petro-Points membership and Sears credit card.
  3. Link your Sears Card to your PETRO-POINTS membership. Always use your Sears Card to pay for Petro-Canada purchases, and you’ll automatically earn points in both programs on the same purchase.
  4. Buy gas to the full dollar. For example, if you have bought $29.99 so far, adding another $0.01 will earn you extra points.
  5. For example, a $30 purchase at Petro-Canada will earn you 300 Petro-Points and 30 Sears Club points.
  6. Wait until you will have 15,000 Sears Club points before claiming any reward.
  7. Exchange all your PC Points into Petro-Points, then exchange all your Petro-Points into Sears Club points.
  8. Redeem 15,000 Sears Club point for $600 in Sears gift certificates.
  9. Excluding PC Points and other purchases, it will take you at least $10,000 (15,000 / (1 + 10/20)) in gas purchases to get $600 back in rewards. This is a reward ratio of 6%.
  10. You should therefore use your Sears Card wherever you can, e.g., Ontario Place, Bell, IBM, Roots and Coldwell Banker. Excluding Petro-Canada, it will take you $15,000 in Sears Card purchases to earn the $600 gift certificates, for a reward ratio of 4%.
  11. For companies that don't accept Sears Card, use a President's Choice MasterCard. You earn 10 PC points for every dollar purchased, which can eventually be converted to Sears Club points, for a reward ratio of 2% ($600 / $30,000).
  12. When you get the $600 certificates, use them during Sears specials or give some as gifts. Many Sears items seem to have inflated regular prices, then they misleading offer 30-50% off "sales" in each weekly flyer!?

Esso Extra

You earn 1 or more Esso Extra points for every dollar you spend when you swipe your Esso Extra card or SpeedPass key tag at Esso.
  • If you will be buying gas at Esso, apply for the RBC Royal Bank Esso Visa card and SpeedPass. You will earn two points for every dollar you spend at Esso.
  • The best reward seems to be the regular car wash for 390 points. Assuming the wash costs $6.99, the reward ratio is 3.58% ($6.99 / $195).
  • Buy to the full dollar. For example, if your purchase is only 99˘, you will not earn any points.

    Canadian Tire

    Your total reward can be 9.1% or higher.

    Minimum Litres Purchased Single Issue Without Coupon Reward/Litre Maximum Bonus Is 10x
    205˘ 0.25˘ $0.5
    3010˘ 0.33˘ $1
    4020˘ 0.50˘ $2
    5030˘ 0.60˘ $3
    6040˘ 0.67˘ $4
    7050˘ 0.71˘ $5

  • Watch for any promotions, e.g., $10 gift card for a purchase of at least $49.
  • If you are going to buy gas at CT, apply for the Canadian Tire Options MasterCard. Pay for your gas with your Canadian Tire Credit Card or Options MasterCard. Cardmembers automatically get the best reward - no coupon required.
  • Wait until your gas tank is almost empty, then fill up with exactly 40, 50, 60 or 70 litres. For example, if the gas multiplier is 4x, your reward for buying 40 litres is 80˘ (4 * 20˘); if the price per litre is 75˘, your reward ratio is 2.67% ($0.80 / ($0.75 * 40)).
  • If the gas multiplier is the maximum 10x, you earn $2 for buying 40 l; the reward ratio is 6.67%.
  • If your tank can handle 50, 60 or 70 l, then your reward ratio is higher. For example, with 70 l and 10x, your reward ratio can be as high as 9.5%.
  • Register online to become a member of "MY CANADIAN TIRE". Members can earn $5 Canadian Tire 'Money Online'TM on purchases of $125 (or more). This is a reward ratio of 4% ($5 / $125). Buying $125 worth of gift cards with a CT credit card will earn $3.10 (31 * $0.10), increasing the reward ratio to 6.48%. Somebody buying $10,000 worth of gift cards ($125 * 80 purchases) for gas purchases will earn at least $914.40 in CT Money ($8.10 * 80 + (333 40-l gas purchases * $0.80)), for a reward ratio of 9.14%. This is better than Petro-Canada and Shell.
  • The CT Money you earn can be used to pay for your gas or other purchases.
  • Go inside a CT Gas Bar once a week to get the coupon for 50%-70% off the regular price for a selected in-store product.

    Shell

    Buy at least 20 litres from participating Shell or Beaver stations and get a discount from A&P, Dominion, Ultra Food & Drug and The Barn Market stores.

    When you purchase fuel: Save with us:
    20$0.5
    30.0 $1
    45.0 $1.5
    65$2

  • The optimum purchase is exactly 30.0 or 45.0 litres. You will get less reward per litre if you buy less than 30.0 or more than 45.0 litres.
  • Assuming each litre costs around 75˘, your reward ratio is 4.44% ($1 / (30 * $0.75)).
  • Use an Air Miles card, such as the American Express Business gold card. Earn 1 reward mile for the first $20 spent and earn 1 reward mile for each additional $10.
  • If the price is at least 66.7˘/l, buying 30 litres will earn you 1 reward mile while buying 40 litres will earn 2 miles.
  • Air Miles are best used for $20 gift certificates ($20 / 125 miles = 16˘ reward/mile) or Toronto Zoo admission (only 75 miles for an $18 regular admission = 24˘ reward/mile). Buying $10,000 worth of gas (30 l & 1 mile per purchase, 500 purchases) will result in approximately $500 in store discounts 500 reward miles. The 500 miles can be used to buy $80 in certificates for a total reward of $580 or 5.8% (580 / 10,000). This is slightly lower than buying from Petro-Canada.
  • The prices of the participating grocers are usually much higher than discount grocers such as No Frills and Food Basics. So do not buy gas from Shell/Beaver unless you can only shop at the participating grocers.

    Loblaws

    If you are lucky enough to have a Loblaws-owned gas station in your area, you can get a reward of 3.5-7.5˘/litre in grocery coupons. In Toronto, there is a "Loblaws At The Pump" station with 12 pumps at 600 Victoria Park Ave. and Gerrard St. E.
  • Pay with a President's Choice MasterCard (PCMC). You will earn 10 PC points for every dollar, which is a reward of 1%.
  • If you get the coupon only for every FULL litre, buy to the full litre. For example, if you have bought 39.99 litres so far, adding just 0.01 litre will earn you more coupons.
  • Assuming each litre costs around 75˘, getting 3.5˘/l in coupons means a reward of around 4.67% (Coupon / Price = 3.5 / 75). In other words, for every $100 of gas the people in the GTA buy, they get $4.67 reward in the form of groceries. By using PCMC, the reward ratio will increase by 1% to 5.7%.
  • If you get 7.5˘/l in coupons, the reward ratio is 10%! Charging it to PCMC will increase the reward ratio 11%.
  • 300,000 PC points is convertible to 15,000 Sears Club Points or $600 in gift certificates, which is twice as much as the PC reward of $300 in free groceries. The conversion results in doubling the reward to 2%, so people in the GTA can earn up to 6.7% by buying gas from Loblaws.

    Sunoco

    You can earn at least 1% in CAA Dollars on regular gasoline at Sunoco, UPI, and FS. CAA Dollars earned increases to 2% after total annual household Sunoco purchases or total annual household UPI and FS purchases of regular gasoline exceeds $1,200.

  • Consider buying gas at Sunoco only if you are a CAA member.
  • If you insist on buying from Sunoco, apply for a CAA Credit Card to earn 2% on gas purchases at participating stations. The reward level is 3% for CAA members.

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