Every few months, a big supermarket puts up posters offering money off fuel: "spend £60 in store, get 8p off a litre", or "spend £40, get 5p off". These coupons can save a few pounds on a fill-up, but they're designed to get you to spend more in the shop, and they don't always beat the cheapest forecourt nearby.
This guide explains how the coupons work, what to check in the small print, and how to tell in 30 seconds whether one is worth using.
How supermarket fuel coupons work
The format is almost always the same:
- Spend a minimum amount in one shop, usually £40 to £60, within a set period.
- Get a coupon at the till or in the supermarket's app.
- Use it at the supermarket's own filling station before a second deadline, for a discount of a few pence per litre, up to a maximum saving.
Two recent examples:
| Tesco, October 2026 | Asda, September to October 2026 | |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum spend | £60 in one in-store shop | £40 in one in-store shop |
| Discount | 8p a litre | 5p a litre |
| Maximum saving | £8 | Asda quoted "up to £3" on a 60-litre fill |
| Coupon | Paper, from the till (no Clubcard needed) | Added to the Asda Rewards app |
| Deadlines | Shop by 18 Oct, use by 25 Oct | Shop by 14 Oct, use by 31 Oct |
Sources: Tesco's terms and conditions and thinkmoney's summary of the Asda offer. Our full breakdown of the Tesco offer covers its small print in detail.
Why supermarkets do it
Cheap fuel has long been a way for supermarkets to get shoppers through the door. The Competition and Markets Authority's 2023 road fuel market study described this "halo effect", where cheap fuel attracts customers who then do their grocery shopping in store. A coupon tied to a minimum spend is a direct version of the same idea: the discount is paid for by a bigger basket.
That doesn't make it a bad deal. It just means the coupon only saves you money if you'd have spent that much anyway.
The small print to check
Every offer is a little different. Before you rely on one, check:
- How the minimum spend is counted. Tesco's October offer, for example, counts the £60 after discounts and coupons. A basket that rings up at £62 with £5 off doesn't qualify.
- What's excluded. Lottery tickets, stamps, mobile top-ups, tobacco, gift cards, prescriptions and infant formula are commonly left out, as are in-store cafés and concessions.
- Whether online shopping counts. It often doesn't.
- The maximum saving. A cap of £3 or £8 matters more than the pence-per-litre headline if you have a big tank.
- Where you can redeem it. Usually only the supermarket's own branded forecourts, and sometimes only staffed kiosks, not Pay at Pump. Tesco's offer, for example, excludes Tesco Express stores that sell Esso fuel.
- The two deadlines. One for the qualifying shop and a later one for using the coupon. Miss either and it's worthless.
The two-question test
1. Would you have spent the minimum anyway?
If not, work out what the extra spending costs you. Adding £10 of things you don't need to unlock £4 off fuel leaves you £6 worse off.
2. Is the supermarket's price, minus the discount, the cheapest near you?
The pence come off that supermarket's pump price. Prices for the same fuel vary a lot between nearby forecourts: the CMA's May 2026 monitoring report found differences of up to 16p a litre for petrol and 17p for diesel within a 10-minute drive. An 8p coupon at a forecourt that's 10p above the cheapest one nearby still leaves you paying 2p a litre more.
To check, search your postcode on PlugOrPump, find the supermarket in the list, take the discount off its price, and compare it with the cheapest forecourt nearby.
Coupons vs loyalty schemes
Fuel coupons are different from the everyday points you earn on fuel through loyalty cards such as Tesco Clubcard, Nectar, Morrisons More, Shell Go+ or BPme. A comparison by PetrolPrices.co.uk, checked in August 2026, puts the value of most of these schemes at roughly 0.5p to 1p a litre.
So a one-off coupon worth 5p to 8p a litre is worth far more than the points on that fill-up. But a loyalty card earns something every time, with no minimum spend. If you have the card anyway, use both.
The bottom line
- A fuel coupon is worth having if you'd spend the minimum anyway and the supermarket's price, after the discount, is the cheapest near you.
- Check the cap, the exclusions and both deadlines before you plan around it.
- The forecourt you choose often matters more than the coupon. Search your postcode to see every price near you, cheapest first, or browse fuel prices by town.
We'll keep this guide updated as new supermarket fuel offers appear.