Many of you must be commuting via personal vehicle such as car or bike on a daily basis. Yes, driving your own vehicle keeps a lot of hassles at bay that one faces while availing public transport. But with fuel prices sky rocketing, you may not enjoy paying out huge bucks from your pocket.

However, with fuel credit cards, not only can you drive your own vehicle, but also reduce the cost with fuel surcharge waiver and avail free fuel offers! Thus, giving you the much-needed savings to stay afloat in an inflationary world. Here is all that you need to know about these magic cards;

What are fuel credit cards?

Fuel credit cards are exclusive cards which can be used while purchasing fuel for your vehicle. It helps the customer avail maximum benefits while purchasing fuel. This card is of great help especially for those who use vehicles too frequently to travel.

How does a fuel credit card help?

Using it every time to refill your vehicle, not only helps to save but it keeps adding up to a substantial amount and availing many perks. Several banks offer a variety of fuel credit cards that can be of immense help.

For example, ICICI Bank offers a co-branded fuel credit card with HPCL. For every Rs 100 spent at a HPCL petrol pump, you earn 6 payback points. 2,000 payback points can be redeemed for fuel worth Rs 500. The card also gives you 2.5 per cent cashback and a surcharge waiver HPCL petrol pumps. Many credit cards which are not fuel cards also come with this benefit.

Similarly the Indian Oil Citi Platinum Credit Card offers you 4 turbo points on purchase of Rs 150 at authorised Indian Oil outlets, 2 turbo points at groceries and supermarkets and 1 turbo point elsewhere for shopping and dining. These turbo points can be redeemed at over 12,000 plus authorised Indian Oil petrol pumps across the country. You can also redeem these points at select merchant outlets and online partners and even redeem them for gift vouchers of major brands.

Apart from these, regular usage of the card can benefit you with many litres of free petrol in a year. “In addition to fuel surcharge waiver, fuel credit cards offer cash backs and reward points on fuel spends,” said Sahil Arora, Head of Payment Products, Paisabazaar.com.

However, he added that these additional benefits are only available upon re-fuelling at the pumps of partner fuel companies. In most cases, the accumulated reward points can be redeemed against fuel at authorised partner pumps, with some issuers allowing redemption at select online partners or as gift vouchers.

Remember that similar to other credit cards, fuel credit cards also come with an annual fee. This is however waived off if you make a certain amount of purchase using your credit card. Apart from these, such cards also have features just like any credit card with an interest-free period and up to 39 per cent per annum thereafter.

Consumers who spend a significant amount on fuel every month should opt for fuel credit cards. However, do not forget to do your research. “Before zeroing on any fuel card, it’s important to factor in the annual or renewal fees and the list of partner oil pumps where you can earn and redeem your fuel reward points,” said Arora.

Choose a partner oil company which is near your home or office so that you can use whenever you need to refuel. Also, inform the person at the petrol pump about your credit card so that he can make the transaction at a specific swipe machine if required.

Apart from the cash backs on fuel spends, it’s equally important to check whether you can earn reward points or redeem them for other spend categories such as groceries, utility bills, movie tickets and other daily spends.