Disclaimer: This post contains referral codes for Setel, Fave and Shopee.
- Setel: grsf5 – please enter the code during sign up
- Fave: FAVEWAYNE109 – please enter the code after sign up
- Shopee: ILLUM223 – please enter the code when checking out
For you, the benefits are as follows
- Setel: Receive a RM5 Setel wallet top up after you make a fuel purchase of RM30 or more
- Fave: You will receive RM1 off your purchase of RM20+
- The code can also be used in the other countries within which Fave operates, but I won’t overcomplicate this section with too much detail
- Shopee: You will receive RM8 off your purchase of RM40+
For me, the benefits are as follows:
- Setel: I will receive a RM5 Setel wallet top up after you make a fuel purchase of RM30 or more
- Fave: I will receive RM1 in Fave credit after you make a purchase of RM20+
- Shopee: I will receive 1000 Shopee coins after you make your qualifying purchase, which can typically be redeemed for RM10
Last Updated:
10 July 2020
- The 10% cashback for the first 30 days promotion has now ended, so I have removed the reference to that in the body of this post.
- The vouchers sold on Shopee have changed, with only a RM7 voucher for new customers now being available for purchase for RM2 on Shopee
- Fave no longer sell Setel vouchers
6 June 2020
- Voucher options on Fave and Shopee updated
- Referral benefits/process clarified
24 May 2020
- This is not going to be a post that’s updated with weekly petrol prices, but I just want to point out that it’s best you check the accurate prices from one of these websites. It’ll be best you incorporate the accurate prices at the time you are reading this with the content here.
- As long as Setel keep selling their vouchers for 2-4% off, barring other promotional activities from other petrol stations, there’s probably no better option for filling up your car
- I have noticed that Shell are selling their RM50 voucher with 10% Fave cashback for selected HSBC (HSBCSHELL) and Standard Chartered (SCBSHELL) customers when using a code – but it is not clear who is selected.
[Malaysia] Petronas Setel App – Review – Summary/TL;DR section
Deal Rating: 8/10 – effectively RM5 free on “non-discretionary” expenditure (petrol), with an app that is pretty easy and good to use
Summary/TL;DR
The app is actually quite nice, but it’s not the cheapest long-term way to obtain petrol in Malaysia.
Use Setel to get your free RM5 of petrol. Provided you use a referral, your first fuel purcahse of RM30+ will get both RM5 (from the referral) and RM3 from the 10% cashback. Look out for other discounted top ups through platforms like Fave, Shopee and Lazada.
You might scoff at the “puny” 1-4% discount offered by buying the top ups on Fave/Shopee/Lazada, but it’s actually still higher than the effective rebate you get on an ongoing basis via Petron Miles’ loyalty program.
If there’s nothing around, then go back to pumping at Petron for your longer-term petrol transactions. By the way, Petron accept the eWallets – GrabPay, Boost, Touch N Go eWallet. But of course, if your Credit Card gives you higher rebates, then stick to that. And if you can combine it and double dip your points by getting your Credit Card points and eWallet rebates – even better.
However, if you’re a Maybank Cardholder, you can forget about double dipping, as this opportunity ceased to exist in June 2019.
[Malaysia] Petronas Setel App – Review
Setel seems to actually have been around for about 2 years (since 2018), but I’ve only recently started to notice them as it seems like they’ve started to ramp up advertising in the form of banners at Petronas Petrol Stations.
I recently used it myself for the first time, and it does indeed seem like a reasonably innovative solution. As to whether it’s better than alternatives is another matter, which I’ll write about below.
The key benefits are:
- Cashless top up of fuel, and this allows it to entirely be done at the petrol booth, without having to go and speak to an attendant
- Earning of Mesra points without needing to carry around a physical card or even scan a QR code
- View the petrol price from within the app (through the weekly “Fuel Price Update” messages in the Inbox)
- View the facilities/services offered at respective stations
The UI of the app is actually quite nice and smooth.
However, a key reason to give it a try now, while this promotion lasts, is that you’ll get a RM5 credit after you make your first purchase of RM30. This RM5 can be used to pump RM5 worth of fuel on a future occasion. To get this, you have to use the code grsf5 when signing up (under the promotion/referral code section). You’ll need to provide your name, your local Malaysian number (you will be required to enter an OTP) and email address to register.
At its most optimal, you’re paying RM30 for RM35 of petrol, or a 14.29% (RM5/35) discount. But – you should really look at as “free RM5” – because you can’t repeat this infinitely, so it would be a little misleading to look at it as a fixed percentage discount.
To actually pay for petrol, you need to firstly top up your Setel wallet with either a Credit Card (American Express is not accepted), Online Banking, or a voucher. To be clear, your top up options are actually more abundant than they might first appear.
Top Up Options – Elaborated
In summary, the best options for topping up Setel are:
- Any discounted vouchers on platforms such as Fave, Shopee, Lazada
- Through a Credit Card that specifically gives higher discounts/points on petrol expenditure, because Setel top ups are charged as petrol purchases
Source: A customer service officer on Setel’s Live Chat advised me of this - Your preferred Credit Card (i.e. a general spending card that gives you the maximum points/cashback)
[As of July 2020, No Longer Available] Purchasing Top Up Vouchers via Fave
If you’re a new Fave user, enter “FAVEWAYNE109” in “Add Promo Code” under the “Me” tab for RM1 discount off your first purchase of RM20 or greater.
At the time of writing, the following vouchers are available on Fave:
1. RM20 credit for RM15 – for customers that have yet to register an account
2. RM100 credit for RM98 – for customers with an existing account
In case the links are broken, please view the available vouchers here, as they seem to update/change quite often.
Option 1 looks to be the obvious choice, but this cannot be combined with the referral code because it must be entered in place of the referral during sign up
Importantly, it does not look like you can use this as an ongoing way to top up your Setel account, because there is a limit of one voucher per Fave account – but I haven’t actually tried this to see if it’s actively enforced.
Purchasing Top Up Vouchers via Shopee
As at July 2020, Shopee only sell one Setel top up voucher. RM7 credit for RM2 for new users only. In all honesty, this is in no way more attractive than using the referral option, unless you just… don’t want to give me the benefit of a RM5 referral reward, because it can’t be combined.. HAHA.
You will earn Shopee coins at the rate of 1 coin per RM spend. This is, in effect, an additional 1% rebate – provided you’ll use it! Shopee coins can be used on other vouchers, which could possibly give a greater effective rebate than 1%. However, watch out for expiry, which is set at the end of the third month from the month in which you earn the coins.
Note that the Shopee description states you will receive the code within 24 hours. However, I tested this myself in June 2020, and can confirm that it was immediately issued for me. The voucher can be found in Notifications -> Shopee Updates with the label “Setel Voucher”.
So how do I use the app to actually, pump petrol?
This is what it looks like when you’re at a petrol station and ready to tell the app what pump number to activate
After you have a balance in your wallet, you then select the fuel pump number, nominate the amount (in RM) that you wish to fill up, and then the fuel pump will be activated. Just like when you pay at the counter with cash and say, “I want to fill up RM30”, the Setel app similarly communicates to the fuel pump that you are only pumping a specific amount, and will slow down the input of petrol as you approach this amount.
Is It Worth Using Setel Long-Term? Probably Not
Besides this “short-term” RM5 benefit, is it worth using this app long-term?
For that, we need to look at Setel’s competitors. I will not write a comparison of the petrol loyalty cards in Malaysia as thishasbeen covered several times by other websites (just be aware they might not be updated), but in summary, no, barring any other promotional activities, I do not intend to keep using Setel, despite the fact that the user experience is actually not at all bad. In fact, I would say it’s a very impressive app and it offers a really smooth user experience. But remember – I’m more about money-saving than I am about the user experience. It’s not that the user experience doesn’t matter – but this doesn’t solve a real “pain point” for me with pumping petrol, but it certainly gives it an undeniable touch of convenience.
There are other petrol loyalty programs in Malaysia that offer you a better “return”. For the purpose of this comparison, I am going to assume you pump RON 95 petrol – otherwise you probably wouldn’t be on this website (sorry diesel users!)
At present, you earn 1 Mesra point per litre of petrol, plus a “random” number of extra bonus points. The points you earn may increase based on your tier, and your tier is determined by the volume of petrol you purchase. I’ll admit – I haven’t looked into whether it becomes more worth it if you are a high volume buyer (because I’m not).
The highest rebate you can attain is from Petron Miles.
See the table below to see the approximate rebate, based on both the lowest pricing during the Covid-19 period and pre-Covid-19 pricing of petrol.
| Points | Rebate (RM) | Purchase Required (L of RON 95) | Cost (RM – Covid-19 Pricing of RM1.25/L | % Rebate (RM1.25/L) | % Rebate (RM2.08/L) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 450 | 5 | 225 | 281.25 | 1.77% | 1.07% |
| 1600 | 20 | 800 | 1000 | 2% | 1.20% |
| 3000 | 45 | 1500 | 1875 | 2.4% | 1.44% |
Petron Miles do not expire, provided you have at least one purchase where you swipe the card within a 12 month period.
The majority of petrol loyalty programs award points which fluctuate based on the price of petrol.
The program with no fluctuation based on petrol price is BHPetrol’s loyalty program, which awards rebates of 0.9% (RM5 for RM550 spend) or 1.05% (RM10 for RM950 spend), which is still lower than that of Petron Miles – regardless of whether you are considering the pre-Covid-19 prices, or the lower, Covid-19 pricing.
This does not factor in any promotional offers that any of the respective loyalty programs may offer.
Hope you enjoyed my review on the Setel app, and I hope you got a slightly clearer picture on the options available to you for long-term money savings when filling up petrol in Malaysia!
