Pitstop app review: Earn points and grab freebies at motorway services

Let’s face it, motorway service stations are notoriously expensive places to stop, particularly if you want food or drink while you’re travelling!

If you’re travelling with kids and only intend to stop for a toilet break, you still have to make your way past all the places trying to tempt you into buying a snack, a coffee or even a full meal. It doesn’t take much for what should have been a quick stop to turn into another £10 or £20 disappearing from the holiday or travel budget.

I also find it irritating that some of the loyalty schemes I use elsewhere don’t necessarily work at motorway service stations. Burger King is one example I’ve come across, where the usual loyalty rewards haven’t been available to use at motorway locations. I’ve always found that a bit of a rip-off when you’re already paying motorway-service prices, but that is probably a rant for another post.

If you find motorway service stations expensive too, Pitstop might help you save a couple of quid and could even get you a free drink or snack.

Pitstop is a free rewards app designed around motorway service visits, giving you points that can be redeemed for offers, discounted food and drink, and, from time to time, completely free products. You don’t have to pay a subscription to use it, so there is no cost eating into whatever you manage to save.

I’ve been using Pitstop for a few months now, and I’m probably about as far from its ideal regular traveller customer as you can get. I work from home, I don’t commute, and these days I very rarely need to travel on the motorway network, so I honestly didn’t expect the app to be particularly useful to me.

Even so, I’ve only stopped at motorway service stations around three or four times since installing it, and I’ve already claimed a free Mars bar, two free cans of Red Bull and a half-price bottle of Coke Zero. The points I used for those rewards have cost me nothing to earn, other than having the app on my phone and checking it when I stop.

For somebody who barely uses motorway services, I think that is a pretty decent result and suggests Pitstop isn’t only useful if you spend half your life driving up and down the country. If you’re an occasional motorway traveller like me, it may still be worth installing for the handful of times each year you need it.

How does the Pitstop app work?

Pitstop is a loyalty app specifically designed for people who use motorway service stations. You create an account, add your vehicle registration and allow the relevant location permissions, because the app needs to know when you have arrived at a participating site.

Once you stop at an eligible motorway service station, you can start earning Pitstop points, which can then be redeemed for rewards and offers available in the app at the time.

Your vehicle registration is an important part of how it works. At participating Roadchef, Moto and Extra service stations, your number plate can be automatically recognised by ANPR cameras when you drive in, which tells Pitstop that you have visited the site and allows the relevant points to be added to your account.

Welcome Break works slightly differently: you need to check in manually through the Pitstop app by opening the Maps tab, selecting the service station you are visiting, and checking in from its site page.

You can also earn points by using some of the retail offers listed in the app, but the basic idea is very simple.

In many cases, you can earn Pitstop points simply by driving into a participating motorway service station, without having to buy anything while you are there.

That means even a quick toilet stop could earn you points towards a future reward, and depending on what is showing in the app, you might be able to use those points towards a discounted product or even pick up a freebie while you are there.

How do you earn Pitstop points?

Motorway service visits are one way to earn points, but they are not the only way. You can also earn points by joining Pitstop, rating service areas you have visited, and referring others to the app. The amount available for different activities can change, so the balance shown in your own account is what I would work from.

The important bit for me is that you do not have to buy anything to earn points for a qualifying stop. I might pull into the services because somebody needs to use the toilet or because we need a break from driving, and that can still contribute to my Pitstop balance. I do not need to invent a purchase to make the stop count.

That is also why I would not look at Pitstop in quite the same way as a normal cashback app. Cashback usually starts with spending money and getting part of it back, while Pitstop can give you points because of the motorway stop itself. You then decide later whether one of the rewards available is something you actually want.

What can you get with Pitstop points?

The rewards you can claim through Pitstop change fairly regularly. You will often see food and drink offers that can be used at motorway service stations, along with deals from other retail partners, and you can also exchange points for entries into prize draws. Each reward has its own points requirement, so you can either use what you have there and then or keep building your balance for something else.

Personally, I am much more likely to use my points on something I can actually make use of while I am travelling rather than save them indefinitely. I do not travel often enough to worry about building the biggest possible balance, so if I am standing in a motorway service station and there is a free drink or snack available, that is probably where my points are going.

So far, I have claimed a free Mars bar, a half-price bottle of Coke Zero, and a couple of cans of Red Bull after only a handful of motorway service visits, which has saved me from buying drinks and snacks while travelling. Admittedly, I kept some of the drinks and had them later, but they still cost me nothing.

There are plenty of other ways to earn extra Pitstop points too. When I checked the app while writing this review, I saw offers for car insurance, fuel cards, mobile SIMs, RAC breakdown cover, and other types of insurance, as well as deals on shoes, a free recipe box, and a skin and haircare bundle.

I would not take out an insurance policy or sign up for a service purely to earn Pitstop points, but if you were already planning to buy one of those things, it is worth checking whether there are extra points available first.

For me, the easiest way to earn is still simply driving into a participating motorway service station and getting points for being there. You do not even have to buy anything for the stop itself to count, so a quick toilet break could earn you points towards a future reward without costing you anything.

Depending on what is available in the app at the time, you might even be able to use those points while you are still there and walk away with a discounted drink, snack or free product.

Is Pitstop useful if you rarely use motorway services?

Yes, I think it is, because that describes me fairly well. These days I don’t regularly commute long distances, and I can go months without needing to use a motorway service station, yet I have still earned enough Pitstop points to make keeping the app on my phone worthwhile. The fact that I have already claimed free and discounted products after only a handful of stops shows that you don’t need to be a regular motorway user to get something from it.

The points currently don’t expire while your account remains active, which makes a big difference if you only travel occasionally. You can collect some points on one journey, leave them sitting there for a few weeks or even months, then add to them or use them the next time you happen to stop at motorway services. There is no pressure to spend them just because you don’t know when your next journey will be.

Someone who drives long distances every week will naturally have more opportunities to earn points than I do, and for a frequent traveller I think Pitstop is a very useful addition to your phone. The more often you stop at participating motorway services, the quicker you are likely to build up enough points for discounts or freebies.

For occasional travellers like me, though, it is still worth having installed because it costs nothing and you can use it whenever the opportunity arises.

Do you have to buy something to earn Pitstop points?

No, and that is one of the main reasons I like the app. You can earn Pitstop points simply by stopping at a qualifying motorway service station, so you could pull in for a toilet break, stretch your legs or take a break from driving and still earn points without spending a single penny. For me, that is a big advantage over loyalty schemes where you need to spend money first before you get anything back.

To give you an idea of how that has worked for me, I first signed up after seeing a Pitstop sign at a motorway service station. I used a referral code I found through Google, which gave me 100 points, and I then earned another 100 points for checking in at the service station on the 24th of May.

On the 24th of July, I earned another 50 points for stopping at Moto Hilton Park, followed by another 50 points on the 27th of July when I visited Welcome Break Corley South.

That gave me 300 points without needing to go out of my way to earn them. I have already used 100 points on rewards, including two free Red Bulls, half-price Coke Zero and a free Mars bar, which still leaves me with 200 points sitting in my account. Considering those points mostly came from stops I was already making, I think that is pretty good.

The important thing is to look at what each reward actually requires before spending your points. Some are completely free with no additional purchase, while others only give you a free extra if you buy something else first. When I checked the app while writing this review, 25 points would get me a free KitKat Chunky from participating Moto or Roadchef WHSmith stores with no additional spend, which is the sort of reward I would happily use.

Other rewards work differently. For 50 points, I could get things such as a free hash brown at LEON, garlic bread at Coco di Mama, flavoured syrup at Costa Coffee, toast at Fresh Food Cafe, or spring rolls at Chozen Noodle, but those offers require an additional purchase. A free hash brown is not much of a saving if I have to spend around £6 on a breakfast I did not want in the first place, so I would only use one of those rewards if I were already planning to buy the qualifying item.

That is why the free KitKat is much more appealing to me. I can spend 25 points, pick up the product and walk away without having to buy anything else. Pitstop gives you the option to earn points without spending money, but the value of each reward depends on whether it genuinely reduces what you were going to spend anyway.

Where can you use Pitstop?

Pitstop can be used at a wide range of motorway service stations across England, Scotland and Wales. The deals you see can vary depending on which services you visit, what promotions are running at the time and which retailers are actually based there, so you won’t necessarily see the same offers at every stop. That is why it is worth checking the app for the specific service station you are heading to rather than assuming a reward you used somewhere else will also be available there.

The app also has a Journey Planner, which I think is a useful extra if you are travelling any real distance.

It can show you motorway service stations along your route and tell you what is actually available at each one, including which restaurants are there and their opening times, whether there are electric vehicle charging points, baby-changing facilities, Wi-Fi, accessible toilets and showers, and whether dogs are allowed. You can also see ratings left by other users and add your own rating after visiting.

The planner also tells you whether you can earn Pitstop points for visiting a particular service station and how many points you can earn for that visit. From the locations I have checked, that is commonly 50 points, so you can potentially factor that into where you stop as well.

If there are two suitable service stations along your route and one will earn you Pitstop points while the other will not, that might help you decide which one to use.

I can see the Journey Planner being particularly handy if you are travelling with children, need somewhere suitable for a longer break or want to plan your stops before setting off. Rather than pulling into the first services you come across, you can look ahead, check the facilities, see what food options are available and find out whether the stop will earn you any points.

Obviously, if somebody desperately needs the toilet, you are probably going to stop at the next service regardless, but when you have the choice, it gives you a bit more control over where that stop will be.

Do Pitstop points expire?

Pitstop points don’t currently expire while your account remains open and the scheme continues. For someone like me who can go weeks or even months without using a motorway service station, that is useful because I don’t have to worry about building up a balance and then losing it simply because I haven’t travelled for a while.

It is worth remembering that the points don’t have a cash value, so you can’t withdraw them to your bank account or swap them for something like a gift card. Their value comes from whatever rewards are available in the app at the time, and both the offers and the number of points needed to claim them can change.

In my situation, if I have enough points to claim something useful at a service station, I will probably use them right then and there. There isn’t much point in leaving points sitting in the app if there is a decent reward available, especially when I know it could be quite a long time before I need to use Pitstop again.

Can you use Pitstop alongside other discounts?

I don’t often see many worthwhile discounts at motorway service stations in the first place. You may still have access to a retailer’s own loyalty scheme, app offer or discount code, but even those can be restricted at motorway locations. If you do have another promotion available, I would check which one offers the better savings before deciding which to use.

You can always check whether the retailer accepts both, but I wouldn’t rely on combining a Pitstop reward with another offer. A coffee shop, for example, may still let you earn or redeem its own loyalty points when you buy something, but that will depend on the individual retailer and the terms attached to the Pitstop reward. If one offer gives you a free drink and another gives you only a small discount, I would choose the free drink and keep things simple.

That is generally how I would approach it. Use whichever offer leaves you paying the least, and only combine rewards where the terms allow. Motorway-service prices can already be high enough, so I am quite happy to check every legitimate saving available rather than pay more than I need to.

What information does Pitstop collect?

Pitstop does use some of your personal data, which is hardly unusual for a loyalty app. Every time you use a supermarket Clubcard or another rewards scheme, you are giving that company information about what you buy, how often you shop and what sorts of products you choose. If salt and vinegar crisps are your weakness, there is a very good chance your shopping history makes that fairly obvious.

With Pitstop, the biggest difference is that you need to add your vehicle registration to the app. That allows qualifying visits to be recognised by ANPR cameras, while the app can also use location data from your phone to help determine your location. That information is then used to record your activity, award points and keep track of the rewards you collect.

Its privacy policy also explains that information can be used for things such as personalised offers, advertising and analysis. That is worth knowing before you sign up, because the free rewards are not entirely separate from the service's data. You are effectively giving Pitstop some information about your journeys and app usage in return for the convenience of automatic points and access to rewards.

Personally, I am comfortable with that. If the app knows that I have driven into a motorway service station car park and wants to give me free or discounted food and drink in return, I am happy enough with that arrangement. If you are less comfortable giving a rewards app access to your vehicle registration or location, then Pitstop may not be for you.

The important thing is to know what you are agreeing to before you install it. You can read the Pitstop privacy policy before signing up and decide whether the way it uses your information works for you. If you are happy with that side of the app, then the rewards can be a useful extra on journeys you were making anyway.

Is the Pitstop app worth downloading?

There really aren’t many major downsides to Pitstop, aside from the data side, which I have already covered. You are giving the app access to information about your location and your vehicle. Still, in return you can earn points simply for stopping at motorway service stations you were probably going to use anyway, with the chance of getting discounts or even completely free products.

There is obviously no guarantee that there will be a reward you actually want when you stop. The other retail offers in the app may or may not interest you either, but you don’t have to use them, so that doesn’t really bother me.

The app itself is free, and points don’t currently expire. At the same time, your account remains active, and the Journey Planner is useful in its own right for finding motorway services and checking which facilities are available.

If you aren’t comfortable giving Pitstop access to your location or linking your vehicle registration to the app, the occasional free drink or KitKat probably won’t make it worthwhile for you. Personally, I’m happy with that exchange. If the app wants to know that I have driven into a service station car park and give me free food or drink for doing so, I’m fine with that.

The other thing I would watch is whether the rewards start changing what you buy. If Pitstop gives you a free drink, free snack or money off something you were already going to buy, that is a genuine saving. If you end up spending £6 on something you didn’t want just because it comes with a free hash brown, then the reward hasn’t really saved you anything.

Pitstop is also a genuine UK rewards app, and I have successfully redeemed rewards myself. I haven’t used any of the wider retail offers yet, but from only a handful of motorway-service visits I have already claimed two free Red Bulls, a free Mars bar and a half-price Coke Zero, while still having points left in my account. That is a pretty decent return considering I haven’t paid anything specifically to earn those points.

I think Pitstop becomes even more useful if you spend a lot of time on the road. Couriers, lorry drivers, people who travel regularly for work or anyone making frequent long-distance journeys are going to have far more opportunities to stop at participating motorway services and build up points than I do.

You still need the right service station to suit your route, but if you regularly pass Roadchef, Moto, Welcome Break, or Extra locations, the rewards could add up much more quickly.

Even as an infrequent traveller, I think Pitstop is worth having on my phone.

It costs nothing, the points don’t currently expire, and I have already had several genuinely useful rewards from very few visits. If you travel more often than I do, I can see it being even more useful.

Want 100 Pitstop points to get you started?

When I first joined Pitstop, I used somebody else’s referral code and received 100 bonus points, so I’m passing mine on as well. If you want to try the app, you can download Pitstop here and enter my referral code: 3CH9X7

My referral code gives you 100 Pitstop points when you sign up. I may also receive referral points if you use my code.

That 100-point starting balance can already be enough for a small reward, depending on what is available when you join.

Frequently asked questions

What is the Pitstop app?

Pitstop is a free UK motorway services rewards scheme that lets you earn points from qualifying service-station visits and other activities. You can then use those points for food and drink rewards, discounts, partner offers and prize-draw entries.

Is the Pitstop app free?

Yes, Pitstop is free to download, and there is currently no subscription charge. You only spend money if you choose an offer that requires a purchase, or if you buy something separately while you are at the service station.

How do you earn Pitstop points?

You can earn points from qualifying motorway-service visits, location ratings, referrals, and selected partner offers. The amount available varies, and the app shows how many points a particular stop or activity can earn.

Do you have to buy anything to earn Pitstop points?

No, a qualifying motorway service visit can earn Pitstop points without you buying anything. You may need to purchase to redeem certain rewards, so check the conditions before spending your points.

How many Pitstop points do you get for stopping at motorway services?

The amount can vary, but 50 points is common at the locations I have checked recently. The Journey Planner shows the points available for a particular service station, so check the live amount before you travel.

Do Pitstop points expire?

Pitstop points currently don’t expire while your account remains open and Pitstop continues operating. They don’t have a cash value and can’t be withdrawn to your bank account.

Does Pitstop work at Welcome Break?

Yes, Pitstop can be used at participating Welcome Break locations, but the check-in process differs from that at sites where ANPR automatically awards the visit. Welcome Break currently uses a manual app check-in, so open the relevant site in Pitstop and follow the check-in instructions shown there.

Is the Pitstop app legit?

Yes, Pitstop is a genuine UK rewards app, and I have successfully redeemed several rewards myself. I have received free Red Bull, a free Mars bar, and a half-price Coke Zero after only a handful of motorway service visits.

What is the Pitstop referral code?

My Pitstop referral code is 3CH9X7. When I checked on the 5th of September, it gave a new user 100 bonus Pitstop points, and I may receive referral points if you use it.