How to get SiriusXM satellite radio for cheapWhen I leased our new car, it came with six months of free SiriusXM satellite radio. It’s a great promotion, since I would never have tried SiriusXM if it hadn’t come with the car. It’s kind of like trying one of the samples at Trader Joe’s and then buying that item, something you never would’ve thought to get in the first place. Our freezer is full because of that clever Joe.

When the SiriusXM trial is up, your credit card is charged the full price, which isn’t cheap ($16.99 a month). If you travel a lot by car it might be worth it, but since we travel all the time by air and rarely drive our car (we put just a couple thousand miles a year on it), we decided it wasn’t worth the fee. But SiriusXM doesn’t make it easy to cancel. I wasted about 20 minutes trying to do it online when I discovered you can’t cancel online. You have to call. The call is routed to the Philippines where the friendly, difficult-to-understand-at-times agents give you the hard sell.

First, they ask you what station you like the most. I said channels 8 and 9 (80s and 90s). Then, they ask why you’re canceling and when you say because it costs too much, they read off a long sales pitch. The first offer they gave me was $110 for 12 months, and when I said that was still too much the agent told me that I was “such a valuable customer” he could give me six months for $29 plus taxes and fees ($6 more). I accepted. So my advice is that if you don’t travel that much by car and still enjoy the commercial-free music of SiriusXM, try asking them to lower the rate by calling XM Listener Care at 1-800-XM-RADIO.

Related: How to Listen to Radio Stations All Over the World for Free

 

____________________________________________________________

Have your own tip? Email it to whitney@johnnyjet.com!
Want to see more tips? Click here for all 1,159!

Want even more travel tips? Sign up here for the Daily Travel Tip newsletter! Just fill in your email address and check the Daily Travel Tip box—and you’ll have Johnny’s best tips, straight to your inbox each day!

If you already subscribe to our weekly newsletter, you can sign up on the same page. Just fill in your email and check the Daily Travel Tip box on the same page and you’ll receive an email with a link to update your JohnnyJet.com preferences. On that page, just click the Daily Travel Tip box and Update Profile.

5 Comments On "How to Get SiriusXM Satellite Radio for Cheap"
  1. Jack|

    I have had Sirius for over 4 years now and I have never paid their regular subscription fee. I have done the same thing and they have always offered me their 5 month plan for $5 a month plus tax.

  2. Shari|

    I call them to cancel my subscription every year because I’m not paying $200 a year for radio stations. They always offer me a deal and I end up keeping it.

  3. paul|

    I had a free trial and then it was $99 for the year and then it was 6 months for $30 for like the next 2-3 years. I never took them up on the offer. Just this past December 3 years for $99.
    I jumped on that deal.

  4. Anonymous|

    Paul, how did you get the 3 years for $99?
    That is a very good deal.

    thanks

  5. Michael Smith|

    Hi Johnny love your work with Leo Laporte! The best solution for all subscriptions is privacy.com free disposable credit card numbers. You can set a limit to how much and how often they can charge or even make them one time use. Check it out!

Leave a Reply

Required fields are marked *