A little more than five years, we bought a brand new car (GASP! I know — how not frugal!).
We wanted a Toyota Venza and it was the first model year so no used cars were available. (see???)
If you’ve ever bought a new car within the last few years, you probably have a trial subscription to Sirius XM radio. I think our trial subscription was for six months.
SiriusXM is pretty great. You get high-quality audio, a bazillion different channels so you’ll always be entertained, and it’s available practically everywhere except if you’re surrounded by mountains or in a tunnel. It’s a solid service.
I just didn’t want yet another subscription and even at $10.99 for their lowest “Mostly Music” package. It was too much. Their $15.99 and $19.99 All Access are all reasonable prices (when our trial ended, it cost closer to $30 a month, and now the plan names have changed) given what you get but let me explain how easy it is to save 75%.
But… you should never pay full price for Sirius XM. Never. Ever.
SiriusXM is a prime case where negotiating your subscription rate will always save you money.
All you have to do is call in, threaten to cancel, and wait until they offer you their comeback offer.
The Best Deal: Here are the Cliff Notes to this post – to get the best deal, you have to call and threaten to cancel. They will then offer you the best deal. If they don’t, call back.
Or, you can take their current deal of 6 months of SiriusXM for $50. It is very close to the best deal I’ve ever seen and you don’t have to call to cancel. The “best” varies month to month but this deal for 6 months at $50 is close to the best – I haven’t heard of someone getting the absolute best in quite some time.
Promotion: Amazon Echo Dot + 3 Months: $15
SiriusXM is running a special promotion where you can get a free Amazon Echo Dot plus three months of SiriusXm Premier Streaming for just $1.
If you were to buy an Amazon Echo Dot (3rd Gen) from Amazon, the Echo would run you about fifty bucks (MSRP).
Sirius Standard Pricing: $5 / Month
SiriusXM has a few plans but the basic one for your car is $5 per month for 12 months (new subscriptions only).
The three tiers are:
- SiriusXM Select: $5 / month for 12 months for 140+ channels, then goes to $15.99 / month.
- Premier Streaming: This one isn’t for your car, it’s streaming to your computer or phone. It’s $5 / month for 12 months for 200+ channels, then goes to $15.99 / month
- SiriusXM All Access: $8.25 / month for 12 months for both streaming and in the car, then goes to $20.99 / month. It also comes with a free 3rd Gen Echo Dot.
After the 12 month promotion period, you’re automatically renewed at the regular, much higher, price.
But you can do better than this offer. And it doesn’t even require too many hoops.
The Absolute Best Deal: 6 Months for $25
The best deal I’ve ever heard of is getting 6 months for $25.
All you need to say is “I love Sirius XM, I just can’t afford that price. Is there any way you can help me?” — and they will help you.
If they don’t, and some representatives won’t, you need to hang up and call again. You may have to do this a few times.
You must take note of when your promotional period ends because they will start charging you full price immediately. There will be no warning, it’s automatic renewal at the full price, so mark it on a calendar somewhere and set up notifications.
When the time nears, call them up again. Sometimes they’ll cut right to the chase and offer to extend the deal. If you don’t, cancel it and you’ll get a “winback” offer in a month or two.
Don’t take anything worse than that deal.
What If You’ve Called Several Times?
It could be a note in your account or just bad timing or luck, but if you’ve called a few times and they won’t budge – just cancel.
SiriusXM frequently will send a “winback” offer that is similar to the best price. They know that it costs them the same to run their service and each customer is just profit. They will attempt to win you back shortly after you cancel and you will just have to manage not having satellite radio for a little bit.
SiriusXM 25% Military Discount
If you are military personnel, which includes veterans, retirees, active duty, and reserves; you can get a 25% military discount. This is for the life of the subscription and you can call customer service at 1-866-635-2349 to learn more.
SiriusXM Promotions
If you only care about getting the very cheapest, then $4.17 per month is the cheapest.
If the price is less important (say, if you’re being reimbursed or it is a tax-deductible expense) and you want to take advantage of promotions, SiriusXM runs promotions periodically.
It’s really up to you.
Larry McKinney says
Good stuff here, but I must share my brother’s experience. After a visit he enjoyed my service and called when he returned home to sign up. He negotiated a rate of $115 for THREE YEARS for an upgraded service – all the music and sports channels. Enjoyed it. Until he bought a new vehicle and sought to transfer his service. Sirius would not honor the old rate. They offered a new deal at a mere 9 times the cost of his old deal. He is no longer a SiriusXM customer.
Graig Moore says
I just canceled….the last offer I got was $72 for a year of car and internet. I’m playing hardball, I’ll wait for a better deal. I willing to do $99 for 3 years of all excess