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.
G.G. Bones says
I have had Sirius since 2001, the plan has changed a lot over the years. It used to be around 8-9 a month and now it’s 20+ for the best plan. I started doing the yearly rate about 10 years ago and have never paid more then $100 (plus fees) for the ALL ACCESS package. (that’s everything they offer) Even after they give you the “best rate” there is another, especially for people that have been with them for a long time (like me) I also have one radio that has a lifetime sub on it. I put that on the Stilletto 2 and have never moved it to another radio. That radio is almost useless now as they took the WIFI away on it so you have to have a clear shot of the sky in order for it to connect to the moving satellites.
As a example, not only do I have the lifetime, I have my radio and we got a car that has it. I pay more for the car, which we put just the music in as it’s her car and having all the channels in it while she only listens to 5 or 6 didn’t make sense. The car’s mostly music runs $150, and I pay less for the all access on mine.
You just have to work them over like a rented mule to get the best deal. It works for me every year.
Jaymie says
I usually call to haggle a better price and wind up with $129 for the year plus this and that fee, but your article gave me the info do even better! I just secured the Select plan which includes listening in the car, home and on the app with all of the channels except for Howard Stern, Nascar and another sport channel I don’t listen to, for $72.84 for 12 months, ALL IN! Jim and everyone else, thank you for the advice! Good luck to you!
Jim Wang says
That’s so awesome! Good on you Jaymie!
John M says
I’ve been doing this every 6 months since around 2011. But I always check the blogs to see if anyone else is getting a better deal before calling Sirius. New this year, if you call by phone, is an automated offer “to save time because the representatives are busy”. I skipped the automated offer since I usually have to get special approval for waiving the invoice fee. I just now (10/27/20) signed up for the $29.94 deal for another 6 months (which works out to about $38 with taxes and royalty fees for me) for “Sirius Select” which includes the car radio and streaming. I never give them a credit card, just request an invoice be sent and request that the $2 invoice fee be waived. They always agree. Never have to call back (but do have to wait on hold for them to get approval on the invoice fee waiver). Occasionally, I miss the renewal deadline by a few days and get a huge invoice. But it’s no big deal. Once you negotiate the new deal, you only have to pay full price for the few days up to that day. So it only ends up costing about an extra 50 cents per day that I’m late. I hope those details help others going through this.
Mark Goldstein says
May I add that the most important part is to use a Sirius gift card that can be purchased on Amazon. Im negotiationg right now caus after my $6 per month plane expired on October 24 they are now charging me $21.39 but since they do not have my CC info they must contact me. Im talking to the rep and getting $5 per month for a year and lowering the current bill to $5.
Marian says
Thanks for the great information. I was ready to start haggling like I did last year but today (11-12-20) I called and was offered the same price I had last year (12 months for $60 plus tax for SiriusXM Select) without ever having to talk to anyone. Call was completed in under 3 minutes.
Stéphane says
Thanks for the article. My wife car trial ended and I followed your instruction to call directly and they offered me the 20$ per month (tx in) for the SiriusXM Select. I said it should be 6$ per month (tx in) for 1 year and she replied yes I can offer you this promotion. Also added the free Smart Speaker you can choose between a Google Mini or Amazon Echo Dot.
Robert says
You don’t have to remember to cancel. Just call them up any time and tell them that you don’t authorize automatic renewal. (it’s part of the “cancel at any time” language. I always do this; renew according to terms after I’ve negotiated my best deal, then call back about a week later to cancel automatic renewals.
Anthony says
I’ve been a subscriber for a long time now. Best think they EVER did years back was offer a lifetime subscription so I paid once and never have to renew…they have allowed me to transfer my subscription to a new vehicle already once. Trouble is now I have a new car and am keeping the older one so I need a second subscription. The battle is on with this one… already told me they are not offering the lifetime anymore (even though I already have it) so we will see how this goes when I call. Still have 2 months free to go so I have nothing but time right now.
Elizabeth says
I have been renewing this way since 2013. This time, just today, 1/5/21, I called and got an automated message that offered me one full year of Select for $75, including all the extra taxes and charges. This is the cheapest for me so far. I wish I had read to the bottom of this thread to ask for the $6 per month. Still, this is not a bad deal. Thanks for all the work you put into this.