Airmiles Armchair Chatter

[Donald - my hero]

I know some of you have used AM for car rental. I'm looking at a possible trip to WDW at the end of August. For a 10 day rental it's only 3010 miles and $95 in tax. I have no idea if that's a good deal but I like it and would go for it. When I rent I never have to take any insurance because I'm covered on my credit card for part of it and my home car policy for the other part. My question is....what does everyone do about insurance because I have to assume that my CC won't cover me because I'm not paying for the rental?

I think car rentals have been our #1 go-to for our miles over the years, but there is a fair bit of work involved in getting the best price. We never take any extra insurance on the car because our own policy covers rental vehicles (most policies that include a rental while yours is being fixed have this and if not a rider is less $$ than the rental agencies charge)

My first suggestion would be to play around with the rental periods .. last trip we did 2 back-to-back rentals, returning the car and then walking in a picking up another one and it saved us close to 1000 AM. Check all the locations around the property because the tax rates are different depending on the county they are in and if they need to charge an extra "hotel" tax. Decide how long you really need the car .. full 10 days or are you ok missing a few days in the middle or end? When you start your rental also determines the cost ... Fridays tend to be higher than Tuesdays. I LOVE this game so if you give me some particulars i can do some mock pricing for you

 

[ebharris]

I’m not sure if it’s collector specific, but I got an email from Rona and Lowe’s - bonus 25 Airmiles for each if you sign up for their newsletters:

https://www.lowes.ca/articles/sign-up-and-get-25-air-miles-bonus-miles_a7765.html

https://www.rona.ca/en/newsletter-subscription

 

[dancin Disney style]

The way I look at if AM is worth it is when I do the conversion. So with 3010am plus 95 your looking at over $400. If I can get better price with out AM then I go for it and save my AM. If it turns out to be close, then yes use the AM. FWIW I have not used AM for car rentals, I have not rented a car for many years. There are a few on here that do and I hope they are more help then I.

Excellent point on the cost VS miles. I just priced it out and right now I would be looking at $350ish(USD). Now, I'm the queen of the car deal....I generally can get my rental to come in around $18/day all in. However, if I book this trip I need to keep my OOP cost as low as possible so using AM for the rental is very helpful even if it was at a higher rate.

I think car rentals have been our #1 go-to for our miles over the years, but there is a fair bit of work involved in getting the best price. We never take any extra insurance on the car because our own policy covers rental vehicles (most policies that include a rental while yours is being fixed have this and if not a rider is less $$ than the rental agencies charge)

My first suggestion would be to play around with the rental periods .. last trip we did 2 back-to-back rentals, returning the car and then walking in a picking up another one and it saved us close to 1000 AM. Check all the locations around the property because the tax rates are different depending on the county they are in and if they need to charge an extra "hotel" tax. Decide how long you really need the car .. full 10 days or are you ok missing a few days in the middle or end? When you start your rental also determines the cost ... Fridays tend to be higher than Tuesdays. I LOVE this game so if you give me some particulars i can do some mock pricing for you

I do have a rider on my policy to cover 'non owned' vehicles. We added it years ago to cover a rental and it cost about $30/year. I would have to call them just to update my knowledge on the coverage because I thought that we needed the coverage from the platinum card along with our own car policy to fully cover a rental. I could very well be wrong on that....can't remember.

I'm not at all sure about wanting a car for the entire trip or just a few days. The last 3 or 4 trips we just picked up a car for 2-4 days so we could get out shopping and visit some fav restaurants. This might be the best option again with the new parking fees in mind at WDW resorts. Alternatively, I might need to book offsite accommodation to make things more budget friendly. So many things are up in the air....hard to make firm plans when you don't really know if you are going or not. This may sound weird but I'm considering the trip for my DD because we put our dog down last week and she is on me, hard core, to get another one. While I intensely miss the little guy I'm not sure I want another dog. Basically, the trip could be a bribe to stop asking for another dog. I figure a trip is less expensive than a dog

I'm playing around with dates of approx. August 24th -Sept 3.

 

[tinkerone]

Just received this offer from Amex. Looks like I could purchase GC's, I could never spend $175 on gas in a month.


Earn 50 Bonus AIR MILES®* Reward Miles when you spend a total of $175 or more on eligible gas purchases.

It’s that easy! Soar into more Miles with this spectacular AIR MILES®* Bonus offer – you’re already enrolled!

From cross country road trips with the family, to day trips to the beach, simply spend a total of $175 or more at eligible gas stations in Canada from April 18 - May 17, 2018 using your enrolled American Express® AIR MILES®* Credit Card1, and you can earn 50 Bonus Miles.2

 

[Silvermist999]

Just received this offer from Amex. Looks like I could purchase GC's, I could never spend $175 on gas in a month.


Earn 50 Bonus AIR MILES®* Reward Miles when you spend a total of $175 or more on eligible gas purchases.

It’s that easy! Soar into more Miles with this spectacular AIR MILES®* Bonus offer – you’re already enrolled!

From cross country road trips with the family, to day trips to the beach, simply spend a total of $175 or more at eligible gas stations in Canada from April 18 - May 17, 2018 using your enrolled American Express® AIR MILES®* Credit Card1, and you can earn 50 Bonus Miles.2

Was just going to post the same email I got. Between our two vehicles that only use premium gasoline, this is too easy, wish they offered more AM. I just filled up half a tank today for $50...

 

[Debbie]

Was just going to post the same email I got. Between our two vehicles that only use premium gasoline, this is too easy, wish they offered more AM. I just filled up half a tank today for $50...

I filled mine yesterday....$59.62 and that is with the 3 cents/litre off in London. Off course, today, all the gas stations were 8 cents a litre cheaper than yesterday.

 

[Donald - my hero]

Same email in this household ... our gas tank only holds 40 L, since we never let it get completely empty it's rare that we squeeze more than $40.00 in it and the mileage is so good we might fill it up twice a month, this is NOT happening for us

 

[tinkerone]

Same email in this household ... our gas tank only holds 40 L, since we never let it get completely empty it's rare that we squeeze more than $40.00 in it and the mileage is so good we might fill it up twice a month, this is NOT happening for us

Just purchase a GC, that's my plan.

 

[Donald - my hero]

Just purchase a GC, that's my plan.

The return doesn't even come close to the 1:1 ratio that we aim for when buying things strictly to collect miles. If it was the other way around, spend $50 get 175 AM? yeah, we'd be all over that offer!

 

[dancin Disney style]

Just received this offer from Amex. Looks like I could purchase GC's, I could never spend $175 on gas in a month.


Earn 50 Bonus AIR MILES®* Reward Miles when you spend a total of $175 or more on eligible gas purchases.

It’s that easy! Soar into more Miles with this spectacular AIR MILES®* Bonus offer – you’re already enrolled!

From cross country road trips with the family, to day trips to the beach, simply spend a total of $175 or more at eligible gas stations in Canada from April 18 - May 17, 2018 using your enrolled American Express® AIR MILES®* Credit Card1, and you can earn 50 Bonus Miles.2

So far I don't have that email. We could make the $175 but barely....well with the cost of gas going up it might not be so hard.
Those that got the email...which Amex do you have? I have the platinum.

 

[ilovetotravel1977]

Looks like I should get a good spread of varying points/miles this weekend.

Sobeys - $200 gc / 100 miles (use gc at Sobeys and Lawton's)
Sobeys - 50 miles in My Offers (DH's account)
Sobeys - 50 miles in My Offers (my account) + in-store offers
Lawton's - $35 in Our Compliments products / 95 miles
Shoppers - $40 / 10,000 points

Not too shabby!

 

[ilovetotravel1977]

For anyone looking to buy the vouchers for a cruise, I found some info at Trip Central (Maritimes). The vouchers can only be used towards the base cruise fare. It doesn't include the taxes, which we knew, but it also cannot be used for the daily service charges (I was hoping if I paid for them at the time of booking we could) or the gratuity on the drinks package with NCL, (even though that gets added right into your cruise fare cost at the time of booking).

So you would still have to shell out around $500-$1000 for the cruise anyway. Just thought I would pass this along...

 

[FLVacationGirl]

I know some of you have used AM for car rental. I'm looking at a possible trip to WDW at the end of August. For a 10 day rental it's only 3010 miles and $95 in tax. I have no idea if that's a good deal but I like it and would go for it. When I rent I never have to take any insurance because I'm covered on my credit card for part of it and my home car policy for the other part. My question is....what does everyone do about insurance because I have to assume that my CC won't cover me because I'm not paying for the rental?

Do some price comparisons for rental cars for your days on Costcotravel.ca (if you have a membership) and some other car rental sites. Your airmiles plus tax works out to about $411 CDN. Plus like you said, you will have the insurance cost which also needs to be factored in.

I usually get US rental car insurance via Manitoba Public Insurance. 10 days would be $85. https://apps.mpi.mb.ca/Irc/intro_2.asp?Lang=0 Also curious to see what other people do for their US car rental insurance.

 

[tinkerone]

The return doesn't even come close to the 1:1 ratio that we aim for when buying things strictly to collect miles. If it was the other way around, spend $50 get 175 AM? yeah, we'd be all over that offer!

I feel the same however, in this case, I am planning to buy a $100 GC for something I would use anyways and would normally pay for with no bonus. Example, last year I bough $100 Netflex GC, applied it to my account and then was paid up for most of the year. I have to pay it anyways, might as well get 50 AM as a bonus. I have also purchased restaurant GC's, again if I do its a bonus for the GC and we do eat out once in a while.

The way I see it is, its not the best when you only look at ratio however if I'm going to be putting out the cash for something anyways why not get 50 AM's as a bonus. JMO but it works for me. I'll take anything Amex gives me.

 

[tinkerone]

So far I don't have that email. We could make the $175 but barely....well with the cost of gas going up it might not be so hard.
Those that got the email...which Amex do you have? I have the platinum.

I just have the plain, no fee, Amex. Its the gold colored one. Nothing special and only offers the base miles. 1 for $20 or 1 for $15 if used at an AM sponsor.

 

[Silvermist999]

I just have the plain, no fee, Amex. Its the gold colored one. Nothing special and only offers the base miles. 1 for $20 or 1 for $15 if used at an AM sponsor.

I've got the same Amex also.

I wonder if they sent the offer to us only because we barely used the Amex recently. Just been focusing on getting the 20 transactions on the MasterCard for the MegaMiles.

 

[isabellea]

Do some price comparisons for rental cars for your days on Costcotravel.ca (if you have a membership) and some other car rental sites. Your airmiles plus tax works out to about $411 CDN. Plus like you said, you will have the insurance cost which also needs to be factored in.

I usually get US rental car insurance via Manitoba Public Insurance. 10 days would be $85. https://apps.mpi.mb.ca/Irc/intro_2.asp?Lang=0 Also curious to see what other people do for their US car rental insurance.

I just checked our car insurance coverage last night for our trip next year and it’s clearly stated that we are covered for rentals (up to 2 000 000$!!!) in both Canada and USA.

 

[Donald - my hero]

So far I don't have that email. We could make the $175 but barely....well with the cost of gas going up it might not be so hard.
Those that got the email...which Amex do you have? I have the platinum.

I've got the same Amex also.

I wonder if they sent the offer to us only because we barely used the Amex recently. Just been focusing on getting the 20 transactions on the MasterCard for the MegaMiles.

We have the Platinum AMEX card and it is our primary card so we use it A LOT. Seriously, for almost everything, so it wasn't triggered by the amount you use the card. The miles just posted for last month .. we obviously used it for waaaay more than usual

 

[Donald - my hero]

Time for the weekly Rexall flyer update
Western Flyer
Ontario Flyer

• Friday - Sunday Spend $30 get a $10 gift card
• Jamieson Vitamins Spend $30 get 30 AM (not as good a deal as when they are also on sale )
• A fair number of EPICALLY bad AM bonus offers

There will be a new batch of LnG offers tomorrow (for those of us who are still getting those! Only one card has them currently) and unless there are wonderful AND there is a threshold spend I can combine with a potential coupon, I won't be going out of my way to hit up Rexall this week.

 

[Days In the Sun]

We received Metro (Ontario) offers of 5am wus $5 and 10am wus $20 (separate accounts) on top of our usual personal offers this week. Just a heads up.