BobbySteel

I've had two cars this week and tried two more in the executive aisle. Sirius seems to be permanently disabled without explicitly paying. This is quite a disappointment compared to the past where at least on new cars it was still included in the trial...

Beckles

On my last rental it took about ten cars for me to find one with functional SiriusXM, they do seem to be better implementing the pay-for model on this, and many of the card were low mileage and had SiriusXM (they usually have the sticker on the back window now). I think this is in part because SiriusXM has deployed the ability for rental car agencies to quickly activate it when a car is checked-out. I first became aware of this with Avis in May 2014, see this thread.

COSPILOT

In my perfect world, I would have the ability to add Sirius to a rental car via my existing account without going via the car rental company...

I don't mind the money they charge, but my employer does. If I could separate the charge I would be more likely to pay.

Doc Savage

My XM receiver is portable, and it works fine with tha antenna sitting on the dash inside. If I'm going for a long trip in the US, I'll sometime bring it along. I don't know if they offer special deals on second radios for the same account, but that's one option.

kennycrudup

FWIW, I used to do this when I'd have a car longer than two weeks (but generally not for a shorter period, as SXM would charge me $15 to essentially hit a few buttons on a keyboard, but that's another fight altogether). I'd just tune to CH0 to get the serial number and swap out "my" receivers (generally the last rental I'd done this to).

xienon

Occasionally, on really low mileage cars, I've had success activating the radio using this tool:

https://care.siriusxm.com/retailrefresh_view.action

BobbySteel

Yep this used to work great. Earlier this year it stopped working but calling would work to have them manually push a refresh. As of last month the call center won't do that anymore as they have changed or upgraded to the new system which marks these as rental cars.

IsleOfMan

For those with paid Sirrus memberships, have you thought of using their streaming service on your phone in place of the car's tuner? It won't help anywhere you don't have cell service and will use some data, but you'll at least have all the content/stations you're used to.

COSPILOT

I thought of doing that as I have unlimited data on my phone. However, I'm using a backdoor method now via DirecTv when I want to listen to news coverage, and Pandora when I want to listen to music. Problem solved.

IsleOfMan

Same here, I use a mix of Pandora, NPR One, Podcasts, and Audible for my rental-car listening... which is even easier now that vehicles with Android Auto are trickling into the fleet.

aww3583

Yep. Ran into the same problem. I enjoyed several months of free SXM while on the road using this trick. It quickly went away earlier this year.

alec_b

This is the exact thought I have every time I read a "satellite radio" thread.

My dad swears by his XM, yet I can't stand it. For $7.99 a month, Spotify Premium gives me access to commercial free music that I can download and save on my phone should I please, creates a weekly customized playlist just for me, and expands my horizons for music that I never even knew I liked.

One thing I've never noticed anyone complain about: SOUND QUALITY! I know it's not important to most, but I have a picky ear and satellite radio sounds horrible to me. Over compressed, flat, tinny. Compare that to Spotify, which even over bluetooth sounds 10x better. Numbers don't lie:

Spotify - 320 kbps (extreme quality, premium only)
XM - 64-96 kbps

Easy enough choice in my book.

bocastephen

There are still backdoor methods for getting XM for free, which I will not go into here, but suffice to say the streaming app over the phone is horrible quality (not that XM over air is that great to begin with).

My beef with XM is their lack of a way to move subscriptions between devices. I would gladly subscribe and get it over with if I could freely switch my subscription as I changed cars - but if I need to pay with each change, and be restricted on the number of permitted changes, then no I'm not doing that.

I am happy to hear the portable device with antenna on the dash will work OK, as that will be my last resort option if my current backdoor stops working or becomes too cumbersome to deal with.

I will never give National one red cent for XM, but if XM lets me swap devices for free, then I would subscribe. Think about it, XM......

Bartolo

+1

clbasham

I'm not having any sound quality issues running the SiriusXM app on my iPhone via Bluetooth. Yes, it is annoying to have to switch stations using the app, but I can deal. I actually have worse quality in my own car back home in Puerto Rico, where the coverage can be spotty. Even a huge tree can block the signal. (I get stuck at the same light just about every day on my way to work and lose the signal under the same tree.)

Oddly, my colleague is unable to get his Sirius subscription to register in his Infinity brought from the states, where the subscription was running fine. Customer support says Sirius doesn't work in Puerto Rico. It works fine in my BMW, purchased on the island with the Sirius trial subscription from the dealer, which I immediately activated. But I digress...