The name may be Budget, but the new Sirius XM satellite radio service being offered by the car rental company hardly qualifies as a deal for the budget-conscious. The Dock & Play receiver will cost an additional $4.99 a day or $20.00 a week with a car rental. Co-owned Avis has been making a similar offer since late July.
“Why miss the Major League Baseball pennant races when you’re traveling? Prefer auto racing, college sports or a wide array of music genres? Then tune in to more than 170 channels of programming from Sirius XM with a new Dock & Play radio available with your next Budget rental,” is the pitch from the car rental company.
The new Dock & Play radio, “compatible with almost all Budget vehicles,” offers renters the XM Everything package, which is all XM channels plus the Best of Sirius.
“Since the Sirius XM unit works with almost all vehicles in the Budget fleet, renters will be able to root for their home team or enjoy the service’s premium music and entertainment channels when they travel. It’s the perfect way to tune into a good time when on the road,” said Michael Caron, vice president of product and program development for Avis Budget Group, parent company of Budget.
The satellite radio service is rolling out at budget rental locations at major airports in Albuquerque, Baltimore, Boise, Boston, Chicago, Colorado Springs, Dallas/Fort Worth, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, New Orleans, New York, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Portland, Ore., Providence, Salt Lake City, San Diego and Washington, DC. The service is also available at select Budget off-airport locations.
RBR-TVBR observation: As we noted with Avis, $4.99 a day is a lot to pay for a service that costs $16.99 a month. But for those of you with generous corporate travel accounts, spend on!
