My AARP membership has already paid for itself!

Last month, I bought a 5-year AARP membership for a next cost of $15 during the Black Friday sale (see this post). I’m happy to report back that my AARP membership has already paid for itself!

Hotel Savings

For a summer trip, we already booked a hotel on points. However, we invited an extended family member to join us, and we didn’t have enough points for another room. So, we reserved a room with a cash rate. The AARP rate was lower than the IHG member rate:

Savings: $12

Rental Car

I recently used Autoslash to book a rental car for spring break. If you haven’t used Autoslash, it’s a search engine you can tell what memberships/credit cards/rewards programs you have. The site then searches for the best possible rental car rates. The lowest rate that came back was an AARP rate!

Savings: $8.51 (from next lowest rate)

Restaurant

When my family of five eats out, we can rarely agree on a restaurant. One of the few restaurants we can agree on, though, is Outback Steakhouse. My kids love steak! Last week, we went to Outback. My AARP card got us a 10% discount off the entire check!

Savings: $13.71

Bottom Line

In my first month of AARP membership, I’ve already saved $34.22. The net cost of my membership was $15 for 5 years. Of course, I don’t expect to save this much every month. I mostly use miles and points for travel. But occasionally, we need rental cars on trips. And, we will likely eat at Outback 3-4 times a year. So yes, I’ll gladly continue to flash my AARP card for these discounts.

Note: I have no affiliation with AARP. While the Black Friday special is not still around, you can get a 1-year AARP membership for $12. For frequent travelers and Outback Steakhouse lovers, it’s totally worth it.