Should You Sign Up for the New AAA Discounts & Rewards Program?
Are AAA’s WOWPoints worth it? I took a quick look at the new AAA Discounts & Rewards Program last night after getting an email inviting me to join.
It turns out AAA Discounts & Rewards is yet another shopping portal where you earn AAA WOWPoints for making online purchases at certain retailers (a fairly standard list) and can then redeem those points at a $.01 per point towards future purchases at any of those retailers.
I only spent a half hour or so poking around on the site, but here were my initial observations:
AAA WOWPoints earning options are average
They offer an example of shopping at Nordstrom, earning 5 WOWPoints per dollar, which equals $5 off your next online purchase.
A quick look at evreward and Cashbackaholic showed that there are many cashback sites offering 5% or more and several mile/point earning options, such as American Airlines and Chase Ultimate Rewards at 4 points per dollar which are worth far more.
Discounts & Rewards lets you earn WOWPoints and apply discounts.
The discounts are not unique, you can find similar coupon codes in your emails and on sites like like evrewards and RetailMeNot. But often those discounts are cookie based and exclude points earnings opportunities. So for some sites, sadly no flower delivery companies, this is now an option.
Redeeming WOWPoints is complicated and requires attention
Redeeming your WOWPoints is very involved. You have to link whatever credit card you’ll be using on the purchase. Then go through the “Redeem Points” merchant link on the AAA Discount & Rewards portal.
Then you have to pay for the item, and you’ll get a credit on your next credit card cycle. That means you need to keep track of when and where you redeemed points and make sure it credits appropriately up to a month later.
No/Low Redemption Minimum
One thing that appeals about this program is redeeming points can be pretty immediate, you don’t have to reach certain points levels to convert into cash. Like Orbitz Rewards, it appears as though you redeem even a handful of WOWPoints for a $1 off your next purchase.
Star Advantage elite status earns 50% more points
Loyalty is rewarded, if you earn 5,000 AAA WOWPoints in a calendar year, you start earning a 50% bonus on all WOWPoints earned.
Earn WOWPoints even when redeeming
One cool feature to the Star Advantage program is that you earn WOWPoints even when you’re redeeming them. So if you’re redeeming 10,000 points for a $100 purse at Nordstrom, you’ll be earning 750Â WOWPoints for that purchase.
Conclusion: It’s not worth adding to or replacing any of my current cashback/points portals unless AAA offers merchants not covered by my usual portals. Especially until they’re listed on comparison sites like evreward and Cashbackaholic. Or until some crazy earning opportunity comes up like 25 WOWPoints per dollar at Best Buy.
———————-
Don’t miss out on any of Jeanne & Keri’s adventures and tips. Follow us:
 
 
 
Thank you for the good info
Yes, thank you for the research.