Driver’s Edge: Driving for Dollars

Written by nickel - 4 Comments

I reported previously about improvements to the Citi Driver’s Edge credit card rewards program but, at the time, I was unsure as to what they meant by being able to earn money for the miles that I drive… Well, I just received another mailing from them, and this time they provided details.

First off, you have to enroll in the program. According to the mailing, you can initiate this process either by going to the Citi Cards web site (select “Manage my Account” and then “Special Offers”) or by calling 1-800-967-8500. However, when I went to the web site I couldn’t find any information about enrolling — guess I’ll have to call. Anyway, once you’ve made contact, they’ll send you a ‘Drive Rebates’ enrollment form. You can register one vehicle, and you’ll receive $1 in ‘Drive Rebates’ for every 100 miles that you drive. They keep track by asking you to send in a copies of invoice for services such as oil changes, repairs, etc. As long as the mileage is clearly indicated on the invoice, they can figure out how far you’ve driven and credit you accordingly. It remains unclear as to how they establish a baseline — presumably you have to submit a recent service invoice such that they can establish your starting mileage before they’ll start handing out the rebates.

Drive Rebates are limited to $500/year, and this amount counts toward your $1,000 annual Driver’s Edge reward limit. Also, you can redeem the Drive Rebates only when you redeem an equal or greater number of reward dollars that were earned via card purchases (i.e., no more than half the the reward dollars that you claim at any point in time can come from earning for miles driven). While this may sound a bit convoluted, it’s important to keep in mind that you’ll be sending in service invoices to claim your reward dollars anyway, so it’s not really any extra work, and it could easily net you an additional $100-$200 in reward dollars (or more) per year.

Another thing to keep in mind with the Driver’s Edge card is that the rewards can be redeemed through the ThankYou Redemptions Network (1-877-7REDEEM), so automotive services and car purchases aren’t the only way to cash out.

Published on June 20th, 2005 - 4 Comments
Filed under: Credit Cards
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Comments (scroll down to add your own):

Seems like a lot of work to me. Factor in the cost of your time and effort and it may not be worth it.
Comment by FMF — Jun 21st 2005 @ 7:48 am
There’s really no additional effort aside from filling out and sending the enrollment form. I turn in service receipts to cash in my rewards anyway, and they take the mileage info from those. Might as well earn an extra one or two hundred bucks per year for virtually no extra effort. Since I can fax the receipts, I can do this without even getting up from my desk.

Comment by nickel — Jun 21st 2005 @ 8:50 am
I had a Citibank Drivers Edge card but I did not have the ‘Options’ card to qualify for service & mileage. Citibank CS told me my rebates would transfer over to the new card, which had the same credit card number, however the rebates did not transfer over. When I called them, the women said I was given mis-information. I lost approx 500+ rebates. She said I could transfer back but it would not be worth it. Without the ‘Options’ benefit, I could only redeem the points on the purchase of a car which I am not planning to do within the next 5 yrs. I pay the card off every month, so I will use whatever rebates I aquire, however I have a hard time trusting Citibank. When I orginally opened the account prior to 2001, I could cash out my rebates after 5 years, regardless of a car purchase, a policy which they have since amended.
Comment by Marie O. — Jul 7th 2005 @ 12:01 pm