I Traded My Car For Points… Really

Here’s a story you probably don’t hear often, but I can certainly bet that my fellow points and miles fanatics can relate and appreciate my intentions… Or maybe I’m just crazy, but hey, that’s OK too.

Up until yesterday, I had two cars – my cute little 2010 Mazda3 and my “beater” car, a 2002 Pontiac Sunfire that I had since high school. When I say beater car, I really do mean it. Sure, it runs great and it’s a safe ride, but the car’s paint was peeling so badly that one time someone actually asked me if I gave it an acid rain bath (not joking), and 2 years ago, an elderly woman backed into it (she was too darn cute to be mad, or accept money from to repair, so I let it slide).

For the longest time, I have been keeping the car in my garage as my “just-in-case” car, until finally I realized it was foolish to keep two cars insured when I only use one anyway. Another incentive to give it up was knowing that my college-aged brother (who only drives a motorcycle, and just “winterized” it), did not have a car.

Of course, I would never take money from my family, and I had just planned to drop the car off and let him keep it, but I was surprised that he offered me a token of appreciation that I could not refuse.

I recently blogged about booking inter-island Hawaii flights for 6,000 miles via Virgin Atlantic, and since Kevin and I are in the midst of planning a nice Hawaii trip in June, we’re going to be flying from Honolulu to Maui, but definitely did not want to shell out lots of money for the short flights.

Long story short, my brother offered to give me 12,000 Starwood Preferred Guest points as a “thank you” for the car. SPG points transfer on a 1:1 basis to Virgin Atlantic’s Flying Club, and is enough for us to redeem for two round trip flights between HNL and OGG.

Now that’s a “Win-Win” and “Happy Travels” for both my brother and I!

Who else has experienced something similar? Please do share! :)

P.S. Now that we’re on the topic of SPG points, you can get 250 free SPG points simply by joining the mailing list of The Westin Charlotte via their Facebook fan page. (Hat Tip: Deals We Like).

P.S.S. Speaking of Facebook fan pages, be sure to “like” Just Another Points Traveler on Facebook to stay connected (just launched the official fan page today!).