How Do I Add or Remove SiriusXM to My Car?

As much as my devotion to good old-fashioned terrestrial radio is well documented, there are times when I’ve taken our Best of 2020-winning Hyundai Palisade long-term test car far beyond Cars.com’s familiar Chicagoland confines, out to where signals get scratchy. In such times, having satellite radio as a backup audio option isn’t just nice to have: It’s an essential amenity. So when our long termer’s SiriusXM trial subscription ended, I was interested to find out what it’d take to get back my beloved Watercolors (Channel 66).

Related: We Bought a Hyundai Palisade: See How Much We Paid

How Do I Add SiriusXM?

First, check to  ensure you don’t already have Ozzy’s Boneyard (Channel 38) by switching among your signal sources. Like all new, certified pre-owned and eligible pre-owned Hyundais, our Palisade Limited came with a three-month trial subscription to the SiriusXM All Access package, and Hyundai isn’t the only brand to offer the service.

Once the trial period is up, SiriusXM service will automatically stop unless you decide to subscribe. If that’s the case, you’ll need to visit the SiriusXM website and offer up some information specific to your car — either a vehicle identification number or radio ID, which you can find in different ways depending on your brand of car (we turned to Channel 0 for our Palisade). From there, SiriusXM offers a few different packages to choose from, depending on your needs. Create an account with a payment method, select a package and complete the steps to process your order and keep on cruisin’ to Yacht Rock Radio (Channel 70).

Programming note: Trial subscriptions for SiriusXM 360L, which adds on-demand streaming content, are currently underway for model-year 2021 Audi, BMW and Volkswagen vehicles, but the satellite radio provider has not indicated any differences in subscribing or renewing for that service.

How Do I Remove SiriusXM?

On the other hand, if you get in your car to escape the noise of the world and the idea of endless Studio 54 Radio (Channel 54, obviously) is not a future you want any part of, you have a few options. If your vehicle came equipped with a three-month trial period, as our Palisade did, all you have to do is let it run out; no further action is needed and SiriusXM won’t automatically renew or charge you.

However, if you already decided that you wanted the service to continue and now want to opt out, you have a few options for canceling. The most direct is to give SiriusXM customer service a call at 1-866-635-5027; available hours are currently Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. (all times Eastern).

If phones aren’t your thing but you still like the immediate response of a (presumably) live human, you can also chat with a customer service rep online; available hours for that are 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. on weekdays and 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on weekends. Another online option is logging in to your account online and canceling that way.

Remember that you’ll need your account number or radio ID handy in order to move forward with a cancellation — but before you do, consider how many road trips you have in the future, and if that kind of mileage is really worth risking without No Shoes Radio (Channel 57) or Siriusly Sinatra (Channel 71) at your disposal.

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