I was recently in New York and Los Angeles for a mix of business and pleasure, and finally had a chance to put some Chase Sapphire credit card benefits to use.
With a global pandemic still afoot and safety in mind, takeout and delivery was the name of the game, and I wanted to see if the DoorDash ‘DashPass’ benefits offered to Freedom, Chase Sapphire Preferred, and Chase Sapphire Reserve cardholders actually stacked up. Late to the party? I’ve been mostly in Europe this year, so hadn’t had the chance to make any use.
It turns out, at least on this trip, the benefit is a bonafide money saver, bringing over $100 in savings in the span of a week. Did it help to justify annual fees in a time when many are considering ditching premium travel rewards cards? Definitely.
Chase x Door Dash DashPass
Chase partnered with DoorDash, an established US food delivery service used by a significant number of notable restaurants this year to offer Chase Sapphire Preferred and Sapphire Reserve credit cardholders at least a year of ‘Dash Pass’. Chase Freedom and Slate cardholders also get 3 months of free DashPass.
Dash Pass is the DoorDash subscription service which saves money on each delivery and service fee, and costs $9.99 per month. Service fees can be around 20% an order, so if you’re a frequent user, savings can be huge. The pass offers a minimum of $119 in value if used to a decent level, which is highly attractive given the $95 annual fee on Chase Sapphire Preferred.
On top, Sapphire Reserve cardholders also receive a $60 statement credit for 2020, and an additional $60 for 2021, bringing $120 of actual money back value when you order, and $119 savings on the DashPass for nearly $240 in value.
Putting Chase DashPass Benefit To Use
Despite all out restrictions or notable limits on indoor dining, restaurants in New York and Los Angeles have pivoted well to keep business alive during covid-19.
Take out and delivery businesses are booming for popular spots which shunned takeaway before, and for many risk averse travelers like myself – particularly traveling with an infant – delivery or takeout works really, really well.
As a family, my wife and I carry both the Chase Sapphire Preferred and Sapphire Reserve cards. Using the Sapphire Reserve credit, the first night’s dinner from LA fave Jon & Vinny’s was “free”, thanks to the $60 statement credit which hit the account immediately with the transaction. Nice one.
Taking turns to cover dinner each night, and let’s be honest, also ordering some wine with our delivery dinner some nights, we would’ve faced what can only be described as the worst of the astronomical service fees DoorDash levies.
Thankfully, the complimentary DashPass subscription from Chase cuts the service fee from around 20% to a far more palatable 5%, and eliminated all delivery fees too. You still tip the driver in the app, but that makes plenty of sense.
DoorDash will tell you DashPass saves around $4-5 per order, and I wouldn’t disagree. On higher orders, like dinner with wine – side note, our LA hotel didn’t have any food some days – it actually saves a lot more. Timing estimates were usually bang on too.
Shout out to Night + Market Sahm, Chulita, Jon & Vinny’s and all the delicious LA restaurants doing delivery. And all the heavenly burritos in California.
Combined, we saved $120 in DoorDash service fees for the week, which the app will tell you if you click “manage Dash Pass”, while skipping out on delivery fees. With the savings on delivery fees, I chose to tip drivers more. I don’t know whether to be thrilled with the DashPass benefit from Chase, or shocked DoorDash gets away with the huge fees it charges to non DashPass holders, but I’ll choose thrilled, because I am.
Either way, I got more than $110 of savings benefit out of the Chase Sapphire Reserve perks in just a week – $60 in statement credits and at least $50 in service and delivery fees, which made me feel a lot better when the $450 annual fee hit around the same time.
Coupled with Sapphire Reserve lounge access via Priority Pass, $300 travel credit and improving offers on spend, like Peloton, I’m still coming out well ahead for the year, despite the slowdown in travel.
For Chase Sapphire Preferred, where users get a $119 DashPass subscription as part of their relatively low $95 annual fee, with a variety of other benefits too, there’s also a lot to love.
Realistically, I don’t want to pay for the Door Dash DashPass benefit, but also don’t want to pay their eye watering delivery fees, so a low annual fee card like this taking care of both works really well.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred has a current record high bonus of 80,000 points, worth at least $1000 towards travel, so it’s a fantastic time to pick up the card, if you’re in the market to elevate future travels, and delivery or takeout game.
I too have been using Dash Pass as part of my complimentary subscription from my Chase Sapphire Reserve Card. I live in NYC, and find it useful on occasion, although many of my neighborhood favorites are either not on Door Dash or offer nice discounts if we contact them directly to place orders now. I do find it really convenient for places like 7-Eleven if I only need key groceries like milk & bread. With all that said, we have relocated to Orlando for 5 weeks, and within the first week, we have used DashPass three times, and all three times we have had issues. The first issue was a missing entree from our order, the second issue was an entire wrong order delivered, and most recently we ordered eggs, milk & half & half from 7-Eleven and the half & half that was delivered expired five days prior. I will say that Door Dash has an easy to contact customer service, but I’m starting to double guess my affiliation with them. I wonder if this is just my bad luck or if other readers in markets outside NYC and LA have similar issues utilizing this perk. Also how many plan on keeping their DashPass after the complimentary membership period?