GM Rewards glitch lets people pay off entire cars for free – Jalopnik

While airlines already run their loyalty programs as a corporate-controlled currency, other companies missed the memo on how to tightly regulate these programs. Savvy GM vehicle owners discovered a loophole in the GM Rewards program last month to collect thousands of dollars in points for free. Stunningly, the owner of a 2024 Cadillac Escalade V used proceeds of 5,937,000 points to pay off his $59,370 loan. Before anyone gets too excited, GM has removed the exploit.

It’s important to note that the monetary value of a single GM Reward point is just a penny, so it would take a significant amount of spending to redeem something of value. However, there is a way to get free points, and that was the loophole. Members could earn up to 16,000 points by completing surveys and watching GM videos on the platform. According to the resale calendarthe free process could not be repeated on the same account, but could earn more promotional points on a newly created account. The points could then be immediately transferred back to their main account by email without penalty. The loop only lasted five minutes, so it didn’t take long to rack up millions of points.

The free points exploit bypassed the gamified root system intended to generate revenue. GM closed the loophole by removing promotional point offers, but did not revoke the points earned through the method. The company wants to avoid upsetting members because loyalty programs are a huge potential revenue stream. Delta Skymiles received a $2 billion reimbursement from American Express for credit card purchases during the third quarter of 2025. The airline’s entire operating income was $1.7 billion. In a sense, Delta is not an airline with a rewards program, but a rewards program that flies airplanes. It’s unlikely that GM’s financial reports will ever reflect a modern airline, but the automaker won’t leave money on the table.