Best Credit Cards for a Road Trip in 2021

With the start of spring just a few weeks away and the vaccine rollout ramping up, summer travel is starting to look like a real possibility. Taking a road trip can be a great way to spend quality time with family or friends, and it is a great alternative to flying.

That said, road trips can still rack up quite a bill. You’ll need to factor in the cost of a rental car or maintenance on your own vehicle, gas, tolls, parking, hotel or campsite fees and food.

These expenses can add up fast, especially if you have a packed car. But if you use the right credit card, you can earn rewards on all expenses. Some cards even provide money-saving perks, including car rental discounts or a travel or dining credit, that can offset the cost of your vacation.

To make your next road trip more affordable, consider using one or more credit cards that can allow you to maximize rewards. We reviewed the best credit cards to find cards that can save you money in five categories: car rentals, gas, dining and takeout, groceries and everything else. (See below for our methodology.) So before you hit the road, check out the benefits of using the right credit card.

In addition to rewards, cards like the Chase Sapphire Reserve® offer discounts at popular car rental agencies, like National Car Rental, Avis and Silvercar, as well as rental car insurance and roadside assistance.

Rental car insurance (aka auto rental collision damage waiver) reimburses you for theft or collision damage, while roadside assistance helps you with roadside emergencies, like a jumpstart or tire change. While these perks don’t have a monthly or annual fee, you may need to make a copay for roadside assistance. For instance, the Sapphire Reserve card charges $50 per incident on up to four claims a year.

Premium cards, like the Chase Sapphire Reserve® and American Express® Gold Card, also offer annual statement credits toward eligible travel or dining that can help you save even more.

Road trip credit cards are also great year-round. You can use the cards on this list at any time of the year to earn rewards on car rentals, gas, dining, takeout, groceries and more. After all, the best credit cards aren’t exclusive to a specific purchase, but instead are versatile for all of life’s expenses.

All of the cards on this list require good to excellent credit (scores above 670). If you have less than stellar credit, consider alternative cards for bad or fair/average credit. While credit cards for bad and fair/average credit won’t offer the same money-saving perks, you can use the card to build good credit. Then you can apply for a new rewards card once your score is higher.

1. Check your credit score and credit report: First, check your credit score and credit report. This lets you know where you stand and can influence which credit cards you apply for. Most cards on this list require good or excellent credit. You can check your credit score for free with Experian, Discover Credit Scorecard or your card issuer. You also have free access to your credit reports every week through April 20, 2022 at AnnualCreditReport.com.
2. Decide which type of credit card suits your needs: Once you know your credit score, review what you plan to spend the most money on during your road trip. If you expect to order a lot of takeout and dine at restaurants, choose a card for those purchases. But if you rather buy groceries, opt for a grocery rewards card. Many cards also offer rewards in several categories, like gas and groceries, that allow you to maximize rewards.
3. Shop around for the best credit card offers: If you still have trouble choosing a card, consider submitting a pre-qualification form online to see whether you may qualify. This can help you narrow down which cards you might be approved for, without any damage to your credit score. Pre-qualification isn’t a guarantee you’ll be approved for a card and submitting an application affects your credit score.

To determine which cards offer the best value, CNBC Select analyzed 234 of the most popular credit cards available in the U.S. We compared each card on a range of features, including rewards, welcome bonus, introductory and standard APR, balance transfer fee and foreign transaction fees, as well as factors such as required credit and customer reviews when available. We also considered additional perks, the application process and how easy it is for the consumer to redeem points.

For balance transfer cards, we used a Bankrate calculator to tally the interest rates and fees you could incur if you transferred $6,028, the average balance Americans carry on their credit cards in 2019, according to Experian.

If the average consumer with a $6,028 balance on their credit card pays $200 each month, they will spend $1,911 in additional interest, assuming the average 17.7% APR. And it will take them 40 months — more than three years — to pay off that debt.

With four of the five cards featured on this list, if you take full advantage of the intro APR period and pay $200 per month, you’ll pay less than $450 in interest and cut your repayment time in half to 20 months. That’s a significant savings.

For the cards that offered a rewards program, we also estimated how much cash back you might earn over a five year period. CNBC Select teamed up with location intelligence firm Esri. The company’s data development team provided the most up-to-date and comprehensive consumer spending data based on the 2019 Consumer Expenditure Surveys from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. You can read more about their methodology here.

Esri’s data team created a sample annual budget of approximately $22,126 in retail spending. The budget includes six main categories: groceries ($5,174), gas ($2,218), dining out ($3,675), travel ($2,244), utilities ($4,862) and general purchases ($3,953). General purchases include items such as housekeeping supplies, clothing, personal care products, prescription drugs and vitamins, and other vehicle expenses.

CNBC Select used this budget to estimate how much the average consumer would save over the course of a year, two years and five years, assuming they would attempt to maximize their rewards potential by earning all welcome bonuses offered and using the card for all applicable purchases. All rewards total estimations are net the annual fee.

It’s important to note the value of a point or mile varies from card to card and based on how you redeem them. When we calculated the estimated returns, we assumed that cardholders are redeeming points/miles for a typical maximum value of 1 cent per point or mile. (Extreme optimizers might be able to achieve more value.)

When choosing the best balance transfer card, we focused on the card that provides consumers with the cheapest way to pay off their debt rather than the number of rewards they could potentially earn. When you’re in credit card debt, your primary focus should be repayment. Earning rewards should be seen as a bonus, and you don’t want to spend beyond your means in order to earn points.

The five-year rewards total and the interest rate and fees estimates are derived from a budget similar to the average American’s spending and debt. You may earn a higher or lower return depending on your spending habits.