7 Costco Membership Perks Most Californians Forget to Use

Costco has nearly 137 million cardholders worldwide, and most of them know the basics.

Cheap gas, bulk groceries, and the $1.50 hot dog and soda combo.

But the membership covers a whole lot more than that, and many Californians walk past several of the chain’s best perks every time they visit.

Some of these underused perks can save you hundreds or even thousands of dollars per year.

The good news is that they’re all available to anyone with an active Costco card.

The Costco Member Prescription Program

The Costco Member Prescription Program, often called CMPP, gives members access to prescription discounts of up to 80% on certain medications.

The program has no additional fee, and it comes with the regular Costco membership.

Anyone can fill prescriptions at a Costco Pharmacy without being a member. But the CMPP discount is exclusive to active cardholders.

The program covers a wide range of medications, including some of the most expensive name-brand drugs on the market like Wegovy and other GLP-1 treatments.

Most Costco members never use the program because they’re already on insurance and assume their copay is the cheapest option.

It often isn’t.

Compare your insurance copay to the Costco cash price under the CMPP, and pay whichever is cheaper.

A Costco pharmacist can run the comparison for you in under a minute.

For Americans on multiple maintenance medications, this single perk can save $300-1,000 per year, and it covers the membership fee multiple times over on its own.

Note: The CMPP can’t be combined with insurance. You either use insurance OR use the CMPP price, not both. But for many medications, the CMPP price beats the insurance copay.

Costco Travel for Vacation Bookings

Costco Travel is the chain’s in-house travel agency, available to all members at no additional cost.

The service offers vacation packages, hotel stays, rental cars, cruises, theme park bundles, and international trips at negotiated member rates.

Costco Travel uses the same low-margin business model as the rest of the company.

That means the prices are competitive, often beating Expedia, Booking, and the major travel sites on the same trip.

What sets Costco Travel apart is the included extras.

Many vacation packages come with resort credits, free upgrades, daily breakfast, airport transfers, or other perks bundled into the price.

A typical Hawaii vacation booked through Costco Travel might include flights, hotel, rental car, and a $200 resort credit for less than the cost of booking each piece separately on a regular travel site.

Cruises and rental cars are particular strengths.

Members who book Caribbean cruises through Costco Travel often save $200-500 compared to booking the same cruise directly with the cruise line.

Rental car rates through Costco are routinely 20-40% cheaper than the same car at the same dates booked through Hertz, Avis, or Enterprise directly.

Executive members get additional discounts on select Costco Travel packages, plus the 2% rewards apply to qualifying travel purchases.

This is one of the most underused Costco perks in the country, and many members never even check the travel site before booking trips elsewhere.

The Costco Auto Program for New and Used Cars

The Costco Auto Program connects members with prearranged, no-haggle pricing on new and used vehicles.

The program partners with thousands of dealerships across the country, and members pay a pre-negotiated price that’s typically $1,000+ below the average transaction price for the same vehicle.

Members buy sedans, SUVs, trucks, electric vehicles, and even RVs through the program.

The pricing structure removes the negotiation game from the car buying experience entirely.

You pick the vehicle, get matched with a participating dealer, and pay the Costco-negotiated price with no haggling.

For people who hate the typical car buying experience, this perk alone can be worth the membership.

Beyond the upfront discount, the Costco Auto Program also includes savings on parts, accessories, and certain service work at participating dealerships.

Members report saving $1,000-3,000 on average per vehicle purchase compared to walking into a dealership and negotiating from scratch.

The program is available online through the Costco Auto site, and members can start the process before ever stepping foot in a dealership.

For shoppers who plan to buy a car in the next year, signing up for a Costco membership specifically to use the Auto Program is a common move that pays for itself many times over on a single transaction.

Costco Optical for Eye Exams and Eyewear

Costco Optical departments operate inside most U.S. warehouses, and the prices are some of the lowest in the country on prescription eyewear.

Eye exams typically cost $79-99 (depending on location), which is significantly cheaper than the $150-250 most independent optometrists charge.

The optical centers also stock prescription glasses, contact lenses, and sunglasses at prices that consistently undercut LensCrafters, Target Optical, and Pearle Vision by 30-50%.

The optical staff includes licensed opticians who can adjust frames, repair glasses, and process insurance.

Most major vision insurance plans are accepted.

Many Costco members buy their groceries every week and never set foot in the optical department, even when they need new glasses or contacts.

A typical pair of prescription progressive lenses with frames can cost $400-600 at a regular optical retailer.

The same prescription lenses with comparable frames at Costco Optical run $200-350.

Contact lens orders through Costco often beat 1-800 Contacts and other online sellers on the exact same brand and prescription, especially when factoring in shipping and handling charges those sites add at checkout.

For people who use glasses or contacts, this single perk easily covers Costco’s annual membership fee.

Costco Tire Center Free Lifetime Services

The Costco Tire Center handles tire installation, rotation, balancing, flat repair, nitrogen inflation, and air pressure checks.

When you buy tires at Costco, lifetime maintenance services come included with the purchase.

That means free rotations every 5,000-7,500 miles for the life of the tires, free balancing, free flat repair on punctures and impacts, free nitrogen refills, and free pressure checks.

The road hazard warranty covers tire damage from non-repairable punctures and impact damage during the first 5 years of tire life.

Most Costco members buy tires once and forget the maintenance services exist.

Meanwhile, a person who buys a set of 4 Michelin tires at Costco for $800 and uses the free rotations and flat repair over the next 5 years saves an additional $300-400 in maintenance costs they would’ve paid at a regular tire shop.

For people who drive 12,000-15,000 miles per year, this is one of the most underused perks of Costco’s membership system.

Free Household Card for a Second Adult

Every Costco membership comes with a free Household Card for one additional adult at the same address.

The Household Card functions exactly like the primary member’s card.

It allows the second adult to shop independently at any Costco warehouse, online, at the gas pumps, at the pharmacy, at optical, and at the tire center, all under the same membership.

Many Costco households have one adult with a card and another adult who never bothered to get the included Household Card.

The result is that one spouse drives to Costco for everything while the other one drives to other stores for items that Costco carries cheaper.

Setting up the Household Card takes five minutes at the membership desk.

The second adult shows ID, gets a photo taken, and walks out with their own Costco card immediately.

For couples and roommates over 18, the Household Card means both people can take advantage of cheap gas, pharmacy savings, and warehouse pricing on their own time, without coordinating shopping trips.

For Executive members, both cards earn rewards toward the 2% annual rebate, which means the second cardholder’s purchases also count toward the household’s $1,250 annual reward cap.

Executive Member Benefits That Pay for the Upgrade

Executive Membership costs $130 per year, which is $65 more than Gold Star.

The 2% rewards on qualifying purchases (capped at $1,250 per year) pay for the upgrade if you spend at least $3,250 per year at Costco.

Members who spend $270 or more per month at Costco hit the breakeven point easily.

Most Executive members know about the 2% rewards. However, they forget about everything else.

For example, Executive members get early shopping access at 9 a.m. on weekdays and 9:30 a.m. on Saturdays (an hour or so before regular members can enter).

They get a $10 monthly credit on Instacart same-day delivery orders of $150 or more, which adds up to $120 per year if used consistently.

They get extra savings on Costco Travel packages.

They get priority access to certain Costco Services, including home installations, and additional discounts on select health and wellness offerings.

If your 2% rewards don’t cover the $65 upgrade cost at the end of the year, Costco refunds the difference. The Executive tier comes with a guarantee that members can’t lose money on the upgrade.

For people who shop Costco regularly, the Executive tier delivers significantly more value than most members realize.

The shoppers who upgrade to Executive and then forget to use the early shopping hours, the Instacart credit, and the travel discounts are leaving $200-400 in additional value on the table every year.

How to Get Your Money’s Worth From Costco

Costco’s membership structure is designed to reward members who use the full ecosystem.

Pharmacy. Travel. Auto buying. Optical. Tire services. Household cards. Executive perks.

Each of these adds dollars to the value of the annual fee, and most members use only one or two of them on a regular basis.