This couple unlocked a genius life hack for when you need to rent a car but can’t quite afford to.
In a viral video, Taylor (@taygeryager), with more than half a million views, Taylor showed her workaround for getting a car. Clue: the vehicle she gets is a bit nontraditional. It’s not exactly a car more people dream of one day owning.
In the TikTok, Taylor and her boyfriend get into a U-Haul.
“Too broke to rent a car. Whip for the week,” the text overlay on the video reads. “Money” by Cardi B ironically plays in the background.
It turns out that Taylor isn’t the only one who has caught wind of this money-saving trick.
There are various articles about it, including one directly from U-Haul positioning themselves as “The Rental Car Alternative” (that’s literally the headline). In this article, U-Haul makes the case for why renting with them is better than the traditional route, pointing out that they don’t have as many fees and their cars generally come with more storage space (that’s a given).
And if you’re on the younger side, you can rent a U-Haul at 18 years old with no problem versus rental car companies that charge fees for drivers under 25. However, they do point out that U-Hauls aren’t the best option if you need to transport a group of people since their cars generally only have two seats.
One couple shared their own experience deciding between the two. In a Forbes article they explained that finding a rental car for their honeymoon was going to be expensive at about $2,000 for two weeks, and getting one that was available for all the days they needed was proving difficult.
When they looked up U-Hauls, they figured out that with mileage and insurance, a U-Haul would run them up to $900—just over $1,000 in savings.
“It’s unreal what a better deal it is [than renting a car], and now we can throw a comforter in the bed of the pickup and watch the stars,” they told Forbes.
The video has hundreds of comments, mostly from people who think this is a great idea or who have seen others do it before.
@taygeryager ♬ Money – Cardi B
“Every weekend my friend pulls up to the bar in a uhaul van,” the top comment read.
“The amount of people who drove to Las Vegas Superbowl weekend in UHauls and slept in the back vs paying for rooms was ASTOUNDING,” a person said.
“Yess i did this when my car was in the shop for 2 weeks paid 600 for 2 weeks instead of 3k estimated rental,” another added.
Some people pointed out that the high mileage cost might put a damper on Taylor’s savings, but she said they weren’t driving far “so it isn’t bad.”
The Daily Dot reached out to Taylor for comment via Instagram direct message.
“So everyone’s saying it’s so much more expensive to get a u-haul bc of the mileage, but to get a rental you have to be 25, and only 1 person in our group is that age. So we figured if we got a u-haul anyone of us could drive it if needed,” Taylor said in an Instagram reply.
“Also we aren’t driving super long distances. It’s gonna end up being a little more expensive then we anticipated just because we kinda are driving more than expected. But it’s great lol. $200 versus $700 for a shitty rental car.”