In a viral video, Cody Hibbard (@codyhibbard_) shares a trick with his 51,000 followers detailing how he always parks for free in garages.
At the start of the 30-second clip, Hibbard is about to exit a hospital’s parking garage. He stops at the ticket-machine kiosk, where he is prompted to pay for parking. He then faces the camera, and says, “About to show you a trick that works every single time. Ready?”
The trick
He presses the machine’s help button and is greeted by the voice of a customer service agent asking how they can help him. He explains, “I followed in the car in front of me, and I didn’t mean to come in this parking spot. I’m in the wrong hospital area.”
The customer service agent asks him, “Do you have a ticket?” He responds, “I didn’t have a ticket. I followed that car in.”
The customer service agent instructs him to wait. Within a few seconds, the parking garage gate opens, and he exits, without paying.
He returns his gaze to the camera and says with a smirk, “Works every time.” In the caption, he writes, “Make public parking free again!”
@codyhibbard_ Make Public Parking Free Again #rollin #newmusic #redneck #lifehack ♬ original sound – Cody Hibbard
Most viewers appreciated the life hack
Hibbard’s viral video has 208,000 views and hundreds of comments. Many viewers appreciated the video and resonated with Hibbard’s notion of “making public parking free again,” citing high public parking fees.
“This is awesome! We shouldn’t be playing to park, it’s just another tax on our money,” one commented.
Some viewers expressed frustration with hospitals charging for public parking. “My son was recently admitted, the hospital bill was like 7k and we paid like 100 in parking at hospital…disgusting,” one viewer shared.
Cody responded, “Exactly. I hate to hear that for you man. Yet there are morons on here all worried this hospital isn’t gonna make the rent payment.”
Other viewers didn’t fully believe the trick. “This doesn’t work every time…some of these parking lots record license plates..and they will type your plate in and it will show when where and time u came in the lot,” one viewer shared.
Another added, “Why did you look for the ticket, champ? Lol. Garage owners will figure this one quite quickly. Good luck.”
Other tricks floating around the internet
Over on Reddit, users have shared their own tips and tricks to getting in and out of parking garages for free. “Want free parking? When you’re in a parking lot that requires a ticket. Buy your ticket and park up. When you return, walk to the machine and print another,” one Redditor shared, kicking off the thread.
“A trick we used to use for half price parking was to go with a friend, have them drive out very slowly, and you follow as close as possible almost bumper to bumper. The sensors in the barrier think it’s just one really long car,” another shared.
But like in the comments section of the TikTok post, some Redditors warned drivers to proceed with caution as some parking garages that catch drivers trying to avoid paying will send them a hefty bill.
The Daily Dot reached out to Cody Hibbard via TikTok for comment.
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