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An RV can be a great way to go on a vacation, as it’ll allow you and your companions to bring your home to your vacation destination. That being said, RVs have their own pros and cons, and since RVs are such huge vehicles, they will be quite painful at the pump. That’s why it’s not surprising that TikTok users slammed an RV owner for complaining about his almost $1,000 gas bill. 

Gas prices are at near-record highs right now

An RV parked at a Shell gas station to refuel in Kingman, Arizona
An RV parked at a Shell gas station | Paul Harris/Getty Images

As many Americans know, gas prices are very high right now, and in many places, it’s already broken records. In fact, gas prices have gotten so high that in California, the governor proposed sending drivers a $400 gas rebate. There are many reasons why gas prices are so high right now, but one of the big reasons has been the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

In response to that act of aggression, the U.S. banned the import of Russian oil. As a result, this ban has predictably led to a rise in gas prices across the country. Prices were especially high in early March 2022, but they’ve since started calming down a bit. However, gas prices are still very high, much higher than the average American would like them to be.

An RV owner went viral for complaining about his gas bill

Due to those painful prices at the pump, many Americans took to social media to vent about high gas prices. Perhaps as an act of one-upmanship, a TikTok user posted a video of them filling up their RV, and this video went viral, according to Newsweek. The video shows a dad filling up his family’s recreational vehicle. The RV is huge, and it naturally has a huge gas tank.

While filling up the gas tank, the dad talks to the camera before finally cutting to the price tag of this whole adventure. The dad pumped in about 170 gallons of gas, which ended up costing him about $945. This equals to him paying about $5.52 a gallon, though it wasn’t clear what type of gas he used. Additionally, the caption he used for the video was, “You think filling up your car is bad…guess how much it cost to fill up our RV.”

This TikTok went viral, and it got millions of views, millions of likes, and tens of thousands of comments. Many of those comments slammed the RV owner, as the caption seemed to belittle other people’s issues. One user said, “I mean respectfully you decided to drive a yacht on wheels.” Another user wrote, “You can afford the massive RV then you can afford the gas. You’ll be fine lol.” 

An overview of recreational vehicle classes

Paying almost a grand for filling up an RV shouldn’t be too surprising because the RV in question is a Class A RV, the largest type of RV out there. Due to their huge size, these RVs are gas guzzlers, so not only do they have a poor fuel economy, but they also have a huge gas tank.

The RV in the TikTok has a 220-gallon gas tank, and according to Newsweek, a full tank of gas would usually last about 1,000 miles. This means that this particular RV has a fuel economy of about 4.5 mpg. That is a worse fuel economy than smaller RVs offer, but the extra size of a Class A recreational vehicle is one of the reasons why folks want one. A Class A RV has more room, more features, and more amenities than a Class B or C recreational vehicle will have.

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