How I’ve Saved $111 this Year by Renting Movies for $1.00 without Leaving Home

Do you love the price of Redbox movies ($1.50) but hate having to visit a kiosk to rent? Well, there’s a solution that is cheaper than Redbox, and you don’t even have to leave your home.

The solution is VidAngel. VidAngel allows you to stream movies for $1 (or $2 for HD).

How VidAngel Works

Technically, the way VidAngel works is that you purchase the movie for $20. If you sell it back to them within 24 hours, you receive $19 worth of credits. You can use those credit toward the “rental” (purchase and sell back) of future movies.

If you wait a second day before selling the movie back, then you get $18 worth of credits back instead of $19, and so forth. And if you ever leave VidAngel, you can request a refund of any movie credits remaining, so you won’t be stuck with a balance.

Here are four benefits to renting from VidAngel:

4 Benefits to Renting from VidAngel

1. Saves Money vs. iTunes, Amazon, or Google Play

I have “rented” (purchased and sold back) from VidAngel 37 times since I first rented from them eight and a half months ago. (Those 37 transactions were for 20 movies, meaning that it takes my wife and me, on average, about 2 nights to watch a movie. Such is life with twin infants/toddlers!)

Had I rented through iTunes, Amazon, or Google Play, the same movies would typically have cost me $3.99 instead of $1.00. So I saved $110.63 (37 x $2.99) on those 37 transactions. At that rate, in the course of one full year, I would expect to save about $155 by renting from VidAngel rather than from one of these other online options.

2. Saves Money vs. Netflix if You Rent Fewer than 8 Movies per Month

The least expensive Netflix subscription I am aware of is $7.99 per month. If you watch more than 8 movies per month, then Netflix may be a better deal for you than VidAngel. But if you watch 7 or fewer movies per month (and can finish them within 24 hours), VidAngel is your better bet.

3. Saves Time and Money vs. Renting from Redbox

Movies from Redbox cost $1.50, so VidAngel has the better price. VidAngel also saves you time as you don’t have to drive to/from Redbox (or stand in line behind folks who can’t make up their mind which movie to get—not that that’s ever happened to me! 🙂 )

4. Allows you to Filter Content

VidAngel allows you to apply a variety of filters to the movies you rent. For instance, you can opt to screen out blasphemy, nudity, etc. This can help in one’s pursuit of what matters most.

Drawbacks to VidAngel

The only criticism I have of VidAngel is that their movies cannot be viewed with closed captions. They say they are working on a solution, but I believe that has been the case for at least the 8.5 months I’ve rented from them, so I’m not holding my breath.

And, finally, the biggest challenge with VidAngel is that Disney, Warner Bros, 20th Century Fox, and Lucasfilm are suing them for unlicensed video streaming. VidAngel claims that what they are doing is legal, of course, (see this hilarious video that explains their position). And they have raised over $10 million this year in order to defend their claim. VidAngel’s CEO has reiterated his intent “to fight this battle all the way to the Supreme Court.”

Will VidAngel win? Well, David defeated Goliath, so it’s not impossible. But if you want to take advantage of the benefits of VidAngel, I can’t see any advantage to waiting.

Question: Do you know other good tricks for renting movies? You can leave a comment by clicking here.

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