Rockstar is spicing up its usual holiday event in Grand Theft Auto Online with the addition of the Happy Holidays Hauler, a randomly spawning truck that drops presents for well-behaved criminals courtesy of eCola. Finding the truck even unlocks exclusive holiday clothing items.
Where to Find the Happy Holidays Hauler in GTA Online
The Happy Holidays Hauler begins its route at Legion Square in Los Santos, driving north to Paleto Bay before returning home. It only spawns as a part of a random event, which can be frustratingly infrequent as most GTA Online players know.
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In order to make the Happy Holidays Hauler event start, there are a few prerequisites that must be met. First, at least two players must be present in your session. This doesn’t have to be a public session though, so you can create an invite-only lobby for you and your friends. This is the same strategy that works for other GTA Online holiday events like the Gooch and the Weazel Plaza Shootout.
In addition to meeting the minimum player count, you must be outside in free roam and not inside any buildings or businesses. The session must also be at least 60 minutes old before the truck will show up. After the event ends, the Happy Holidays Hauler has a one-hour cooldown before it can reappear.
Remember that the Happy Holidays Hauler event is random, so you may have to hang around Legion Square for a while before it appears. Once the event spawns, however, you’ll receive a notification in the top left corner of your screen. The truck will not stop once it begins its route, and it will drop a present every 90 seconds that can be collected by driving into it.
How to Get the Festive Sprunk and eCola Sweaters in GTA Online
The main reason why players would want to seek out the Happy Holidays Hauler is to obtain the new holiday-themed eCola and Sprunk sweaters. These cosmetic items are found in the presents dropped by the truck, but they appear at random. The presents normally contain cash, snacks, ammo, and RP, but each one has a chance of dropping one of the sweaters.
Keep in mind that only one player can collect each present, so trying to unlock the sweaters in a public session or with a large group of friends is not the best way to go about it. Even a smaller public session is a recipe for disaster. While the truck itself cannot be stopped or destroyed, there’s nothing stopping players from blowing you up or stealing your presents. It’s not worth the risk when you don’t know if your fellow gamers are feeling naughty or nice.
You’ll also need to collect a bunch of presents since there are two sweaters to unlock and they only drop one at a time. The Happy Holidays Hauler’s route along the highway is a long one, but you might get really unlucky and end the event missing one of the sweaters. If that happens, you’ll need to wait another hour for the event to respawn.
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Once you unlock the new sweaters, there’s not much reason to look out for the Happy Holidays Hauler anymore. You can still collect cash, RP, and other rewards if you follow it around, but your time is better spent elsewhere this holiday if you want to maximize your cash gains. Plus, there are new festive surprises like the deadly yeti of the Chiliad wilderness that you could spend your time on.
