5 ways to make money with your car
If you’re like most people, you are probably very grateful for your own car and wouldn’t know what to do without it. Unfortunately, it’s not as though you aren’t paying for the privilege of being able to get up and go wherever, whenever you want. Cars are extremely expensive to own. As you probably know, they’re also an asset whose market value begins depreciating the moment you buy them.
That’s why so many people today are learning how to make money using their cars. They might be depreciating assets, but they’re still assets with a massive earning potential if you know how to use them.
How to make money from cars: 5 easy ways
According to a report released by the U.S. Department of Labor’s U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics titled Consumer Expenditure, in 2016 Americans spend an average of $4,793 a year to operate their vehicles. That’s $1,909 for gas and oil and another $2,884 in other expenses (e.g. maintenance, insurance, finance charges, etc.). In 2018, the amount spent on gasoline increased to an average of $2,109, while in 2020, due to COVID and remote work, it decreased again to $1,568.
Despite the decrease, the number is still pretty high, and it doesn’t include all the other expenses you need to cover when you have a car, such as insurance, maintenance, repairs, parking, and so on. In other words, owning a car is expensive. No wonder more and more people are quickly trying to figure out how to make money from their cars.
Thankfully, due to the rise of the gig economy, making money with your car has never been easier. If you’re ready to join the masses who decided to earn extra cash with their cars, here are five very simple options that don’t require any special skills and which you can start making money right away.
1. Turn your car into a commercial
No matter what you’re doing, your vehicle could be putting money in your pocket without the need to change your regular schedule.
All it takes to transform your car into a money-making machine is signing up to a car advertising company and adding a car wrap. By doing so, you basically turn your car into a moving billboard. Wherever you go, you expose your company to potential customers – and there are a lot of people and businesses who would pay for this kind of promotion.
Here are three different services that can connect you with companies willing to pay to outfit your car in one of these car wraps:
Best of all, you really don’t have to change your driving habits. You can earn money driving as always, whether that be to pick up your kids for school, do grocery shopping, visit your friends, or something else.
2. Transport other people’s equipment
If you have a van, truck, or large SUV, you can earn good money by acting as a sort of one-person-moving company for people who don’t have vehicles with as much space. You don’t even have to get out and do any of the heavy-lifting yourself.
Instead, all you have to do is show up, let people load their things into your vehicle, and then take them to their destination.
A lot of people use this service because they want to purchase something at a garage sale or flea market but don’t have the means to transport it. Some also find it helpful for when they are moving houses within the same city. Other people, on the other hand, simply don’t want to pay the exorbitant prices that most stores charge for home delivery.
Sign up for a service like TaskRabbit to make money by providing this simple service around your local area.
3. Become a delivery driver
Another very popular option to make money with your car is to become a delivery driver. This is great for anyone who wants more business (more people order food than large dressers), would rather work (mostly) in solitude and on their own schedule, or doesn’t have enough time to work a 9-5 job (e.g. a college student or someone who wants to have a second job).
Aside from the money, the best part about any of the delivery jobs is that you can spend the vast majority of your time listening to your music, a podcast, or an audiobook and get paid for it.
There are a few different types of delivery services you can sign up for, and below you will find the most popular ones.
Deliver food
The first gig you should consider if you have your own car is delivering food. When you sign up for a food delivery service, you, as one of the delivery drivers, receive the food orders that the customers put in the application, (as in most cases it is an app-based service), and once you accept it, you go to the restaurant to pick them up and then get the food delivered.
Postmates and DoorDash are just a few of the most well-known brands that cater to the food delivery business. DoorDash is typically for larger businesses and Postmates is all about delivering good food from various restaurants.
Get paid $23 per hour while on a delivery with these services.
Deliver groceries
Delivering groceries can pay up to $25 an hour. Instacart and Shipt are a few companies that allow drivers to get paid to deliver groceries, giving them the freedom to work as many hours as they want on whatever schedule they choose.
The best part is that some groceries delivery services allow you to pick between being a full-service grocery shopper, which requires you to do the shopping and deliver the groceries, and an in-store shopper, in which case you’re just required to collect the items listed in the order, no delivery required. More options means more opportunities to make money which leads to more money earned.
Click HERE to sign up with Instacart and HERE for Shipt!
Deliver alcohol
Aside from food and groceries deliveries, you can also deliver alcohol. This can be a great gig around major holidays such as Halloween or New Year’s Eve or events like the Superbowl, as either regular grocery stores are closed, or people simply don’t have the energy to deal with it themselves.
Deliver packages
While most people sign up for a food delivery service, that’s not the only option – if you want to make some extra cash delivering things, you can also become an Amazon Flex driver and deliver Amazon packages to earn some extra money. One of the disadvantages of this, however, is that you cannot earn tips.
4. Drive people around
One of the most popular ways to make money with a car right now is to act as a driver in your spare time. While the most popular ride-sharing services right now are Uber and Lyft, there are plenty of other options to choose from, as well.
The setup is almost identical to the way a traditional cab service would work. People who need rides submit a request through ridesharing apps. You are then notified that someone in your area (which is inside the parameters you set) would like a ride somewhere. You pick them up and bring them to their destination. That’s it. The app takes care of handling the transaction, so there’s no need for you to worry about taking cash or giving out change.
By taking up this job, you become your own boss. Things such as when you work are completely up to you as well. Some weeks, you may only have an hour or two on your hands, while other weeks, you may have enough time to work full days.
5. Let other people drive people around
Maybe you don’t actually want to add hours to your workweek by driving other people around, delivering their food, or transporting their things. Maybe you don’t exactly love the idea of plastering your vehicle and getting your car wrapped with advertisements, either.
The good news is that, for people like you, it’s still possible to make money from your cars. In fact, you can make money from your cars without ever getting behind the wheel.
You don’t even need to pause Netflix.
HyreCar is a service that connects people who own cars with people who don’t but would like to use them to drive for Uber or Lyft. As those two services aren’t going away anytime soon, they will continue to represent opportunities to make money for people who own cars.
However, now, automobile owners don’t actually have to do the driving in order to make money. Their schedules can remain exactly the same while their bank accounts benefit.
Imagine spending a weekend at home relaxing and knowing that you’re getting paid the entire time.
Imagine if the next time you left your car at home while you went on vacation, it was busy providing you with a passive income for your trip.
Start putting your car to work
Cars, although very convenient, can also be an expensive asset – just think about the money you have to spend on gas, insurance, maintenance, and so on. The truth is that if you want your car to last you a lifetime, you have to invest quite a bit of money in it.
However, nowadays, thanks to all the opportunities the gig economy provides you with, your car can pay for itself. And even if you don’t need extra cash at the moment, owning a car gives you a great opportunity to pay down debt, save for retirement, or just put some extra room in your budget for emergency situations, or a much-needed vacation.
As you can see, it really doesn’t take a lot of work. Depending on what you prefer the most, you can fill your spare time with things like delivering food from local restaurants, delivering packages, helping people move, using your car as an advertising tool, and so much more. And if you don’t feel like working, that’s okay too, since you can let other people use your car when you don’t need it for some extra income.
Making money with your car – Frequently Asked Questions
How do I become a delivery driver?
Well, the easiest way to become one of the delivery drivers is to sign up to a legitimate company that offers such gigs, like Uber Eats, DoorDash, Instacart, or Amazon Flex, just to name a few.
Most delivery services don’t have strict requirements – they include things like having a car and valid insurance coverage. There might also be an age requirement. Additionally, most also perform a background check to make sure that you have a clean driving record. Once they accept you, you will receive access to the application where you will see all the available requests.
How much can I earn with my car?
There isn’t a straightforward answer, as everything depends on several factors, such as what type of job you take on, in what city (usually workers in major cities tend to earn more money), how many hours you work, whether you can get tips in your job, etc. However, most people earn more than the minimum wage. Often food delivery drivers earn more because of the tips.
How do I get paid?
This again depends on the company you sign up to. However, generally speaking, most will require you to have a bank account to which you will receive a direct deposit once a week. Some also allow you to withdraw money on demand, but that can come at an extra cost.
Disclaimer
Actual earnings may differ and depend on factors like number of deliveries completed, time of day, location, and expenses. Hourly pay is calculated using average Dasher payouts while on a delivery (from the time you accept an order until the time you drop it off) over a 90 day period and includes compensation from peak pay, tips, and other incentives.
