Your car is your great pride and invaluable aid. You use it to go to work, take your kids to school and bring them back home, deliver food from a supermarket, and drive to a resort with your family in the summer. But did you know that your car is also a good asset that can help you earn money on the side? Let us give you some advice on how you can get extra income from your pickup, sedan, minivan, or any other type of vehicle you own.
1. Turn your car into a taxi
Nowadays, there are many services that offer drivers to register with them and pay for delivering passengers to their destinations. The most famous examples are Uber and Lyft. Here are the benefits you get when you decide to cooperate with companies like these:
- Flexible schedule. It’s up to you to decide when you want to work.
- Information on passengers. Some taxi services tell you about your next passenger in advance. Thus, you can either agree or decline to give them a ride. That’s a feature that female drivers should appreciate.
- Various opportunities to earn money above the average. You can opt to work very late in the evening, early in the morning, or during peak hours. That will give you extra cash.
- You get all tips. Some taxi services allow drivers to keep all tips their passengers leave them.
- Decent pay. It’s not rare for drivers to earn up to $800 in a single week.
That said, not every driver is eligible for registering with a taxi service. The general requirements include the following:
- The driver must be 21 years of age and have proven 1-year driving experience on the US roads.
- The car must be comparatively new (10 years or less), and have four doors and 4-passenger seating capacity. It must also be insured in the state and properly registered.
2. Become a personal driver
This method is particularly suitable for people with luxury cars such as Limo. Here, you have several groups of potential customers.
- Entrepreneurs and professional people like lawyers. They are very busy and need to get around a great deal. That’s when a private driver is the best choice.
- People who want to spend an evening out in style. With a personal driver, they may not worry about driving home after a couple of glasses of wine or beer.
- Young couples on their wedding day. They may hire you to take them to a church, restaurant, hotel, or another place along this invariable route.
- Tourists. If you know the place where you live inside out, you may like the idea of arranging sightseeing tours for visitors. You may do some research on the key facts related to your town or city and prepare a tourist guide. Then, talk to the local tourist information and tell them about your service.
3. Deliver food and other items
Apart from new taxi services, you can earn money with many food delivery companies such as UberEATS, Munchery, or DoorDash. With other providers such as Favor Delivery, you may have to collect things from dry cleaning services, for example, and deliver them to the company’s customers. The requirements for drivers are almost identical to those taxi service providers have:
- At least 21 years of age.
- Registered and insured car.
- No previous issues with the road police.
The standard fee ranges from $10 to $18 per hour, plus you can normally keep all tips that customers give you.
4. Help people move their things
If you have a large vehicle such as a van, you can earn money by moving other people’s things. Those can be boxes with personal belongings or pieces of furniture. In many cases, people purchase bulky and heavy items (used or otherwise) and need them delivered right to their front yard. You can also help your customers load and unload the objects, charging them extra for that.
5. Use your car as an advertising vehicle
This is not something that everybody will like. Yet, it is a great way to earn money without actually lifting a finger. All you have to do is let a brand place its advertisements on or/and inside your car. You may think that anyone with a car can take advantage of this passive-income method. However, there are certain requirements that you must meet including these:
- You must be a good, law-abiding driver with a clean record. That’s because a reckless car owner may spoil the brand’s reputation.
- You have to drive a great deal, especially during peak times. That way, most brand’s potential customers can see the ads.
The payment options vary from company to company. Some pay drivers monthly, others only once for the whole advertising period.
6. Organize a carpool
Carpooling can be beneficial for you in two major ways:
- Some cities give money to drivers who carpool to work. That’s because carpoolers contribute to the improvement of the traffic situation. For example, in Washington, D.C., a carpool driver may get as much as $130 in three months.
- Carpooling reduces the gas bill. You can surely find three people in your community who would like to share your car instead of having to fight for a seat in a morning train. They will pay you for the trip, and you can spend this money on fuel.
So, pick one of those methods and let your vehicle earn money for you. A word of caution, though: make sure your car insurance covers any of those business ideas before you begin implementing them.
