Prudent and Practical

Recently I ran across an interesting car question on a forum I frequently visit.  I got to wondering how you can make money by driving.  Some of these options use your own car, others don’t.

1 – Be an Independent Contractor. Here I’m talking specifically about being an errand runner.  You can do small jobs for the elderly, new moms, and busy people.  Jobs might be getting groceries, going to the post office, or delivering items around town.

2 – A new concept to me is having your car wrapped.  The company puts a high quality removable advertisement over your entire car.  One company that does this is Car Wraps.  There are quite a few other sites that offer this, so do your research before applying.  It may take days or months to get picked.  Some clients are picky about the size and type of car  that will bear their ad while others require you to drive a certain number of miles.  If you have a unique automobile, drive a lot, and live in a big city, you have a better chance of getting picked.  The ad may need to be on your car from a couple months to a couple years and you can get paid up to $900 per month!  Like mystery shopping, do not pay a site to give you a list of companies.

Of the five companies, I only found Better Business Bureau reports for two of them.

• Ad Smart – for those on the NE coast
• Ad Wraps – see their BBB report card here.
  
• Ad Wraps UK
• Car Wraps
• Driven Media - see their BBB report card here.
  

There are three directories that apparently list smaller, regional car wrap companies.  I’m leery of paying for directory listings since I’ve been scammed before, so I have not paid to check them out.

3 – A way to make money driving is to be a test driver for car dealerships.  I first read about this on Centsible.net.  You can make $25-$50, usually in the form of gift cards, per drive.  I signed up for a couple companies newsletters and haven’t heard anything in over one year, but I do live in a smaller town.  According to Centsible:

You will need to get on the mailing lists of these car manufacturers, and read what they send you! Be sure to enter all competitions put on by these automobile manufacturers, and keep up to date on our forums. We have two boards on test driving: one where you can sign up online for test drives, the other where you can get a heads up on offers that are arriving in the mail.

Bonus -  This last idea is not a money making idea but a money saving idea.  I still  have not fixed my car.  D’s parents mentioned recently that if we’re not driving it, to shut the insurance off until we decide to start using it again.  This would save us approximately $40 per month.  I wish I would have known about this before as we could have saved almost $200 by now.  Since mystery shopping has slowed down with the economy, I only use D’s car for the big jobs once or twice per month, so being a one car household is currently working for us.  I left a message for my insurance agent, so I’ll let you know what they say when I hear back.

I hope I’ve opened your eyes a little and given you some ideas on how to put some extra cash in your pockets.  If you have other ideas not listed here or opinions, I’d love to hear from you!

Photo courtesy of Free Digital Photos.