Published 4 August 2010
Rachel Wait
Why not use your car to make some extra cash?
Last weekend, as I was driving along, I started to wonder how I ever used to manage without a car. To be honest, it’s not like I really need a car. After all, I live in London so there’s plenty of public transport to hop on and off. But having a car is still pretty useful at times.
Of course, the major drawback to owning a car is that it can be really expensive. By the time you’ve paid for tax, insurance, the MOT, and of course, petrol, your bank account really does start to look a little worse for wear.
But what if I told you your car could also be a source of income? Yes, it’s true. Just take a look at the following five ways to make money from your car!
Rent it out
The number of items you can rent out to others is rapidly increasing. Most of you probably know you can rent out a room under the government’s Rent a Room scheme. And if you have a driveway going spare you can also rent that out using websites such as YourParkingSpace and ParkatmyHouse
But did you know you can also rent out your car?
WhipCar is a website which allows drivers to rent out their car for money whenever they’re not using it. The service matches people who want to borrow a car with those people who have a car to rent out. It’s that simple. So if you only use your car at the weekend, perhaps you could rent it out during the week to someone who needs it for the school run?
Or if you only use your car for the commute to work during the week, why not rent it out to someone who requires a car for a getaway over the weekend?
WhipCar automatically screens all cars joining the service and all drivers booking cars. You can accept or decline each booking and membership is free! You also get to set your own rental price!
Just bear in mind your car cannot be more than eight years old, and it must have a valid MOT and road tax, as well as existing insurance.
Rachel Robson takes a look at which car brands come out best in terms of value for money.
Advertise
If you don’t mind having your car plastered in advertising, you could consider allowing businesses to use your car as advertising space for a set period.
If you agree to this, it’s likely your car will be wrapped in a self-adhesive colour printed film – known as a carwrap. You can usually decide how much of your car you want covered, and how much you earn will depend on this.
For example, at Autocarwraps.com, you’ll receive £200 a month for having your car completely covered (apart from the front windows), or £150 a month for having half of the car covered.
Meanwhile, Comm-motion.com breaks this down even further so that you can earn up to £220 a month for covering the whole car (apart from windscreen), £185 a month for having the doors, side-panels, bonnet and rear of the car covered, or £150 a month for only covering the door panels and part wings, along with an image on the bonnet and/or rear of the car.
However, if you’re going to do this, check with your car insurance company to see whether having advertisements on the car bodywork will increase your premiums. It’s also important to ensure the company you’ve signed up with fits the adverts professionally so that damage to your car is minimised.
You should also read the small print carefully before you sign up. Some companies will require you to sign up to a contract which lasts a couple of years.
Become a courier
Another option you could consider is to become a courier. If you do a lot of driving, why not see whether someone needs a package delivered en-route? A really easy way to do this is to use Stuff2send.com. This nifty little site allows you to register as a courier and get paid to drop off someone’s stuff.
Once you’ve signed up (it’s free to join), you can then search for items in the areas you’ll be travelling to and from. You will also receive an email when a new item is listed on the website. You can then choose the items you want to deliver and bid for them. If the ‘sender’ chooses you, you can then finalise the details of the transaction. You can find out more here.
Car share
Okay, so technically this isn’t making money – it’s more of a way to save money - but you could consider car sharing. If you live near some of your colleagues, why not give them a lift to work and then split the cost of the petrol?
Or if you regularly do the school run, why not offer to pick up some other parents along the way?
If you’re not sure who to ask, you could always look at the website CarShare which helps you to find other people travelling the same way as you – so you can easily share your journeys. According to the website, sharing a daily commute could save members well over £1,000 a year!
Just bear in mind that you can’t make a profit from car sharing – if you do, you are likely to invalidate your insurance and tax. However, all that money you save on petrol bills through car sharing can be put towards other things – such as your savings account, bills and everyday expenditure! What’s more, you’ll be helping the environment!
Sell it!
Finally, of course, you could simply sell your car. If you don’t use it on a regular basis and you know you could easily manage without it, perhaps now is the time to get rid!
There are several options for doing this. You could simply sell it privately by advertising in the local newspaper, or by putting an advertisement on your car window. Alternatively, you could sell it to a local car dealer garage. Or if you're feeling brave, you could try to sell it through an online auction. However, this can be risky and you could end up losing a lot of money!
Good luck!
No comments:
Post a Comment