Looking for ways to make money with your car? We had RSG contributor Tyler Philbrook get creative with all the various ways to make money using your car.
It’s not all rideshare and delivery here – Tyler’s found some unique and lucrative ways to use your car and make money below!
How To Make Money With Your Car
Here is a list of ways to make money with your car, no matter your skills, there is something for everyone.
- Deliver Food
- Rent Out Your Car
- Advertise On Your Car
- Drive For Uber or Lyft
- Deliver Other Goods
- Be A Local Tour Guide
- Be A Handyman
- Help People Move
- Use Your Car To Scrap
1. Deliver Food with Uber Eats, Postmates, or DoorDash
For many, the first way to make money with your car is to deliver food. You could call restaurants that offer delivery such as pizza places, Chinese food, or sub shops, and ask them if they are hiring. Or you could sign up for one of the many delivery services out there such as Uber Eats, DoorDash, or Postmates.
These food delivery apps are easy to sign up for. Just give your basic information, the type of vehicle you’re using, and hit the road.
This is one of the best per-mile money-making opportunities I have found – in just 3 days of driving, I made $25/hour.
2. Rent Out Your Car
Do you have more than one vehicle? Or maybe you are now working from home where before you had a commute? Consider renting out your vehicle to others!
This is a great way to make some extra cash, without having to “do work”. The two big names here are Turo and Hyrecar. Learn more about Turo and other vehicle-renting options here.
Still nervous about renting your car? Check out our review of HyreCar.
3. Make Money with Your Car Through Advertising
If you already have a captive audience with your Uber or Lyft passengers, advertising can be an amazing way to make money with your car.
Signing up for services like Vugo can increase the money you are making already. The passengers will get something to look at, play games, watch short films, etc. and you’ll make some extra money.
Don’t drive for a rideshare company? You can still make money from advertising by wrapping your car. Sites like Wrapify or Carvertise will pay you flat fees for putting a wrap on your car. Read our Wrapify Driver Review here.
4. Drive For Uber or Lyft
Driving people around in your car may seem scary at first, but can actually be a lot of fun. Not to mention, it’s a great way to make money.
Not only do you make money for driving, but if you also advertise as we mentioned, it’s like “double-dipping” or, working smarter, not harder.
Getting started for Lyft, Uber, or any other rideshare service is easy. Sign up with Uber and sign up with Lyft, fill out some information about yourself, go through a background check process, and then you’ll be ready to go.
5. Make Money with Your Car By Delivering Goods
Delivering food from restaurants is not the only delivery option. With services like Instacart, Shipt, and Amazon Flex you can deliver groceries, alcohol, or office supplies.
Instacart shoppers have told us they earn $13-25 an hour with Instacart, but a lot of this depends on when and where you drive. Learn more about Instacart shopper pay, plus tips on how to earn more.
Shipt is another great goods-and-groceries service to earn with. Read more about Shipt at our Shipt vs. Instacart breakdown.
Signing up is a simple process and can have you making extra money with your car in no time.
6. Be A Local Tour Guide with Your Car
Airbnb is for more than just finding a cheap place to stay – you can also buy tours from locals there. Or, more importantly, you can be a local tour guide.
Want to make money with your car? Get creative! Live near a beach? Show people the “best beach spots”.
Have historical buildings in your city? Learn about them, then create a tour about them.
Or, just take them to the best beer in town. In many cases, these local tour guides price themselves according to the competition in the area – if another ‘beer tour guide’ in your city is charging $30 per person, you might charge $28 to undercut him/her and get some start up business.
Or you may charge $80 and offer a ‘premium experience’ based on your knowledge – or connections!
Whatever you decide, you can make some extra money with your car.
Note: In this case, your best bet may be driving yourself to these locations and making your tour walkable or virtual, at least until COVID is over. Once COVID dissipates, you can return to being a local, rentable tour guide and offer to show people around in your car.
7. Make Money with Your Car as a Handyman
Do you have some skills with your hands? Can you fix a leaky toilet, a fallen towel bar, or hang some curtains? Fill your car up with the needed tools, get any necessary licenses, and start making some extra money.
We recommend getting started with a service like Thumbtack to offer your services at the beginning. Learn more about Thumbtack Pro here and read our Thumbtack review for more info.
8. Move People with Your Car
Moving is one of the most difficult, stressful, most unfun things in existence. This is why whole companies have been created to do it for you!
However, not everyone can afford to hire one of those companies, relying on themselves or friends and family to help them.
With so little overhead, you can make money with your car by underbidding those companies by a lot and make some extra money filling your car, van, or truck up and helping friends, family, or friends of friends and family.
If you choose to do this, make sure you get some things down in writing, especially protecting yourself from items damaged while moving. If you’re a really good mover and buy moving equipment (like a dolly, straps, and moving blankets), chances are you’ll be fine, but get it documented just in case!
9. Use Your Car To Scrap or Haul Junk
Scrapping metal can make you a decent amount of money, but where do you find it? Everywhere.
People do work around their house and leave the scrap to be picked up by trash. If you get it first, load your car up with however much it can hold, and head to the nearest scrap yard.
Depending on how large your vehicle is you can make $50 to $200 in a few hours.
In addition to that, offer your services as a junk hauler! The best ways to get started are pretty easy:
- A truck with an open bed will make this easier (and cleaner) for you
- Offer your services on Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace, etc. at first since this is free
- Let friends and family know you can haul junk for a fee, too
- When someone contacts you about removing their junk (generally old furniture, or demolition trash like old tiles, carpet, etc.), ask them to text you pictures of the mess
- Many junk haulers charge at least $50 an hour – you can also charge more if it’s a large or heavy mess
- Head to your customer’s place, pick up their junk, haul it to your city’s landfill or dumping grounds (some cities charge a minimal fee) – done!
Things To Consider Before Using Your Car To Earn Extra Money
Before you hit the road there are some things you need to think about. First, though we call these “side hustles”, they are a business and thus some of them require extra insurance. Rideshare driving, being a handyman, helping people move are all things that could require extra insurance. Check your state for specifics on what’s required.
Considering rideshare driving? We have a whole list of rideshare insurance options by state here.
Taxes are a huge concern as well. None of this money you are making will be taxed, so you’ll have to pay not only personal but business tax as well. This means you need a good way to keep track of your expenses and income.
Apps like Expensify, QuickBooks, or GoDaddy bookkeeping can all help with this. Stride is also a great option for taxes, plus Stride tracks your mileage as well. Learn all about rideshare taxes here.
Finally, the value of your car will depreciate. While it’s true if the car sits and does nothing it will also depreciate, using it and putting miles on the car will make the car devalue much faster. If you are making money with your car, make sure that the money you make more than makes up the loss of the value of the car.
FAQs
Which driving app (including driving, delivering, etc.) pays the most?
It depends on where you live, the type of car you drive, and the hours you drive. Shipt and Instacart may put less wear and tear on your car but take you longer while shopping. UberEats may make more money than Uber or Lyft in some areas, although in smaller cities you will want to combine both rideshare and delivery driving.
Is there an app that pays you to drive?
Yes, apps such as Uber, Lyft, Postmates, Amazon Flex, or Instacart all pay you to drive.
Which companies will pay you to advertise on your car?
You can use services such as Firefly, Wrapify, or Carvertise will either wrap your car or put a LED sign on top of the car. They will then give you a monthly amount of money – drivers report earning $100-300 a month.
What if I don’t have a car?
No problem, services such as Hyrecar or Turo have you covered. Rent a car for a day, week, month, or longer and make some extra money with your car. Which one of these ways would you try to make money with your car?
