I’m always amazed at how some families can do without their car – between the school and nursery run, kids activities and social calendar, shopping, visiting friends and relatives, and just getting about comfortably and warmly with two young children the only time when I don’t need my car is when I’m asleep!
But the truth is, there is internet shopping, we could do a school run share with another family, and we could use (dare I say it), public transport more.
All of those things would save us time, and money, but how else can you save or earn money with you family car?
Rent it out
If you don’t use your car during the week, at weekends, or when on holiday, then why don’t you rent it out and get paid for it? Or if you have two cars but only need to run both at specific times, you can put one of them to work when it’s not needed.Websites like WhipCar.com allows drivers to rent out their car for money whenever they’re not using it and this can be hours, days or weeks, and you can set your own charges. The service matches people who want to borrow a car with those people who have a car to rent out.
Make money with you parking space or driveway
If your driveway is empty during the day, or you have off-road parking spaces that are free during the day, why not make some money with it?
ParkatmyHouse.com which hooks up owners of empty driveways and off-road parking spaces with motorists looking for convenient and cost-effective places to park.
Most parking space owners can expect to earn around £30 per week, but if you live near a major sporting or music venue, an airport, a major train station, or in the middle of a city centre, where demand for parking is high, you can earn much more. The company says that some users are earning
as much as £3,000 a year.
Do pick ups and deliveries
If you like driving, and have a van, a 4×4, a people carrier or an estate car, then you could make some extra money collecting and delivering other people’s parcels for a fee.
Website, Anyvan.com connects people who need items moved with people who can collect and deliver the goods. On average, car drivers can make around £70 on a single journey of 300 miles, effectively covering the cost of the
petrol.
If they are making on average one long journey per week, that is £280 every month of extra income for the slight inconvenience of making a small detour to pick up and deliver goods. So, next time you are going on that long drive to the country, remember that you can earn money on your way, too.
Advertise on your car
We see it everyday, but somehow become blind sighted to it – vehicles with branding on them, unless we’re looking out for the gas man who’s coming to fix the boiler, or the cable company coming to install broadband or something.
But cars can hold advertising, too – and earn money doing it.
This is a two-prong approach:
1. If you don’t run a business, but don’t mind you car carrying advertising, companies like Autocarwraps.com pay around £200 a month to completely wrap (cover) your car (apart from the front windows) with advertising, or £150 a month for having half of the car covered.
2. If you run your own business, why don’t you promote it on you car? This is especially good for local businesses, if you do most of your driving in your local area.
You can choose to go the whole distance and have your vehicle completely wrapped, or just use bumper stickers, which you can pick up online for less than a tenner.
If you go with option 2, remember to check with your car insurance provider to make sure that your policy can cover you – some car insurance companies require you to take out a different type of insurance policy when using your car for business purposes.
Sell your car
If you don’t use it, or it costs you too much in fuel or maintenance and repairs, you could always go green and sell your car…
