If you enjoy spending time in your car, you might be able to parlay that into a nice side hustle for some extra cash. Which prompted me to collect the best ways to make money with your car in this article.
With the proliferation of ridesharing apps and others in an increasingly growing “side gig economy,” there are a lot of reputable ways you can earn money doing side jobs involving your car. The most notable are those where you drive people around… but you can earn money shuttling packages too.
One thing to keep in mind is that all of these side hustles will add miles to your car’s odometer and the associated wear and tear. When you calculate how much you earn, remember to include that in your decisions on what opportunities to take advantage of. You can deduct your mileage when you drive, and you will want to, so keep good records of it so you can use it without fear of a tax audit when it’s time to file.
(if you’re the worrying type, maybe consider audit defense since it’s free)
Here are some of the best ways to make money with your car:
Table of Contents
Deliver Food
If you don’t mind delivering food, you could take a look at driving for DoorDash.
Sometimes you don’t want to deliver people, or risk having to go very far, so consider these two if you don’t mind hustling around food. This is also a good option for folks who don’t have a car all the time – you can deliver DoorDash and uberEATS by scooter and even bicycle!
DoorDash is one of the fastest-growing delivery services I’ve seen in a long time and there are a lot of opportunities on the platform. If you’re wondering if DoorDash is worth it, read our DoorDash review. Then, if you opt to do it, we even have a guide on how to maximize earnings as a DoorDasher written by someone with 6,100+ deliveries!
Deliver Groceries
With Instacart, you can sign up to be a grocery shopper and deliver groceries.
There are two types of jobs in the Instacart world, you can be a “full-service shopper” and an “in-store shopper.”
With the full-service shopper, you’re going to need a car and will shop groceries on-demand. You take on jobs, do the shopping, and deliver the orders. You’ll need a car but you can choose the hours that are best for your schedule.
With the in-store shopper, you’re just shopping in the store and collecting all the items within an order. You have to commit to a schedule, which is flexible, but you only have to shop and do not need a car to do this role.
Just pick the one that works best for you!
Deliver Alcohol
You can deliver alcohol via Instacart in some areas but otherwise you’re left with another platform.
You can make money delivering alcohol (beer, wine, liquor) if you are in an area serviced by Saucey. Saucey is available in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, San Diego, Sacramento, Oakland, Brooklyn, and Dallas. If you are in those markets, you can help meet their 30-minute delivery promise and earn money in the process.
It’s $5 per delivery plus fifty cents per item, plus tips. You can delivery by car, truck, or motorcycle.
Deliver Amazon Packages
AmazonFlex is Amazon’s flexible work program where you deliver packages. If you’ve ever gotten a Same Day Delivery parcel from Amazon, with a carrier of “Carrier: AMZL US,” that’s an Amazon Flex driver. If you live in one of the operating cities, you could make $18-$25 an hour, be your own boss and set your own schedule.
The work itself is straightforward. You get packages and then deliver them using their Android app. When you drop off the package, scan the barcode and move onto the next address.
Drive for Ridesharing Apps
One of the best ways to make money with your car is to drive people around. Apps like Uber and Lyft has changed the way taxis are operated, especially if you live in a suburban area and have no idea who to call if you want a ride to the airport.
Years ago, my parents would pay nearly a hundred dollars for the 60-minute drive from our home to the airport (this was in the 1980s and 1990s, the equivalent of $200+ today). We’d be going to Taiwan for a month so it beat parking at the airport by a longshot. Today, uberX will take me there for $130 – half the price and I don’t need to schedule it days in advance.
This means that if you own a car, you could start earning money in your spare time too. Many of my friends who drive for Uber will fire up the app, see if there are fares, and just grab a few as they wait.
Drive for Families and Kids
HopSkipDrive is a driving service designed to help kids — particularly those from vulnerable groups — get to school or other activities. It originally started as a solution for busy parents who were struggling to coordinate drop-offs and pick-ups, and has now expanded into partnerships with schools, districts, and community organizations.
As a driver for HopSkipDrive, you get to make your own schedule by choosing the rides that work best for you, up to seven days in advance.
The company says they offer a welcome guarantee for new drivers of $500 for 10 completed trips within the first two weeks of your certification. After that, your earnings will vary depending on the area and ride volume.
Not surprisingly, since you’ll be driving children around, you’ll have to go through a more rigorous application process for HopSkipDrive than for most ridesharing apps. For example, you’ll need to prove you have five years of caregiving experience and go through a background check as well as fingerprinting.
Advertise On Your Car
If you do a lot of driving, you might be able to make several hundred dollars a month as a rolling billboard. Register with a company like FreeCarMedia.com or Wrapify.com and they will try to match you with a company that wants to advertise on your regular driving route. If you have any extraordinary driving situations, like your regular commute is a significant distance, include those in your application so potential sponsors know.
Not all advertising opportunities are the full car wrap variety – sometimes it’s as little as a rear window decal you can apply on your own. The full wraps are more lucrative, sometimes up to $400 a month, but the rear window decals can still net you $50+. Not bad!
The main requirements are much like any of the other services on this list – 18+, clean driving record, background and credit check, plus what you’d expect of vehicle maintenance.
Haul Stuff
If you own a truck and don’t mind lifting heavy things, you could join Taskrabbit and haul away people’s stuff. It could be helping them move from one place to another or just hauling a few items down to the dump for them.
Moving / Hauling is one of their biggest categories and becoming a Tasker is easy. The best part is you work at your schedule and pick the ones you want to complete based on your rates. Moving, delivery and hauling are some of their most popular categories.
Which one piques your interest?
Don says
Remember that business use of your car is excluded from standard personal auto insurance policies. If you cause an accident, or injury while performing these types of side hustling, your personal auto policy might decline paying for the claim. You’ll need to get a commercial auto insurance policy to provide coverage. Talk to a reputable insurance agent.
AH says
if you use the apps with Uber or Lyft as independent contractor driver, both company provide the insurance the time your rider click the apps and you end the ride by click your apps.
Lazy Man and Money says
I’ve been thinking of trying out Turo.com, which is a website that lets you rent our your car. I have an old Mustang Convertible with low miles in very good condition.
I’ve been keeping it off the streets for a few years because it wasn’t car seat friendly due to the small back seat.
Because we live in a beach area, I think there could be a might be a small market for it.
Ooooh, you should and let me know how it goes. 🙂
Andrew@LivingRichCheaply says
Mileup seems the easiest but not sure the chances of me winning a sweepstakes. Would have preferred Amazon gift card or something. I do have a long commute so I do rack up a lot of miles. Not sure I’d want to wrap my car in an ad so Wrapify is probably out.
Mr. Smart Money says
I’ve never heard of Amazon Flex before! Will have to do some more research on that side hustle. 🙂
Foxy Michael says
Nice article Jim. Another one here in the UK is Easycar, where you basically rent out your car to other people. Sort of like Airbnb, but for cars 🙂
Sagar Nandwani says
In addition to uber, there is the Lyft app that matches passengers with local destinations. All you need to do is register and pick and drop clients as you go. If you live on a campus or other densely populated area this could be the perfect way to make something extra. There are various subscriptions for app users that will ensure you have the most appropriate package for your ride even if its just to find a group to chip into and make conversation on your commute.
I personal think Lyft app is uch better option than uber.
DNN says
Now I know you’re hip on the times because who uses the word “parlay” nowadays? That word was hot back in the 1990’s in NYC, especially Brooklyn.
When I’m in the vehicle at times and I’m bored, I turn on the speech recognition on my phone and start writing content using my voice. And I save it in a Google Docs document on my smartphone, even if I’m nowhere near a Wi-fi hotspot to transfer the content to the site. Making money with smartphones, cars, blogging, and affiliate marketing would leave one to wonder why they wouldn’t consider a side hustle as a means of earning “good money.”
Mamush says
Are there any other rideshsre platform other than uber and lyft?
Yes but Lyft and Uber are the two biggest.