Filed under: Misc. Auto Shows, Motorcycle

After months of teasing, Ducati is finally premiering the 2015 Scrambler at the Intermot 2014 motorcycle show in Cologne, Germany, but this reinterpreted retro bike doesn’t actually hit the streets until Janua…

Filed under: Cadillac, Luxury

Cadillac is in the midst of some big changes. It’s got a new chief executive. It’s taking some distance from parent company General Motors and moving to a new headquarters in New York. And it’s instituting a new naming sc…

Filed under: Performance, BMW, Misc. Auto Shows, Motorcycle

The BMW S 1000 RR is already a pretty potent member of the superbike ranks, but BMW is revealing a host of upgrades for this two-wheeled lightning bolt at the Intermot 2014 motorcycle show th…

Filed under: Podcasts, Classics, Paris Motor Show, BMW, Cadillac, Subaru

Episode #398 of the Autoblog Podcast is here, and this week, Dan Roth, Brandon Turkus, and Rob Sass of Hagerty Classic Cars Magazine talk about Cadillac’s move to Manhattan and n…

Filed under: Classics, Coupe, Performance, Videos, Pontiac

Generation Gap is mining the Lingenfelter collection again this week to compare two very different interpretations of the Pontiac Firebird. An original 1968 example goes toe-to-toe with a 2010…

Filed under: Government/Legal, Celebrities

There is such a thing as “bad public relations.” We aren’t fully sure Walmart understands this, considering that the retail giant is now blaming the injuries comedian Tracy Morgan suffered after his limo bus …

Filed under: Concept Cars, Misc. Auto Shows, Motorcycle

We don’t get to cover the ins and outs of the motorcycle world as much as we’d like, but there was no way we could skip bringing you the latest announcement of the Kawasaki Ninja H2R.

Great Gall…

These days who isn’t thinking about making a little extra money on the side? With the cost of living and fuel prices increasing, we could all do with some cash to add to the pile. Many of us are becoming savvier about not only saving money, but also making money, with hundreds of at-home options, from online surveys to selling our unwanted stuff on eBay. But what about the potential your car has to increase your income? There are a few things you can try (although some of them may not seem too appealing if you have a very close attachment to your car..!)

If you’re not overly worried about the state of your car:

Rent out your car

You can rent out your car at times when you don’t need it, and make some serious money in the process. There are some prerequisites, e.g. your car must not be more than 10 years old, and it should have less than 120,000 miles on the clock, but it’s free to sign up and you choose when your car is available, and which hires to accept or reject.

If you happen to be the type who lovingly tends to their car, you might want to reconsider. Although you are fully insured by companies like easyCar Club who allow you to rent out your car through their platform, it still might be heart breaking to see any damage done to your prized possession.

However, the latest stats suggest that our cars go unused 95% of the time, which seems pretty mad! So renting out your car could be a good way to cut down on this inefficiency and increase your cash flow at the same time.

It’s possible to make £250+ per month renting out your car, which is a fairly sizeable amount.

Advertise on your car

You can choose to sell your entire car exterior for advertising space, or just a section. Car ‘wrapping’ involves an adhesive vinyl wrap being placed around part of or your entire car. The wraps are specially designed so they won’t do any damage to your car, and if the paintwork is affected or any other damage occurs, the company will cover this. According to one site, the wraps can actually protect the paintwork of your car. You can get a decent amount for doing it, although some companies require you to drive a certain amount of miles before you actually receive any money. You can also refuse advertising offers if you don’t feel comfortable having a particular product plastered over your car…

Depending on how much of your car is covered, you can earn up to £220 per month. 

If you enjoy driving for the hell of it:

Become a courier 

If you take long journeys often, or occasionally, this could be the perfect option for you – you can become a courier and transport peoples’ valuables across the country (or world!) It’s good for the environment too – the site AnyVan.com alone claims to have helped eliminate nearly 3 million miles worth of journeys!

And if you just simply love to drive, why not take advantage of a good excuse to get out on the road, and have your fuel paid for in the process?! (Although this does weaken the ‘environmentally-friendly’ argument somewhat!)

You can get around £50 per 150 miles, so depending on circumstances, you could easily cover your fuel costs and have a fair bit left over to play with.

Become a driver

You could set up your own ad hoc taxi service in your free time and become a driver. You can sign up online with sites like Uber – the site currently receives hundreds of thousands of new sign-ups each week across the world – which allows people to request a driver in their area to take them where they need to go.

There is some controversy surrounding the service, with protests in various countries from taxi drivers and the fact that it is currently banned in Germany, but the regulatory authorities in the UK have accepted it and it is becoming a pretty legitimate option.

Earnings are entirely dependent on when and how much you work, but on average £15-£25 per hour seems to be a ballpark figure for London.

Two extra bonus options:

Rent out your driveway/garage

Whatever your circumstances – whether you have a double driveway and only one car, you drive to work so your parking space goes unused during the day, or you have an empty garage which could fit a car – it’s quite likely you could rent out your parking space for money. This can be pretty lucrative, especially if you live near a train station or stadium, and you can choose whether to rent out your surplus space long-term or just on a daily basis.

You can earn over £2000 a year renting out your driveway – a rather tidy sum we reckon!

Car share

OK, maybe this won’t technically make you money, but it could at least help to cover fuel costs. You can sign up for car sharing schemes online, and find people in your area to accompany you on your journey. This could be for one-off trips or the daily commute – it’s up to you! Your insurance would be affected if you actually made a profit doing it, but otherwise there shouldn’t be any legal or insurance implications. And if you take turns driving, you can clock up fewer miles on your car in the long run too.

Overall, these ideas could help you to make a bit of extra money through one of your most costly assets – your car. You can offset some of the running costs of your car with little to moderate effort – depending how much time and energy you can dedicate to your moneymaking ventures.

And as an added benefit – many of these options are better for the environment too as they cut down on extra driving and/or make use of existing resources, so you can make some money and feel good about it too!

The post Car and Driveway as Untapped Money Makers appeared first on Automotive Blog.

Filed under: Coupe, Performance, Auctions, Ford

Just the other day, we reported on the first Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat selling for a whopping $825,000 at auction. But impressive as that sum was, the Challenger wasn’t the only sought-after modern mu…

Filed under: EV/Plug-in, On Two Wheels, USA

I recently learned how to summon the ultimate power of the universe. Perhaps surprisingly, it didn’t come about by bending a knee or popping a potion, but rather, through twisting my wrist. I’ll tell you mor…