Driving has nearly become a luxury due to the rising, sky high gas prices, but it has, and always will be, the primary and favorite method of transportation for the majority of the populace. And as any wise person understands, where there is interest and demand, there is profit to be made. Your car can earn you extra money by using it for more than just yourself.
The first method is carpooling. Given the high price of fuel, especially for the high-consumption vehicles, carpooling has become the most common and most economical method of transportation for more than two people heading to the same location. It is normally used by co-workers, who commune together, but you can make it more cost efficient by having all your passengers pay a small fee that gets collected and then used to pay for fuel. By having everyone else kick in, you can afford to fill up your gas tank a little more and go a little longer without doing it on your own dime.
If you are more into the party or club scene, you can capitalize further by acting a “Designated Driver”, taking your dunk and otherwise vehicular impaired colleagues and friends from their current location, to a safer location, such as their home, so they could sober up. This way, no one goes to jail or gets injured in an accident. You should charge a set price to be paid in advance.
If you can’t be bothered to drive someone around, and you trust whoever needs to borrow your car, you can rent it out to them so that they can get along with their lives. It’ll be risky if you don’t have insurance that cover others, but if you know they are safe drivers, there shouldn’t be any reason not to. You should take into consideration how long they need the vehicle for, and how far they intend to travel with it, reminding them to refill the gas tank before they return it.
If you have a large, noticeable vehicle, you can try to advertise using the vehicle as a moving billboard. You can get anywhere from two hundred to six hundred extra dollars that can go inside your pocket. Considering the sheer number of people that will see your vehicle on a normal drive, it is a viable method of advertising that is still popular. In fact, some companies will actually give you a car to drive around for a few years under the proper circumstances.
If you have a vehicle that has reached the end of its rope, then you can still get some use from it by stripping it for parts. The individual pieces of a vehicle are worth more than the vehicle itself, and selling the parts will benefit those who need exact replacements at a fair price. You can find people who need the parts using the internet and a website like Craigslist, since they have the greatest chance of arranging a direct sale.
