Getting Paid to Drive Your Own Car

Especially with the price of oil and therefore gas at the pumps, seeming to have an infinite ceiling, anything that might reduce our cost of motoring must surely be welcome. Right?

Well, the honest answer is a cautious “maybe”, even if the first, reactive answer was a resounding YES!

The ultimate in cost reduction wouldn’t be the title of this brief article; it’s actually getting to drive a free car! Are you already asking How? If you live in the US, Canada and the UK particularly, it’s not too hard to find companies that are willing to pay to qualified applicants. Even France and Spain also have a number, and it’s growing too in Australia.

Why do they pay? Simple. They pay you to carry advertisements on your car, or the free one they give you. I should state at this point that the actual chances of qualifying to be given a free car covered in an advert are pretty slim. You’d need to live in a major city, with a spotlessly clean driving record, drive at least 25,000 miles a year, preferably double that, and be prepared to park your somewhere at night where it is still going to be secure, but widely seen. You must wash it at least weekly, have it maintained to the manufacturer’s specs and avoid accidents at all costs! Actually the maintenance is usually paid by the sponsor and all you have to pay is the gas, insurance and road tax. In some countries you may have to pay an advertising license too, although the sponsors will usually pay for this.

Far more people will qualify for schemes which pay you to drive your own car, also of course, carrying an advert. With most schemes, you don’t get to choose which ad can now adorn your car, but you can refuse one which you don’t like. However, doing that will put you back in the queue again, for these are very popular schemes.

You might carry ads by some very well known names, such as:

* Yahoo!

* Sony

* Toshiba

* ABC

* HBO

* IBM

* Tic-Tac mints and so on

* Smaller local companies also take advantage of this form of mobile advertising.

Naturally, the more your car is wrapped in the ad, even almost 100% (except the windscreen and most of the rest of the windows), the more you’ll be paid. Living in a major city, such as Los Angeles, Toronto, London, Paris or Madrid, will push up your pay too (New York is a no-no unfortunately, as mobile advertising is banned in NYC). Schemes vary enormously, but most have sponsors who will pay anything from around $400 per month up to as much as $3,000 or slightly more. These very high payers are few and far between, but who among us would turn down $4-500 pm as extra income?

You should be very wary, however, of spending any money, no matter how small, before you’re as satisfied as you can be as to the honesty and integrity of the web sites offering this type of deal. You should know that it is not the advertisers or even the advertising agencies themselves who offer to you directly, but third party service providers, not all of whom, sad to say, are genuine.

The best would be those where you can confirm that sponsors do exist in, or close to where you live before you sign up. Too many sites want you to pay first, and only then will they provide you with the directory of sponsors. Don’t touch these sites with a barge pole.

If this is something that interests you, and you live in a country where the schemes are available, then by all means give it a try. If you know of people who’ve already done this, speak with them and get their first hand opinions. However, if you’re ready to try the scheme, and follow some of the advice here, you should be fine.