If you have a car/vehicle or even a spare parking space, you can make a few quid every month!
Here are six ways you can monetise your motor to help earn some extra money, to help top up your household budget during these difficult financial times.
Rent Out Your Driveway Or Parking Space
With the rising parking costs in the UK, more and more people are making money by renting out their driveways! You can earn money by allowing people to use your driveway to park their vehicle when you aren't making use of it. This could be during the day, when you are at work, at the weekend, overnight, while you are away on holiday etc. Perhaps you don't have a car but a driveway going to waste that could be used to earn you some cash, or you have a driveway for two vehicles but only have one?
Companies such as Just Park or Your Parking Space make it simple by listing your driveway/space on their website, so people looking for a parking space can find your drive and book it online. When it comes to what people will pay to use your facilities, it will depend on your location and availability. If you happen to be located within a close locality to a railway station, city centre, stadium, etc., then you are probably going to be more in demand and will be able to get more money for your space than if you are based in the middle of nowhere.
It's all about supply and demand, of course! You can set your own pricing if you would like to, the website shows you what the people/parking facilities close to you are charging to help you to offer competitive pricing, or Just Park will suggest a price for you based on your location and the average pricing in your area for you.
It's pretty clever; their system knows if something is happening locally, that can bump up your price and automatically change the pricing. For example, I'm located within a 5-minute walk of a football stadium, and my pricing automatically increases when there is a big match on, so I can profit from the extra demand for parking spaces during this event, which is really helpful and somewhat clever!
Rent Out Your Camper Van
If you have a camper van or caravan, you could look to rent this out to holidaymakers and earn extra money. Companies such as Goboony allow you to list your motorhome/camper on its website and accept bookings for people to hire and use your vehicle.
They charge you £15 a day for each day your vehicle has been hired and is in use, which includes all insurance, and the rest of the daily charge is yours to keep, which will help offset what it costs you to own the vehicle, and could earn turn you a profit!
Rent Out Your Car
Hiyacar, the UK's longest-trading peer-to-peer car-sharing platform, offers car owners across the UK a great, hassle-free way of making extra money off their motor, could be a great way to earn some extra cash, with some car owners in London earning up to £550 a month, and car owners outside London, earning up to £300 a month!
The service allows people to rent your car, for which you will be paid a fee, and the app/renter covers the insurance costs, so if something does go wrong, you won't be out of pocket.
Your car is fitted with an easy automated authentication and verification, state-of-the-art keyless car access technology system, so no physical key is needed, giving you more security and the renters less hassle. The keyless system also offers GPS tracking, so you will always know where your car is!
The service is also great value for those looking to rent a car, with hourly rates from around £2 per hour (excluding insurance costs), so it's a great alternative to paying over-inflated hire company rental rates.
All the info on signing up to rent your car or renting a car is on the Hiyacar website.
Become a Delivery Driver
Being a delivery driver has become a popular way for drivers to earn a few extra pounds, and there are many options. Food delivery apps such as Deliveroo, Uber Eats and Just Eat will pay you, per delivery, for delivering food and groceries to customers.
I've done this in the past, and it can be an excellent way to earn some extra cash. You can decide when you want to work, so it's handy for those people needing to fit making money around other obligations or work. You will need to have a reliable car and will have to factor in the cost of fuel and wear and tear on your vehicle, and will require a smartphone, as all the food delivery apps are app based. You will also have to pay additional insurance while driving for profit, as your standard car insurance will not cover you for 'hire and reward' services. The insurance is usually charged by the hour and is anything up to about £1 per hour, and this is paid to a specialist insurance company, which uses an app to monitor when you are working and therefore covered under their insurance.
The fee the delivery companies pay you varies depending on the distance you have to travel from the collection address to the delivery address. Generally, the further away it is, the more you earn. It can also depend on the time of day, as you may find the fees are given a 'boost' during busier times to get as many drivers out on the road as possible, or they may increase fees if there is a shortage of drivers, and they want you to come out and deliver.
You won't get rich, but depending on where you are located, you can still make decent money, especially in the evenings and weekends. With more and more retailers signing up with the delivery apps, it can get pretty busy!
You can also consider signing up to work as an Amazon Flex driver, and Amazon will then pay you to deliver their orders to their customers. You may be delivering regular Amazon Prime orders or could be delivering Amazon Fresh food orders, and you do need to have a 5-door type car to participate, as a smaller car won't necessarily fit all the parcels!
Amazon Prime orders are normally around 30 - 40 parcels, all of which are typically delivered within a reasonably small area (although you may need to travel a little way to get from the Amazon pick-up station to the delivery area). The Amazon Fresh and Morrisons orders (Amazon drivers also deliver Morrisons orders that have been via the Amazon app or website) usually have fewer deliveries to make ( although you will still need a decent-sized car as one delivery could be 10 or 15 parcels!), perhaps up to 8 stops. Still, these can be over a wider area, so you may find you put more miles on the car, but this is a better option for me, as I prefer fewer stops!
Until November 2022, Amazon provides additional insurance for you (while working for Amazon); however, from November, you will have to pay around 65p an hour for insurance which works in a similar way to Deliveroo and Uber Eats.
In regards to money, Amazon pays £15.50 per hour for the standard Amazon Prime delivery and £16.50 per hour for Amazon Fresh deliveries, but during busier times, they up the rates, and you may find you are offered up to about £22.00 per hour, but it's very hit and miss for enhanced rates!
The rates may increase slightly in November 2022 to help compensate drivers needing to pay for their own insurance. Remember you also have to pay for your fuel, so the longer the journey, the more fuel you use and the less profit you make, so some deliveries are better paying than others.
Add Advertising To Your Car
Did you know advertisers will pay you to have their adverts attached to your car? Companies such as Car Quids and Drovo may pay you between £100 and 3150 per month by having adverts on your vehicle.
The amount you are paid will depend on where you are located and the amount of driving you do regularly. Generally, the more you are out and about, the more the adverts are likely to be seen, and so the more you may be paid; after all, the advertisers want as many people as possible to see their adverts! Someone driving around London daily will be paid more than someone parked on a small side road for visibility reasons.
The vehicle will need to be owned by the driver, not leased or on finance, and must be in good condition, legal and roadworthy, and the driver must hold a full, clean driving licence.
You will also need to speak to your car insurer as the advertising is classed as a vehicle alteration, which may affect your insurance contract/premium.
Work As A Driver
London Cabbies hate Uber Drivers, but if you have a car, you could sign up with Uber as a driver and earn money from driving people around!
Like the delivery drivers, Uber drivers will need to pay an insurance premium, have criminal checks made, and have a fair bit of fuel costs and wear and tear in their vehicle, but it is another way for a car owner to earn some extra money, again with the benefit of being able to work what hours suit them.
The bigger the area you live in, the more you can earn, as a more extensive area means more people and therefore more potential customers, but that said, even in smaller areas, there is the opportunity to make quite good money still, as there may be fewer rival drivers around and therefore giving you the better opportunity to grab a customer!
You will need to speak to your car insurer to let them know what you plan to do, as not all insurers will not accept the 'top up insurance' that Uber offers, which allows the driver to accept paying customers, and certainly speak to your insurer before you sign up to Uber, as you may find if you tell your insurer you've already signed up, they make void your refuse you to buy insurance through them again, and this can then make it harder for you to buy any insurance from any insurance provider! Always ask first.
If you monetise your car in a different way, let us know!