8 Ways to Make Money With Your Car

On-demand delivery apps make it easy for customers to order food and get it delivered directly to their homes. People can order everything from their weekly groceries to late-night snacks.

As a customer, the perk is convenience, and grocery delivery services might even save you money – it’s much easier to stick to your grocery list when someone else is doing the shopping.

Side hustlers have a growing list of companies they can work for, and many side hustlers drive for multiple companies to increase their chances of making more money.

Food delivery services allow – and sometimes encourage – their drivers to drive for their competitors.

One of the reasons this is such a popular way to make money driving is because you can pick your own schedule and drive when you want. That adds serious flexibility, but some times are busier than others, meaning more opportunities for drivers.

• Busiest days for grocery delivery are Tuesday through Friday from around 4-7 pm and almost all day on Saturdays. Holidays and the days leading up to them are also busier.
• Busy times for food delivery are between 11 am-2 pm and 5 pm-9:30 pm Monday through Friday.

How much can you make delivering food? Across the top companies, drivers earn from $12-$20/hour.

There’s no set pay, and each company has a unique formula for calculating your earnings. These include factors like distance, difficulty, time of day, and location. Drivers for all companies get to keep 100% of their tips.

If you’re interested in learning more, I’ve done reviews on some of the most popular options for drivers. You’ll learn how to sign up, what it’s like driving, and more specific earning details.

• Doordash: Doordash delivers food for local and chain restaurants in most cities across the U.S., and you can learn more at Doordash Driver Review (And How to Make More Than Average)
• Postmates:This company is known for delivering anything, from Playstations to burgers and fries. Learn more at Postmates Driver Review
• Instacart: This is one of the most widely available grocery delivery services, and you’ll have the option to work as an in-store shopper or as a full-service shopper who shops and delivers. Learn more at Instacart Shopping Side Hustle: How Much Do Instacart Shoppers Make?
• Shipt: Shipt recently ditched its membership-based model and is now open for grocery delivery to anyone. Learn more at Shipt Shopper Review: What It’s Like Working for Shipt

These companies all have really similar requirements for drivers – you must be 18 years old, have access to a newer model car (less than 20 years old for most companies), have a clean driving record, and you’ll have to agree to a background check.

For nearly the past ten years, rideshare driving has been one of the most popular ways to make money driving. It’s inherently flexible – pick your own hours and work as an independent contractor. And every rideshare driver I’ve talked to genuinely loves meeting the people they drive.

This is a very people-centric side hustle. You’re meeting and driving around all kinds of different people. During the weekdays, you’ll be busy in the morning and early evening driving people to and from work. On the weekend, your busiest times are 7 pm to 1 am, when you’re driving people to and from restaurants, bars, parties, clubs, and concerts.

Keeping your car clean will be a really important part of the job – no one wants to ride in a car that’s full of trash or smells weird. Some drivers go above and beyond with cell phone chargers, mints, and bottled water for passengers.

How much money can you make as a rideshare driver? Rideshare companies are similar to food delivery services when it comes to driver requirements, pay formula, and pay. You can make around $15-$20/hour is pretty standard and you keep 100% of your tips. Driving a clean car and being on-time will help you earn larger tips.

To learn more about how to sign up, what the job is like, and more information on pay, check out my Uber Driver review: Uber Driver Reviews: What it’s REALLY Like Working for Uber. 

Peer-to-peer car rental platforms have been gaining in popularity among side hustlers and customers. They can be a less expensive alternative to traditional rental car companies, but it’s also a way to earn passive income when you’re not driving your car.

What’s appealing about this side hustle is that you’re not actively trading your time for money (why it’s passive). You’re not driving people around or shopping for groceries – you list your car, it’s rented out by someone when you’re not using, and you get paid for that time.

I know what you might be thinking… let strangers drive my car, are you kidding me?

The peer-to-peer rental companies I’ve reviewed all run background checks on renters and renters must have a clean driving record (no major violations in the last three years). There’s also an additional insurance policy that’s part of the renter’s fee to provide extra coverage if something does happen to your vehicle.

How much money can you make renting your car?

This depends a lot on the platform you’re renting on. HyreCar says the average listing price for cars is $35/day with a 2-day minimum. Getaround lets people rent on an hourly basis, and most cars are rented for $6-$10/hour. On Turo, your car can be listed on a minimum of $10/day, but most cars are listed in the $35-$50/day range.

The three companies are all very similar, but they have small differences that might make one versus another standout, here are a few key features you need to know about each:

• Getaround rents cars for personal use or to rideshare and food delivery drivers. You will need to have a device installed on your car that provides GPS tracking, anti-theft functionality, and cellular communications. There’s a one-time fee of $99 to have it installed, and then you pay $20/month after that.
• Turo only rents cars for personal use, and you can earn more depending on the extras you offer, like unlimited mileage, post-trip cleaning, and one-way trips. Interestingly, Jeep Wranglers are the best-performing model listed on Turo
• HyreCar only rents cars to rideshare and food delivery drivers, and there is a 2-day rental minimum. What you earn depends on the protection plan you choose for your car – the difference in these plans is the deductible you pay if something happens to your vehicle.

If you’re someone who already drives a lot, you can make money driving your car wrapped in advertisements. Yep, this is a legit way to make money driving, but there are some car wrapping scams out there to be aware of.

What people like about this idea is how easy it is to make money driving. Carvertise is one popular company, and here’s how easy it is:

• Apply for Carvertise (you’ll need a 2008 model car or newer with a factory paint job)
• Carvertise will see if they can match you with a campaign – this depends on where you live and what advertisers are interested in
• Once you’ve been matched with a campaign, Carvertise sets you up with a professional auto wrapper to get your car wrapped (you can turn down campaigns if you want)
• The installer takes the wrap off when the campaign is over
• You get paid once a month via direct deposit for the duration of the campaign

How much can you make?

Carvertise pays drivers around $100/month to have their car wrapped, and most advertising campaigns last 2-6 months, so that’s $200-$600 per campaign total.

I mentioned scams, and there have been some involving Carvertise. It’s not that Carvertise is scamming people, but that scammers trying to look like Carvertise. You can spot these scams because the scammer will try to send you a check in the mail rather than paying you via direct deposit.

Carvertise and other legitimate companies will never send you a check, you won’t be asked to pay anything upfront, and they will never contact you about getting your car wrapped – you have to apply.

I’m about to become a first-time parent, and I’m really fortunate to work an insanely flexible job. But I realize that most parents aren’t bloggers, and they struggle with childcare and getting their kids too and from home, school, sports, clubs, activities, etc.

That’s where this side hustle comes in and there are a few different companies you can work with.

• HopSkipDrive partners with families, school districts, private and charter schools, and counties to provide safe transportation for kids. You might be driving kids to and from school, providing extra transportation support for kids with special needs, or transporting youth in foster care.
• Care.com offers a wider range of services for independent childcare providers, and you can sign up and offer nanny driving services. Families browse listings on the platform and contact you if they’re interested.

Both platforms have a stringent vetting process that ensures families can trust you with their children. This involves a background check and requirements for previous childcare experience.

How much are you paid to drive kids around?

Nanny Drivers on Care.com average $15.75/hour, and HopSkipDrive drivers make around $25/hour. Care.com is available across the U.S., but HopSkipDrive is limited to California, parts of Colorado, the D.C. area, Arizona, Texas, and Washington state.

If kids aren’t your thing, what if I told you that you can make money driving pets? I know a lot of people that would prefer driving dogs around than kids any day.

There are a couple of different ways you can approach this, one is offering pet taxi services to busy pet owners and the other is pet transport.

Pet taxi services will work best in big cities where more people don’t have cars and rely on public transportation. You can sign up for a company like Rover and list “pet taxi” services. You could take pets to and from doggie daycare, the groomer, vet visits, etc.

Pet transport is when you get paid to drive pets across the country when someone is moving. The pet owner doesn’t have to fly with their pet on their lap or checked in cargo, and they don’t have to worry about their pet while driving a moving van. CitizenShipper is one company that offers pet transport services across the U.S.

How much money do you get paid to drive pets around?

I’ve seen pet taxi services listed anywhere from $35-$55 per roundtrip. What you can make doing pet transport depends on the pets and distance you’re driving, but it can easily pay $500-$600 for a 1,000-mile trip.

Amazon Flex is a service that outsources delivery drivers for Prime Now and some of their other delivery services, like AmazonFresh. Here’s how it works:

• Download the Amazon Flex app and apply to drive (you need to be at least 21 years old, have a reliable vehicle, go through a background check, and have a smartphone with an iOS 10 or Android 4.4 or newer)
• Once you’re approved, you use the app to schedule blocks of time, usually between 3-6 hours
• You use the app to get delivery directions, scan packages when you load them in your vehicle, and deliver them
• Get paid – Amazon Flex pays out twice a week on Tuesdays and Fridays

How much money can you make driving for Amazon Flex?

Amazon says drivers make anywhere from $18-$25/hour. Driving a larger vehicle will help you earn more because you’ll be able to carry more packages. And if you drive for Amazon Fresh, you’ll be able to earn tips.

Amazon Flex jobs aren’t as widely available as some of these other companies that pay you to drive, because they are only actively recruiting in cities where drivers are needed. In some ways, this is good because they’re only allowing people to sign up if there’s a need.

You can check the Amazon Flex site to see where they’re actively recruiting, but Amazon recommends downloading the app anyway. They will alert you when openings are available in your area.

One thing to avoid is third-party companies or apps that claim they will send you alerts when recruiting is open for Amazon Flex if you pay a monthly fee for their app. This is a scam! Amazon Flex will contact you via their app, for free.

Despite that last section, I think that driving as a side hustle is a great option for lots of people. There are plenty of ways to make deliveries with your car, it’s flexible, and it’s decent pay for the work you’re doing. There’s also very little commitment, unlike starting your own business.

If you do decide to go this route, my advice for maximizing your earning potential is to download both the Doordash and Postmates apps to your phone. You can keep them both open at the same time, and pick and choose which deliveries you'd like to make based on how much they pay.

Honestly, the biggest downside in my mind is that these aren’t scalable side hustles, meaning they can’t become much more profitable unless you’re willing to drive more hours. Even then, you’re limited to the fact that there are only so many hours in the day.

If you are looking for more lucrative options, I recommend checking out Best Side Hustles to Make an Extra $1,000-$2,000 Per Month.