Do you have an extra car in your garage? So why not make some money from it. The Internet has spawned a slew of new startups that are changing the way we think about home, cars, and gadgets. For example, if you haven’t heard of Airbnb, it’s a direct way to rent out your apartment or house to someone in the world.
So why not rent a car? Personally, I have two cars in my garage that are never used because we have two small children and we end up always driving a minivan. It would be great if I could use my car to make money. Fortunately, there are quite a few options.
In this article, I’m going to mention six fairly new sites that basically let you use your car as a taxi or turn yourself into a one-person car rental agency. I really like both of them, however most of these sites and services are so new that they are not currently available in most cities. However, they are expanding rapidly, which is good.
Uber
You may have heard of Uber on the news lately, when several of its drivers were arrested at San Francisco and New York airports. This is not because of bad drivers, but because the taxi fleet is struggling to prevent these new startups from taking over their business.
Uber is essentially a company that lets anyone become a driver (after background checks and other checks), using their own car to pick up and drop people off. With Uber, things have gotten a bit more professional and stylish, and to become a driver you have to have a pretty nice black sedan or SUV. We’re talking BMW, Mercedes, Jaguar, Lincoln Town Car, Cadillac, etc.
You can make some pretty good money as an Uber driver considering that it’s an upscale clientele. The 34-minute drive from Dallas Airport to my house will set me back about $ 120 for a black Uber A black SUV costs $ 180. A couple of such trips in a day, and you can make good money.
Sidecar
The next two companies, Sidecar and Lyft, are basically the same as Uber, but without the finesse and expensive tastes. Sidecar allows people to find other locals who are registered Sidecar drivers. You send a request to your phone and someone will come to pick you up.
What’s interesting about Sidecar is that people pay what they think the trip is worth. There is no fixed cost or rate. Second, the customer is rating you, and you can rate the customer as well. You can use any car you own, and they also provide insurance when you are actually driving a client.
Lift
Lyft is another on-demand ride sharing service like Sidecar Lyft also performs background checks and DMV checks like Sidecar, and passengers and drivers rate each other as Sidecar Sidecar also improves safety by allowing you to meet new drivers in person to make sure they are suitable.
I found the Lyft website to be a bit lacking in information and general understanding of the services. However, Lyft has several unique ways to make ride sharing more fun. For example, drivers put a pink mustache in front of the car, which symbolizes a smile, and passengers must poke the drivers with their fists, like you would a friend. In San Francisco, people report that rides make up to $ 35 an hour.
Drop off
Getaround is a car-sharing or local car rental service. You basically provide your car with photos and availability dates and you will be contacted if someone wants to rent it. You can decide whether to rent it to a specific person or not and when the car is rented it is fully insured.
You can rent out any car you own and make more money if your car is newer and more expensive. You can choose the price by listing your vehicle, although they provide you with defaults based on the make, model and year of your vehicle.
Relairids
RelayRides is similar to Getaround in that it allows you to rent your vehicle directly to individuals. Again, you can set the price and availability of your vehicle. You can also register your vehicle for free, which can also be done using Getaround On RelayRides you get 75% of the listed price of your vehicle. Getaround does not mention percentages on their website.
The good thing about these services is that they check drivers and even force them to connect to their Facebook account so you can find out who this person really is. This is a good way to make sure that your car is not being driven by a thief or a madman.
Flight Car
FlightCar is one of the new companies that really got me excited. My family and I travel to India at least once a year for over a month and we always have to rely on someone to drop us off and pick us up because it is simply too expensive to leave the car at the airport for weeks or months. FlightCar is committed to solving this problem.
Now when you drive to the airport, you simply drop your car at FlightCar and they will take you to the terminal for free. Then they rent your car to people who fly into town and you can make money! Great idea. Of course, your car is fully insured and is washed and cleaned before returning it to you. Excellent!
So these are six ways to start making money with extra machines if they sit around doing nothing. I personally would like to use a couple of services, but since my city is not supported yet, I will have to wait. If your city is supported, then you are in luck. Let us know in the comments about any other way to make money by car. Enjoy!
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