Getting Paid To Drive
There seems to be a never ending fascination to the notion that
some people get paid to drive their cars. While it is true that
a few lucky people are able to do this, the entire field of paid
to drive opportunities has changed dramatically over the last
few years.
According to Paid
To Drive Auto Wrap, the get paid to drive concept was at the
height of its popularity during the Internet bubble of the late
1990s. Roadside advertising was near capacity leaving the many
companies that wanted to advertise their service or product to
those driving in their cars without a place to do so. At this
time, billboard and other traditional advertising space along
busy roads and highways was severely limited and prices for such
space was rising fast.
One solution to this advertising shortage was addressed with car
wraps. Basically, the advertiser would wrap their advertisement
around a car (instead of on a billboard) for everyone to see.
This way companies could advertise their products or services to
reach people driving along the roads in areas where they
couldn't get advertising space on billboards.
The car wrap gained popularity through the 1990s when
traditional billboard advertising remained tight, but when
billboard advertising softened in the late 1990s, this took a
heavy toll on the car wrap advertising companies. Today, only a
fraction of those that were once in business remain so.
Most car wrap companies that remain have had to reinvent
themselves as niche advertisers for specialty campaigns and that
is where they remain at this point. For certain advertising
campaigns, the auto wrap still has an appeal of being different
than typical advertising campaign.
>From time to time there will be a company that is looking for a
unique advertising campaign, and the auto wrap can offer a cost
effective way of getting their brand name out there. In this
case, a company would "rent" space on individual private
citizen's cars. In return for letting the company "wrap" the car
with their advertisement, they'll compensate the car owner with
a monthly payment. The payment can be as high as $400 a month
for a full car wrap and lesser amounts for a partial car wrap or
a window wrap.
The catch is that there are far more drivers wanting to be paid
to drive than advertising campaigns available. If you don't
drive a lot of miles (typically over 800 miles a month) or live
in a highly populated area where the advertisement will be seen
by a lot of people, your chances of being chosen are slim.
While the chances of getting paid to drive today are not very
good, they are still better than playing the lottery. If you
believe your car and location would be desirable to advertisers,
it could be worth contacting auto wrap companies directly to see
if you can get on their list. If you are lucky and do get
picked, you will significantly reduce your driving expenses with
little effort on your part.