Will Companies Really Pay Me to Drive My Car??
You’ve seen the ads online or maybe in your email inbox: Earn hundreds of dollars per month by driving your car! Or get a free car to drive! Companies pay good money to have you drive a car wrapped in their advertisements!
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Just like you, we thought it sounded good. With the price of gas what it is, getting paid to drive would be sweet! I might even drive the weinermobile if it meant more money coming in to my pocket than going out. 
If you search online for get paid to drive, you find lots of companies willing to sell you a list, or access to an exclusive member’s area, where you can learn all about the advertisers who will pay you to stick their ads on your car and do your normal driving. It’s simple, you learn. A no-brainer money making activity.
We Tried Paidride.com
So we forked over the $15 to paidride.com. Our $15 bought us a “membership,” which was actually access to the site’s directory of companies that are hungry for drivers. I was imagining what kind of awesome ads companies would rush to stick on my minivan. (Car seat ads? Children’s Book Club? Trojan condoms?)
What’s Inside Paidride.com?
The membership area is a clean list of 14 US companies, three Canadian companies, and five UK companies that allegedly either give free ad cars to drive or pay you to drive an ad around on your car. The list looks good, but it isn’t what I would call high quality. The first link to the very first company is bad. The second link, to the same company’s sign up form, takes me to freecarmedia.com where I read this:
What if I PAID to find out about your company?
If you paid ANY fees to get information about FreeCar Media and our programs than you need to immediately ask for your money back. Registering with FreeCar Media is 100% FREE and always has been. There are many scams being run to capitalize on our name, so please do not be fooled.
The second company listed manufactures the vinyl wrap that goes on ad cars…it doesn’t actually hire drivers, as it states right on its website: “We do NOT offer compensation for driving ads.” Hmm…two pitches, two strikes.
And so on, and so on. I could give you a run down of each company in the directory (for one of which I need to own a semi), but it’s not necessary. I can already see the writing on the wall.
Can You Get Paid to Drive Ads on Cars?
In a word, No. Here’s why:
- Simple numbers. How many people do you think have signed up for these get-paid-to-drive programs? Thousands, no doubt. Tens of thousands, maybe. Have you seen tens of thousands of ad cars on the road? That means the odds are not in your favor.
- Demise of the medium. Ads on cars peaked in popularity in the 90s. They are now the domain of very specialized niche advertising campaigns, so fewer drivers are needed.
- Demographics. Imagine yourself as an advertiser. Say you’re the ad executive for I’ve Tried That and you have a fixed budget to spend on advertising each quarter. You decide you’re going to wrap someone’s car in I’ve Tried That ads and pay the owner to drive it around. To get the most bang for your buck, you want to reach the largest possible number of people in the target demographic. That means you’re looking for a car and driver only in densely populated urban areas with lots of stay-at-home moms and others looking to supplement their income by working from home. With that in mind, are you interested in a driver living in Casper, Wyoming? Of course not. How about a driver who owns a 2000 Ford Taurus? No way. (Because Steve and Joe only want their ads on really sexy cars.)
If you don’t:
- live in a large city
- drive a cool car
- AND drive lots of miles every month
forget about it. Your lottery-like chances have just been reduced to zip.
Don’t Pay for Get-Paid-to-Drive Information!
Also, the common denominator I found in all the companies I looked at that actually do hire drivers was this: it is free to sign up for them, and you can find them on your own. There’s no need to pay for “an exclusive list.” There are no exclusive lists because the information is available everywhere. That’s like paying for “an exclusive list of McDonald’s restaurants in your area!” Why buy that list when the phone book is free?
One of those loooooong-shot applications could take you up to 10 minutes to fill out. In the same 10 mintues, you could respond to legitimate job ads that our ebook teaches you how to find. And your chances of being hired for those jobs are much MUCH better than the chances that Fox TV will pay you to drive an American Idol-wrapped PT Cruzer around Podunk, Iowa.
How Does PaidRide Compare?
I’ve Tried That has been reviewing products since 2007. In that time, there’s one program that stands above the rest. It’s free to get started, has no ridiculous hidden charges, and will help you build a sustainable income from home.
I received a check for 2500 from sheets energy Strips. 600 was supposed to be for my weekly payment and the rest was to be paid to the person was going to put the wrap on my car. Have you heard anything about this company
It’s a scam that will cost you thousands of dollars or more. More details here: https://ivetriedthat.com/ive-tried-that-readers-what-should-i-do-about-this-car-wrap-advertising-scam/
I am glad I found this website. I received a check from these ppl about car advert for Sheet Energy Strips. I actually was able to alert my bank that the check is fake and to put a hold on my account until that check clears!
Thank you
Joe, I like the idea to consider your demographic when advertising on your vehicle. My wife and I have been planning on making a little extra money. I definitely think that we should find a service that can wrap our car and could create an interesting design that people find attractive and motivating.
Someone ask me to post ads for coca cola and I’ll be getting paid 500$ weekly
Here’s a scam in progress. Real enough looking website though. But the company is fake and their logo is stolen from a french bank.
info@car-adz.ca
Their emails come from computers in Germany.
Ad said. Earn $400.00 per week driving car ads on your vehicle.
I’d like to thank all of you for your experience.
I could have made a huge mistake. Thanks Again!
This is happening to me and am waiting for the check I will not take it to my bank but to walmart and if I’m told it’s a fraud well then I will be reporting it,however walmart should not cash it unless it is valid.what’s your guys insight.I will also be sending an email to these or this person by sonicnavigation3@gmail.com by ROCKSTAR HIRING MANAGER HAS ANY ONE HEARD OF THESE GUYS.
If you’re offered to get your car wrapped. A real company will make an appt for you to bring your car into a wrapping location or a wrapper will come to you. You will never have to exchange money with the wrapping company because they are paid by the same company that is paying you.
Always always ask questions. If you arent getting answers or the answers sound fishy… run away!!!!!
@Noah
This is a scam. I received this same email. I also received a check from them for almost $3000.00. They advise you to cash the check and send money via western union to “the company” that will wrap your car.
This is a scam!
You have to use commone sense and dont over think it. The same is this. The so called company will send you a oversized check to deposit into your acctount. You will send a large amount to another so called company to have your car wrapped. There is no trace on where the check came from or where you send the money too. Your name is all over this and you will be held accountable to the bank and the police.
Its not worth your account being frozen, you having to pay thr bank back any money that you sent off and/or dealing with the police. Because you can be charged and convicted, sad to say.
I found an ad on Craigslist about getting paid 400.00 monthly for getting my car wrapped. I would like to know if this isna scam or not. The response after appling is pretty long, but here it goes:
Dear Applicant
Thanks for your prompt response, It is Very Easy and Simple with No Application fees required : Here’s how It works – The basic premise of the “paid to drive” concept Monster Energy seeks people — regular citizens, not professional drivers — to go about their normal routine as they usually do, only with a big advert for “Monster Energy ” plastered on your car.The ads are typically vinyl decals, also known as “auto wraps,” that almost seem to be painted on the vehicle, and which will cover any portion of your car’s exterior surface
What does the company get out of this type of ad strategy? Lots of exposure and awareness.The auto wraps tend to be colorful and eye-catching and attract lots of attention. Plus, it’s a form of advertising with a captive audience,meaning people who are stuck in traffic and can’t avoid seeing the wrapped car alongside them. This program will last for 3 months and the minimum period you can participate is 1 month.
You will be compensated with a $400 (four hundred dollars per Week),which is essentially a “rental” payment for letting our company use the space. Monster Energy shall provide Experts that would handle the advert placing on your car.You will receive an up front payment of $400 (four hundred dollars) inform of check for accepting to carry this advert on your car and other weekly payments will also come in the form of checks and delivered at your address weekly.
The following information below will be needed
Full Name:
Age:
Occupation:
Make of car/ year:
Address:
city:
State:
Zip code:
Do you have a driver’s license:
Phone Number(s) mobile/home :
Email Address:
We shall be contacting you as soon as we receive these information, Monster Energy looks forward to working with you.
Regards
© Monster Energy Car Advertisement. All rights reserved.
http://www.monsterenergy.com
Thanks to all for free info. Had it not been for this site i may have made the same mistake. Great site idea. Many thanks
Well…. I have done this before and I wish I could do it again. This was in 2008… I had a fairly simple car (’08 Nissan Sentra). I was offered $300.00 per month t just do what I normally do. It was for a year, the ad was for a car dealership, I also received free oil changes and car washes. All i needed to do was have the ad on my car and drive at least 200 miles a month. Looking for another compnay I can do this for again without having to purchase a directory for companies. I found out about this before from an ad in the paper. It was awesome to not have a car note. Anyonw know of any websites I can go to for FREE?????
I am looking at something different, magnetic adverts to put on the car. I have never seen any other than private stuff.
On the cheque question, you can put one into the bank, however in the UK it can be cancelled after a week at least, we all think it is 3 days to clear, the banks never tell you about the cancelling clause. Never give anything over for anything less than cash.
I love all these “think about it” scenerios implying that people are so stupid to think companies would do this.
They do.
I owned one and I DID.
I owned a small cleaning company, after window screening my own car and calls going through the roof, I JUMPED to window screen another car and then two more.
You act like hundreds of dollars is unheard of for a company.
I paid about $150 for the screening and $250 per month to the driver.
It was a pretty small town but each driver averaged about 10 calls per month.
That, besides word of mouth, was far and away my cheapest advertising.
I paid about $200 per month to the phone books that got me about 20 calls per year. $500 per month for Valpak, about the same 10 calls per month. The list goes on.
I’ve since sold the company but to sum up, companies ARE out there, they CAN profit from this and those of you telling people they’re stupid for thinking otherwise, stay employed. Never step into business ownership.
I’d suggest watching around town for plumbers, gardeners, maid services, HVAC companies, exterminators, etc.
Call them up. (Maybe the car you see is just an ad on a car?)
The most important numbers to know are
1. How many calls per month do you get from people seeing your car?
2. How much would you pay for a referral?
If those numbers are 50 and $25, you could likely negotiate a few hundred bucks as that many referrals would typically cost them $1,250.
Bottom line. I did it, it was extremely profitable and I’d do it again.
Never deposit any check from an unknown source because it could be fraudulent. Second NEVER wire transfer any money because it is a scam, if you ever get a check in the mail, go to the issuing bank directly and see if the check is even real because you may have to pay the money back.
I signed up about 5 days ago and they already sent me a check. My directions are to wire money to an icon specialist after i take out my first weeks pay.Do I cash the check?
Never, never, never! These are frauds
Let’s see……some wants to pay thousands to wrap a vehicle, pay for your gas, and pay you on-top of that?! Sounds to good to be true and it is! There is also a Nigerian Prince who wants to give you millions if you can help get him to his Swiss Bank Account by paying for his Airfare. Why don’t they just put a add up that says, “just want to see who we can financially ruin, must be Elderly or very desperate, Stupid and Gullible are a plus, and if you can give us the name of your family and friends or their personal information you will get a set of knives as well”.
I’m really glad I ran across this site before I did something stupid, again! Thanks for the info!
I am glad that I ran into this article before trying this out!
Sooo, my desperate, starving, college student calls me all excited about this awesome opportunity for an easy job. Shame on Texas Tech University for placeing that ad in a school paper where thousands of desperate students will pay $40.00 to have a chance to drive around free cars, with free insurance and gas AND get paid to do it! He figured it had to be legitimate because his school would NEVER place a phoney ad to target THEIR students. AHHHH to be young and naive again thinking that this world isn’t full of greedy SOB’s who could care less who they target with a simple ad.
I have been signed up for about two weeks, haven’t heard anything, but I did e-mail and I did get a response, more than once.
SIGNED UP BOUT A MONTH NOW, HAVE HEARD NOTHING, THE CONTACT EMAILS DON’T WORK, AND THERE IS NOT PHONE NUMBER LISTED. I FELL FOR IT HOPING IT WOULD BE TRUE. I’VE LOST 40.00. BE NICE IF IT WERE TRUE BUT JUST MAKES THAT SAY TRUE “IF IT’S TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE, IT PROBABLY IS” LOL…LESSON LEARNED.
I checked out the company paidride.com on the better business bureau and they don’t have any kind of complaints against them. But yes most of the companies should be free to get this type of work and get paid. I’m not sure but I’ll check back in the next 3 to 4 months.
so no one pays you to get your car wrapped? Huh thats funny bacause here in utah there are plenty of dealerships that will take half of your car payments off if you place there car wrap all over the car………
Oh? Can you name two? I’d love to get in on that.
I Drive a 2005 nissan titan Se Crew Cab from my high school and to work. Everyone looks at my truck at school just because I’m a new student attending there and also I have the best vehicle with a magnaflow exhaust. I put 6k miles on my truck in 3 months just cruising around town. I live in a very urban area between 2 high schools and many businesses. I am a good driver, don’t speed or have any violations.
If you know of any way I can get my truck wrapped or advertised I would appreciate the help.
I work for a vehicle wrap company. We do not pay people to drive wrapped cars.
We also do not know of any companies that really do pay people to drive a wrapped car other than a city bus.
We’ve been in business since 2001. We’ve wrapped over 6000 vehicles. If this practice really did exist, we’d know about it.
We get 4 to 5 calls a week of people telling us how much they drive and how someone should pay them to drive around because they have a clean record, or they drive in nice areas, or they have a really cool car, or add your own reason here.
I’m almost to the point of telling them that the only people we have that pay are Abortion Clinics and Feminine Hygiene products.
iam a cross country trucker, i do about 180,000 miles a year i would be a good candidate to get paid to advertise what companies can i look into
Yeah this is just one of those things where people realize the paid surveys aren’t working, so they jump on this… only to realize it is the exact same scam!
It’s too bad people still fall for it.