How to make your car profitable

Cars are quite accomplished at spending your money for you, but they're not usually much good when it comes to generating cash. Buying the thing, road tax, insurance, an MOT and fuel aren't exactly kind to your bank account, but it's possible to recoup the costs and make a little extra on the side while you're at it.

We've scoured the web and found four novel ways of making your car rack up some notes for you. Some require more effort than others, but they're all worth a look if you could use a little extra at the end of the month.

Advertise
Seen those cars in town that are plastered with slogans? They're making money for their owners, so there's no reason you can't do the same. If you don't mind having your car covered with bright, self-adhesive stickers, then you could earn over £200 a month by turning your car into a moving billboard.

Autocarwraps.com will pay £200 a month if you agree to completely cover your car (aside from the windows, obviously) in advertising. Agree to have half of it covered and you'll get £150 a month. Comm-motion.com offers a similar service with up to £220 per month for covering the whole car.

If you're interested, it's worth checking with your insurance company to find out if your premiums are affected by this. Read the small print too, as you will be contracted to keep the adverts on the car for a certain amount of time.

Lease it
It's not particularly well known, but you can lease your car out to other drivers. Whipcar.com allows other motorists to rent your car while you're not using it. The site works by matching people with a car to those who need one for a certain amount of time. If you use your car in the week, but not at the weekend - or vice versa - then it's worth a look.

All drivers and cars are checked out by Whipcar before any transactions go ahead, so it's perfectly safe - you can even set your own rental price, but you'll need to be realistic if you want the business. The service is open to anyone with a car under eight years old with a valid MOT, road tax and insurance.

Car share
Strictly speaking, you won't make money by car sharing, but you can save a tidy sum. If you and one or more colleagues travel a similar route to work then you can effectively halve your fuel bills by splitting the cost.

If there's no-one in your neck of the woods that you can ask then check out Carshare.com. The site helps you to find budding journey pals in your area - its operators reckon that you could save up to £1,000 a year.

Be a courier
If you do big miles then it's worth dropping off packages for a profit while you're at it. That might sound a little dubious, but Stuff2send.com is a safe and legal site that allows you to register as a courier and start delivering for cash.

Membership is free and you can pick and choose what items you want to deliver and when via a bidding system not unlike eBay. If you win the bid, the job is yours.