18 Best Driving Apps To Make Money (High-Paying!)
If you own a vehicle, you definitely understand how painfully expensive it is to maintain it. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average household spent nearly $10,000 on transportation related expenses in 2018.
However, thanks to the rise of gig economy apps and the sharing economy, there's now a plethora of ways to get paid to drive.
If you're looking for a list of apps that pay you to drive, this is the post for you. Today, I'm covering 10+ of the best ones you can use to get paid to drive in your spare time.
Want more money-making ideas? Checkout:
- EarnIn: Borrow up to $750 against an upcoming paycheck!
- Yendo: This secured credit card lets you borrow up to $10,000 by leveraging your vehicle!
The Best Driving Apps To Make Money
1. DoorDash
When it comes to driving apps to make money, food delivery apps are some of the most common. And when it comes to food delivery gigs, DoorDash is the most popular app in North America.
With DoorDash, you can make money delivering food via bike, car, or scooter. And it's easy to sign up for as long as you're 18 or older and have access to a vehicle.
I personally like DoorDash since it's a pretty steady, high-paying app in a lot of markets. And with the right DoorDash driver tips like driving at the best times and getting lucky with tips, you can make decent money per hour.
For example, some drivers can even earn $300 in a day with DoorDash by working around 10 to 12 hours. Not a bad hourly rate if you ask me!
Learning how to DoorDash is also pretty simple; you're really just picking up food and dropping it off a people's homes or office.
Start making money with DoorDash!
Pro Tip 💵 Access up to $10,000 in credit by using Yendo – a brand new credit card that lets you borrow money by leveraging the value of your car!
2. Be A Chauffeur For The Elderly
Another way to potentially make money driving is to offer at-home elderly care and chauffeur services.
With apps like TaskRabbit and platforms like Care.com, families can hire independent contractors to help out with care-giving tasks for their elderly or disabled loved ones.
Popular jobs include things like general elderly care, cleaning, cooking, and even live-in housekeeping. However, two other popular jobs are running errands and being a chauffeur.
Maneuverability is difficult for many people, so you can lend a helping hand and get paid for doing some good.
Ideally, you should have some basic care-giving experience unless you're just running errands. Either way, this is a well-paid option to get paid to drive.
Care.com states that chauffeur jobs pay an average of $14.75 per hour, and apps like TaskRabbit let you set your own rate. Just note that Care.com requires a background check and creating your profile can take some time!
3. Uber Eats
As one of the most popular driving apps to make money, you can always consider delivering food with Uber Eats.
This food delivery gig lets you make money with a car, bike, or scooter. And it's available in 6,000+ cities around the world.
One of my best friends actually made money after college as a bike courier for Uber Eats and DoorDash. He liked how flexible each side hustle was, and the extra income really helped him out each week.
Uber Eats is also flexible, so you can complete deliveries around your own schedule. And you keep 100% of all your tips.
Ultimately, you can start making money on the side with Uber Eats and similar driving apps. And if you drive at the best Uber Eats times, deliveries are more likely to be frequent and higher-paying.
4. Instacart
If you like the idea of getting paid to shop, then Instacart could be another excellent way to make money while driving.
As an Instacart Shopper, you shop for people's groceries and then deliver them right to your door. You can generally earn around $15 to $25 per hour if you get enough batches, and you keep 100% of all the tips you get.
This video from Instacart Shopper Chanty Marie walks you through how Instacart works. Chanty also shares how she made about $300 in her first week with Instacart after working for 15 hours.
This is an hourly rate of $20, which is why Instacart is one of the best ways to get paid to drive. And this could have been an even higher total with more tips.
Granted, completing batches can take a while since you have to collect everything from grocery stores. But you generally earn more per delivery with Instacart than you do with jobs like DoorDash. Plus, you spend a bit less on gas.
Many gig drivers still use DoorDash as their primary app and then rely on Instacart as a secondary hustle. But Instacart is still one of the best paying driving apps around.
Start making money with Instacart!
5. Amazon Flex
Out of all the ways to make money with Amazon, one of the most lucrative options and way to earn money for driving is Amazon Flex.
Amazon Flex drivers work for Amazon logistics. In a nutshell, they're responsible for collecting packages from Amazon fulfillment centers and delivering them to customers using their own vehicle.
Flex drivers schedule themselves in for blocks of delivery time, so it's a fairly flexible side job if you're looking for something like that.
The best part is that Amazon Flex drivers earn between $18 to $25 per hour, which makes it one of the highest paying apps in this category.
According to Glassdoor, the average is closer to $21. However, Amazon guarantees at least $15 to $19 per hour, which is well above minimum wage.
This guarantee is why Amazon Flex is one of the best apps to make money with your car. Even if you have a slower day, you can get through your deliveries and still earn a solid wage.
Prime Now drivers can use any safe car, and Amazon.com drivers can use a 4-door, mid-sized sedan, van, or truck with a covered bed to make deliveries.
If you've ever wondered how to make money with your car, the answer might very well be Amazon!
6. Walmart Spark
Walmart Spark is another effective way to get paid to drive, and it's similar to gigs like Uber Eats and Amazon Flex since you get paid to deliver groceries, packages, and everyday essentials to people.
You can sign up if you're 18 or older, and you can deliver with a car, truck, SUV, or cargo van. Once you're an active driver, you then get paid to deliver Walmart orders to customers in your city.
Spark drivers earn about $15 per hour, and you also keep 100% of any tips you get. Walmart processes payments each week, so it's similar to other paid driving gigs. However, there's no fast cash-out option to get paid the same day.
Overall, Spark is one of the more steady-paying driving apps to make money, so you can stack it with several other apps on this list to make as much as possible.
7. Moving Apps
No one likes moving. So, one of the best ways to get paid to drive your car is to help people move or offer to transport their furniture for them.
Now, this job is typically for anyone who has a pickup truck, cargo van, or larger vehicle like a box truck that can fit furniture and other bulky items.
Some popular companies that pay you to help people move are:
- Dolly – Earn up to $30 per hour if you own a truck.
- Bellhops – Make up to $21 per hour helping people move.
- Lugg – Another lucrative option if you own a truck, although you can still apply as a helper.
- TaskRabbit – Moving gigs are common on TaskRabbit and you can set your own hourly rate and choose the contracts you work.
Dolly and Lugg are nice in that you can still work as a helper even if you don't own a truck. However, this will decrease your hourly wage.
You can also find these types of local cash gigs on marketplaces like Facebook Marketplace or Craigslist.
In any case, if you don't mind some heavy lifting, helping people move could be your next weekend side hustle.
8. Uber & Lyft
As you probably know by now, two of the most popular apps that pay you to drive are Uber and Lyft.
There's really no mystery here: just complete the sign up process for either platform. Once you're cleared, open your app, and start accepting riders in your city to make some extra cash.
Note that you need to be at least 21 to drive for either company in the United States. You also need a 4 door vehicle that meets the rideshare company's standards, vehicle registration, proof of car insurance, a valid driver's license, your SSN, and to pass a background check.
However, vehicle age requirements for each platform can vary. In most markets, your vehicle is fine as long as it's not more than 15 years old and meets the rideshare company's standards.
Specific requirements can vary between cities, so checkout Uber's driver requirements and Lyft's driver requirements if you're considering this side hustle idea.
9. Shipt
Like Instacart and Cornershop, Shipt is another one of the best driving apps to make money that pays you to shop for groceries and then deliver them to people in your city.
Shipt is also Instacart's main competitor, and it's available in thousands of cities across the United States.
Like most driving apps, you have to be 18 or older to deliver for Shipt. And, your vehicle has to be in decent condition so you can actually complete deliveries.
But if that all checks out, you can likely earn $15 to $20 per hour as a Shipt Shopper. You pay for gas and vehicle expenses like other apps, but you also keep 100% of all your tips.
10. Cornershop
If you like jobs like Instacart, another popular driving app to make money you can use is Cornershop.
This grocery delivery service is almost identical to Instacart. All you have to do is sign up to become a shopper and then accept grocery delivery orders from people in your area.
Cornershop Shoppers generally earn $12 to $20 per hour depending on how busy shifts are and how much tips are.
Just note that Cornershop is still growing, so it's not as popular as jobs like DoorDash or Instacart. If anything, use this as a backup way to make money driving for when your main apps are slow.
11. Rent Out Your Car
Alright, this isn't exactly an app that pays you to drive, but you can make more money if you drive, so hold on a second.
Renting out your assets for money is an awesome way to monetize something that you don't always need. This is why apps like Turo and GetAround, which let you rent out your car for money, have grown in popularity.
In this YouTube video, Turo host Nuggs shares his experience with renting a car on Turo for an entire week. Nuggs makes $64.50 after three days of renting out his car, and I like the video since it explains exactly how Turo works.
However, while this is largely an Airbnb-type model that's mostly passive income, you can significantly increase your earnings as a vehicle owner if you put in some effort.
For example, Turo and GetAround let you add extras like delivering your vehicle to the renter or airport/train station pickup for added fees.
If you live near a major transportation hub, this is an incredibly easy up-sell if you're already renting out your vehicle.
Obviously, this is a pretty specific scenario. However, I thought it was worth mentioning since it's a great idea to consider if you want to make money renting out your car.
Extra Reading – The Best Ways To Make Money On Autopilot.
12. CitizenShipper
Alright, time for a pretty niche way to get paid to drive.With CitizenShipper, you can make money by delivering pets to their new homes!
You might be wondering why this service exists, but people rely on pet shipping if they adopt a pet from another city/state as an example.
CitizenShipper also lets you deliver other items as well like:
- Motorcycles.
- Household items.
- Apartment and home moves.
- Heavy equipment.
- Boats and water vehicles.
- Freight.
Gigs can easily pay $1,000 or more as well, making CitizenShipper one of the best paying driving apps.
For these kinds of gigs, it's best if you can add on a delivery to a road trip or if you're already heading towards that general direction.
Extra Reading – How To Make Money With A Cargo Van.
13. P2P Delivery Apps
I've written a post on the best P2P delivery jobs before, and this is definitely a more ‘niche' way to get paid to drive.
P2P delivery jobs involve delivering packages to other people. Oftentimes, these package delivery apps are looking for drivers who can make long-haul deliveries or even deliver packages between countries.
Popular P2P delivery apps include:
- Roadie – Drivers earn up to $60 for local deliveries and $650 for road trips.
- GoShare – Ideal for drivers with pickup trucks, vans, box trucks, and larger vehicles.
- Grabr – Connects international travelers and customers to help people in different countries get products they might otherwise not have access to.
GoShare, a popular delivery service where you can get paid to help people move or for delivering packages.
I think other apps that pay you to drive like food delivery apps or Amazon Flex are more lucrative for short distances/within your city.
However, if you have a road trip coming up, definitely consider some P2P delivery work.
14. Grubhub
Grubhub is another popular food delivery gig like Uber Eats and DoorDash, and it's one of the most popular paid driving apps in the United States.
Like other delivery gigs, Grubhub pays you to deliver food and everyday essentials to people in your city. And you can deliver via bike, car, or scooter.
The app works almost the same as other delivery jobs as well. You keep 100% of all your tips too, and on average, Grubhub drivers earn about $15 per hour.
However, the time you deliver at and your market greatly influence how much you make. And you can always stack Grubhub with a few other delivery gigs to maximize your earnings.
My post on Grubhub vs Uber Eats highlights more details about this driving gig.
15. Use Apps That Pay You For Driving Safely
One of the most creative categories of driving apps to make money are apps that pay you rewards for being a safer driver.
These days, many car insurance companies offer a discount if you install a vehicle tracking app or device in your vehicle that monitors your driving habits.
For me, this was one of the ways I saved money as a college student.
I was with TD Bank, and after installing their My Advantage app, I instantly saved 5% on car insurance and ended up saving around 10% on my car insurance after the year was up (your percentage varies based on your driving safety).
Plenty of leading car insurance companies have something like this these days, so shop around.
There are also other apps that pay you to drive more cautiously, including:
- OnMyWay App – Pays you with points for not texting while driving. Points can be used to earn discounts when shopping online at partners, so not really an app that makes money, but a neat idea!
- Mobilio – Another app that pays you for driving safely, but through Mobilio tokens. This is a crypto-version of the OnMyWay app.
- This App Saves Lives – Another app like OnMyWay, but with much better brand rewards and discounts.
Ultimately, if you can become a safer driver, there should be some form of discount you can get, be it car insurance deductions or nifty rewards from different apps.
16. HopSkipDrive
HopSkipDrive is a student transportation solution that operates in metros across the United States. And if you want to help out families in your area, it's one of the best driving opportunities to make money there is.
If you become a HopSkipDrive CareDriver, you can earn up to $50 per ride* according to its website, and set your own schedule – and even earn extra.
HopSkipDrive runs a background check and seriously vets their drives, so there are some steps involved.
Here are HopSkipDrive's drivers requirements:
- Have at least 5 years of care-giving experience
- Be at least 23 years old
- Have a 4-door vehicle that's no older than 10 years
- Agree to a multi-agency background check and fingerprinting
- Have a good driving record
If you live in a HopSkipDrive state or city, this is definitely a high-paying job that involves driving. If you want to help kids and make a difference in your community, this could be one of your most lucrative options.
Start driving with HopSkipDrive!
17. Gopuff
Gopuff is another driving gig that pays that's also similar to Amazon Flex. As a Gopuff driver, you pick up packages from partner warehouses and deliver them to people in your city to get paid.
Usually, you're delivering items like food, snacks, alcohol, or household essentials.
Now, Gopuff is only available in a few hundred cities, and generally, drivers earn $9 to $15 per hour. This makes it a lower-paying job compared to driving jobs like Amazon Flex or DoorDash, so keep this in mind.
However, if you're stuck on a waitlist for another company or want to test a new app, you can definitely give Gopuff a try!
18. Offer Driving Tours
One final way to get paid to drive is to become an Airbnb host and to offer driving tours to visitors in your city. Granted, this is a pretty niche and creative idea, but you'd be amazed at how much money some people are making!
For example, I found an Airbnb experience from host Konrad who drives people around Iceland's Golden Circle in his Tesla.
Kondrad has dozens of positive reviews, so he's made thousands of dollars offering this tour. And I've been on plenty of similar Airbnb tours myself over the years with hosts who get paid to drive and take tourists around their cities.
Again, this is a more creative option to make money driving, but if you live in a touristy city, it's definitely a viable one.
Other Tips To Get Paid To Drive
If you want to maximize your earnings and keep life simple during tax season, keep these tips in mind:
1. Use A Mileage Tracking App
If you're going to drive to make money, one of the most important things you should do is to use some form of mileage tracking app.
Personally, I recommend Everlance, a freemium mileage tracking app that makes it easy to track your income, mileage, taxes-owed, and find tax deductions.
Mileage tracking can lead to some pretty awesome tax deductions, so you're doing yourself a huge disservice if you don't do any tracking.
2. Taxes Matter
Speaking of taxes: they matter a lot when you're trying to make money with your car. This is because any app that pays you for driving has you working as an independent contractor.
This means you're responsible for accurately tracking your income (also why Hurdlr rocks) and paying the appropriate amount of income tax. You might even have to pay quarterly.
Don't leave your gig economy earnings until the last minute. There are under the table jobs, but driving gigs are certainly not in that category.
3. Consider Depreciation & Fuel Costs
The most common complaint I see on Reddit when people ask how to make money by driving is that fuel and vehicle depreciation costs are too high.
The simple fact is that you're responsible for doing the math.
Sure, Uber might look great on paper, but earnings can vary depending on when and where you choose to drive and how often you make tips. So, do the math first to determine what works best for you.
Your city and specific mileage-per-gallon might not look so great when you do. Alternatively, you might have enough profit margin to make a driving gig worth your time.
Whatever the case, just have realistic expectations and don't forget about depreciation either! Vehicle repairs are inevitable, so put money aside in the event your car needs servicing.
4. Avoid Car Advertising Gigs
Another common suggestion for ways to make money with your car is to sell advertising space on it.
There are plenty of companies out there like Stickr.co and Carvertise that claim they will pay you for wrapping your car in some form of advertisement material.
At first glance, it seems like the easiest free money ever. However, this business model is largely too good to be true.
In reality, these companies generally require you to drive a certain number of miles per day and along busy roads. You have very little choice in the matter, and your earnings take a hit if you don't comply as this Reddit thread shows:
Plus, there's also a lot of scams out there that ask you to pay for wrapping your car, or some other form of monetary exchange.
In my opinion, there are plenty of better ways to make money with your car, so skip these wrapping gigs.
Extra Reading – How To Earn $5,000 Fast.
5. Try Multiple Driving Apps
Using driving apps to make money is an excellent way to boost your monthly income. However, like any category of gig jobs, it's important to test what works best in your market and to keep on experimenting.
So, don't be afraid to try making money with DoorDash, Amazon Flex, Instacart, and several apps within the same month.
Over time, trying multiple apps lets you find the highest-paying combo in your particular market. Plus, you might find you prefer one type of driving gig over others.
Start making money with Uber Eats and Instacart today!
Extra Reading – How Much Can You Make On DoorDash In A Day?
Final Thoughts
In terms of driving apps to make money, there's so much opportunity out there. It doesn't matter if you only use apps like DoorDash or Uber Eats or dabble with several apps; all of these options can help increase your monthly income.
Ultimately, if you want to create a new source of income for yourself and don't have time for making money online or starting a YouTube channel or something like that, driving side hustles are a great choice.
The barrier to entry is low and there's plenty of work opportunities. As long as you track your income and expenses, you can make the most out of this category of gigs.
That's all for this one! I hope this list of ways to get paid to drive helps you find a new side hustle idea that you enjoy.
I'll catch you guys in the next one.
Looking for other ways to make extra money? Checkout:
