10 Ways to Make Money as a Car Guy

SPOKANE, Wash. - Feb. 2, 2015 - PRLog -- #1 Start a blog - Do exactly what I did and register a catchy domain name (I recommend GoDaddy.com because, in my opinion, they have the best customer service and support team). Second, create a website. I use WordPress, which is free, but GoDaddy offers an inexpensive WordPress program that makes the setup even easier. Most importantly, write and create great content that you feel other car guys and gals would enjoy. Whatever you do, don’t just assume that you can create a couple posts and be done ... you have to constantly update your site and add content to have any chance at getting great search engine rankings. As for making money, there are lots of options with a website, but I will list my personal top three. The first, most popular, way to generate income is through Google Adsense. You just register an account and they will place ads on your website that you get paid for when people click on them. This requires some setup and traffic, of course, but there is a ton of info on the web to help you take advantage of Adsense. My second favorite way to make money from my blog is using Fiverr.com, Fiverr is a site that lets people create gigs that other people pay you for. There are gigs for everything, from people offering to do your homework to people who will write you a song. I have a gig in which people pay me to put their Web page on my website. The third way to make money is through direct ads. Instead of Adsense paying you per click from random ads that they choose, you can go out and sell ads to companies you choose and they will pay you based on your site traffic, your user demographic, and so on. I know these are brief explanations of detailed subjects, but my goal is to get you started in the right direction. If you work hard, there are bloggers making more than 100k a year!

#2 Detail cars

Come on, any car guy or gal worth their salt has spent hours cleaning their own vehicle, so why not get paid for it? I’m not telling you to start a $300 per car professional detail shop—unless, of course, you want to. What I’m saying is that there are plenty of people in your neighborhood or apartment complex who don’t want to pay for a professional detail but would pay you $20 to $40 to vacuum, wash, and Armor All their ride. Most of us already have a ton of cleaning supplies in our garages or the back of our cars already, so take those OCD car-cleaning skills of yours and make some money.

#3 Resell parts

I have heard of people making really good money doing this: They go down to the local wrecking yard where they pull their own parts and buy them for cheap, clean them up, and resell them on Ebay and Craigslist. I recommend you do some research ahead of time and figure out the top-selling parts on Ebay and specifically go after those cars. Trust me, I might start doing this myself!

#4 Become a mobile mechanic

This one is directed at car guys and gals with more mechanical experience, but it’s a good way to make money. You place an ad on Craigslist, offering to fix cars for way less than a shop would charge, and you go to the customer’s house or garage to fix their car. You can even list specific jobs you do and don’t do. I did this for a while and made decent money, charging $20 an hour to do brakes, starters, water pumps, etc. Nothing too intensive, but still something that customers couldn’t do themselves and didn’t want to pay a shop $100 an hour to do. I did brakes, but I was a brake tech for a long time. Normally I discourage unlicensed mobile mechanics from doing any lawsuit-type jobs, like brakes failing.

#5 Buy and sell used cars

This has been going on for a very long time, and in most states you can buy and sell four to five cars a year without getting a dealer’s license (correct me if I’m wrong). The premise is simple: Buy a car cheap, probably with issues, and use your skills to fix it up and sell it for a profit. I am primarily a domestic guy, but I used to buy Honda Accords for $900 before cleaning them up and fixing the notorious spark plug tube oil leak, and resell them for $1,500. Parts and cleaning supplies included, I made $500 a car.  By the way, if you want to know how to fix that oil leak issue, Eric the Car Guy on YouTube has a great video there.

#6 Recycle scrap metal

As a car guy, I always had scrap parts lying around such as wiring and even old junk cars and engines, and any time I needed money I would grab some steel and copper wiring and take it down to the recycling yard. The only downside is, they usually make you wait a while for your money; and remember, if you strip the copper wiring of the insulation first, you usually get more money.

#7 Make YouTube automotive videos

Just Like Eric the Car Guy, you can make good money by making informative YouTube videos. And, as with your blog, Google Adsense will pay you money for placing ads on your videos: The more views and clicks you receive, the more money you make. So grab a tripod and a decent camera (because no one likes shaky videos), and go out to your garage and share your knowledge with the world. As an added bonus, you can place your videos on your blog and make double the ad revenue.

#8 Paint cars

Granted, you probably need a garage and a decent spray gun, but with Duplicolor’s Paint Shop anyone with the patience and desire can paint a car. Just think, you could paint your own ride or make money painting your friend’s car for half the price of the professional paint shops. Duplicolor really has made painting your car a heck of a lot easier (I wasn’t paid to say that, but if they want to pay me they sure can J).

#9 Ask local businesses to sponsor your car

If you drag race on the weekend or have a really nice car that people always stare at, then use it as a mobile billboard. Shops will pay you to put their stickers on your car if you hustle. Even big companies pay people to wrap their cars. Just don’t fall for the scammers who tell you to wire them money after they send you a dummy check. This actually happened to me .. some guy pretending to be Monster Energy Drinks sent me a check for $2,000 and wanted me to keep $800 and wire him the rest to pay for the wrap. Luckily I did my homework, but a lot of people get scammed this way, so be careful.

#10 A.B.H.

Always be hustling. This may sound cliché, but our best attribute as car guys and gals is our minds ... we know how to take things apart and put them back together, and we know how to find solutions to problems. So get excited, write down your goals and plans, and get to work. Best wishes!

How do you make extra money as a car guy or gal? Please share your tips in the Comments located here http://motoringmaniac.com/10-ways-make-money-car-guy/ , because true car guys stick together.