surviving the recession

Even with petrol prices dropping, cars are expensive to maintain (and there is always the possibility that oil prices will rise again). However, you can save costs by sharing journeys. This is particularly recommended for those who are on a tight budget and have to cut back on travelling expenses.

Liftshare.com is a UK website that allows you to find people to share journeys with - they have 85% of the UK car-sharing market. The journey can be something like a one-off cross-country trip, or regular journeys to and from work or school.

They recommend that those sharing journeys share the costs of petrol (doing more than cost sharing and trying to make a profit could invalidate your insurance).  The website itself is free to join and free to search for other travellers.  They charge businesses who set up car-pooling schemes on their site, and businesses who use the scheme can make their pools private instead of public. They have no referral schemes.

You can make money by placing ads on the body work of your car.

Register online free with a company called AdsOnVans. They accepts both cars and vans. They will then try to match you with an advertiser. Once they have found an advertiser, you need to take your car in to have a second “skin” put on your car with the advert (it won’t damage the car).

They then pay you to carry the advert - either in free petrol or cash. Cash is about £70-£200 per month, depending on the size of your car and how many miles you do each month.

It all looks horribly garish, but it’s money, and if you need the cash, why not?