Get paid to drive your car on busy routes

Motorists may soon have the chance to benefit from driving on busy Dubai roads if an advertising system in the United States is replicated here.

In the US, motorists are paid to drive their car and sometimes given a vehicle to use for free by advertising agencies. The agencies require motorists who drive more than 800 miles (1,287km) a month along heavily populated routes to use their cars to convey their advertising messages in a highly competitive and over-crowded media scene.

In Dubai, this has been limited to commercial vehicles, and private car owners have to pay a fee to the municipality for even wrapping the car in their choice of imagery. The UAE does not allow the use of private vehicles for the commercial purpose of advertising.

"It may not be a feasible idea for Dubai, as the municipality and the Roads and Transport Authority charge us a fee for wrapping public transport buses, and to pay the private car owners will only add to the cost," said Aldrin Fernandes, Chairman and Group CEO of Concept, which is a key player in the outdoor media market.

"Outdoor publicity is a very effective medium," said Fernandes. "In a place with such a diverse population, outdoors provide a media exposure without any distraction," said Fernandes.

However, Manoj Matthews, of another outdoor advertising agency, was optimistic about the concept. "Considering that we are fast running out of outdoor options in the emirate, this may catch on very fast," said Matthews. "Of course, numbers have to make sense for it to be viable," he said, when reminded of the high fee that is charged by the municipality.

The concept is fairly simple. Advertising space on billboards along busy roads and highways is limited and in some places such form of advertising is not allowed at all. To get around this problem, companies can advertise on cars that travel along heavily populated areas to reach the target audience. The problem was that purchasing an entire fleet of cars for a campaign can be overly expensive, so a solution had to be found.

Instead of purchasing cars, advertising firms can lease space on private cars. In return for letting a company "wrap" the car with their advertisement, they pay the car owner a monthly fee. The fees can be as high as $400 (Dh1,500) a month for a full car wrap and lesser amounts for a partial car wrap or a window wrap.

In Dubai, taxis and public transport buses are commonly used for this purpose. In fact, the medium is so effective and in demand that there is often advance booking to get the desired space. "Buses or taxis take your brand all over the emirate and expose it round the clock," said Fernandes.

In the US, another option companies are offering is giving a free car with their advertisements on it. One doesn't get paid in this deal or get to choose the type of the car provided, but one receives a car for free use during the period of the campaign. The only costs are petrol and insurance, which means one is getting transportation at a fraction of the cost of owning a car.

There are some rare cases where one can get paid along with a free car. Some companies will pay the user to drive the free cars along certain, specified routes each day.

The scheme has been so successful that there is a long waiting list of people wanting to drive their cars with advertising messages wrapped around. Most companies require the motorist to drive a minimum of 800 miles a month.

Not driving enough miles can negate the contract and most companies use global positioning systems in the vehicles to track the miles and places travelled each month.

Large college campuses seem to be an ideal location where the advertisement will be seen by a population the advertisers love to.
Most programmes require the motorist to be 18 years of age, have a clean driving record and own auto insurance. Traffic violations will, in most cases, prohibit one from being considered.

Another spinoff from this business is an opportunity for providing data of willing drivers. There are a number of websites that claim to be a database for advertisers to find people willing to advertise on their cars.

Many offer free sign-up, but encourage motorists to purchase a "premium package" that is supposed to move your name higher up on the list. The fact is that one is very unlikely to be picked from these services so it isn't worth the time (and definitely not the money) signing up with them.