Consumer Review Registry Review

The Paid to Drive industry is the fastest growing segment of the outdoor advertising industry. Advertisers and marketing agencies have discovered that a vehicle covered in what is called a car wrap, receives nearly four times the exposure in an 8 hour day than does a full page ad in a city newspaper. This is a considerable statistic considering that a full page ad can cost up to $45,000 a day ( that is not a misprint ) while a car ad averages only $2000 a month.
This is where the advent of the free car opportunity has arisen. The ad agencies need to be able to target their campaigns in the marketplace, and subsequently this means that they need cars and drivers to achieve this goal.
There is two ways that this process takes place. In some cases, the contracted driver receives a new vehicle provided to them by the ad agency that is decked out in an advertisers message. The alternative is that the driver uses their own car and then gets paid for driving around with the message on it. In some cases, a driver has been provided a car as well as payment for their services.

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Paid to Drive is the oldest of all of the paid to drive directories and we found that several of the lower rated directories were little more than copied guides from their listings. Their directory contains contact listings to all the major agencies in North America. Their site is professional and easy to navigate with a well designed members areas. Customer service was also very good with a same day response rating.

The Free Car.com is one of the more professional free car match services on the internet with a well designed, professional site and members area. They have a strong Frequently Asked Questions section and include a free bonus book for dealing with speeding tickets. They have direct access to the online applications for their listings

The Free Car Finder is a newer directory but received a strong rating from our review panel. Their site is well designed and easy to use with a user friendly members section Their FAQ section was a bit brief, but their directory was given an A+ rating for content. Customer service / tech requests was replied to within 24 hours.

Have you ever noticed those colorful cars that are travelling bill boards. Beer and liquor companies have been using them for years, and now other industries are starting to put them to work as part of their over all advertising strategy.
In a world where a 30 second television commercial can cost well over 2 million dollars and even a basic radio ad campaign stretched over a few days can run into the tens of thousands of dollars, the effectiveness in both exposure and cost of car advertisements has caught advertising executives attention all over the country.
This new medium for getting their message out has created a demand for drivers in target markets. For only a few thousand dollars a month, they can have a car completely wrapped in their message travelling about their target city.
The industry is broken down into the top level advertiser who is then represented by the advertising agency which in turn enlists specific drivers to drive the message about their city or town. It is through this process that an entire new industry was created as directories to the paid to drive companies have sprung up all over the internet.
For a fee ranging from $22.95 to as high as $40, the consumer can purchase a directory containing a list to all of the companies currently seeking drivers across the world - although our test results showed that the directories are far more geared towards North America.

In most cases, the successful applicant will receive a new vehicle for a contract period ranging from 3 months to 1 year. Depending on the company, insurance can be the responsibility of the driver, but a secondary policy to protect against against liability is usually carried by the agency and the advertiser. Depending on the market, and driver may also be paid for their time as well with fees ranging from $100 to 1500 per month. The cost of gas in many cases is the responsibility of the driver, unless their is a specific route or schedule the driver is assigned to which would then see the advertiser pick up the fuel bill.

Over the past two years, literally hundreds of directories have sprung up offering access to the companies that offer paid to drive opportunities. We discovered that most of these companies were little more than home publishers who plagiarized each others work to create a chain reaction of outdated information filled with companies that in some cases don't even exist anymore. Never the less, we purchased nearly 40 different directories, and choose to publish the results of the top 9 notable companies.
Each directory was then analyzed for several factors including the amount of listings contained, the accuracy of these listings, how up to date they were and finally the uniqueness of the product / directory being offered.
There are in fact about 40 major companies operating in North America that provide car wrap opportunities and only a handful operating in other countries in Europe and Australia - despite the marketing efforts of these directories that promote this a world wide industry. This means that unless you are in the United States or Canada, your chances of finding a company taking applications for drivers is rather slim and you should hang on to your money. The below reviews take a closer look at our top picks for this industry.

The Paid to Drive industry is a legitimate business - but one has to keep in mind that it is not a given that you are going to get a free car. It is much like applying for a job, except that you demographics and personal particulars are going to determine your success. For example, an advertiser who is promoting a new beer popular in night clubs in going to want a night club going person - ie: young and trendy - while a bus tour company would want to target an older audience and would seek drivers that were more likely to be seen by their target audience.
The results of our research can be viewed to the right including our top preferred three subject sites.