Earn money by turning your car into a moving billboard

It’s pretty common to have a side hustle these days. Y’know, a fairly relaxing side job that you can do in your spare time. Sometimes it’s just to fill the time while sometimes it’s because we want to learn new things.

But of course there’s that need to earn a little extra cash so you can keep your head above the water. The problem is, some people simply don’t have the time — or are unwilling to spend more energy than necessary — to have a side hustle.

Well, if you’re that kind of person, and you drive to work every day, Moola may have the perfect job for you.

In a nutshell, Moola is an advertising platform that connects brands with drivers by sticking advertisements directly on a registered driver’s car. According to them, they give clients interested in advertising with them the best of both worlds: A physical traditional ad, but with the tracking capabilities of a digital one.

If that’s all gibberish to you, it doesn’t matter because you’re probably here to learn how you can earn some extra moolah, if you will.

Well, Moola is a service that allows drivers to “rent” space on their cars out to advertisers so that they can stick banners and ads on your vehicle. To begin earning, you will need to sign up to be a driver with their application (iOS or Android). Once you’ve registered as a driver, you can then start applying for advertising campaigns when they’re available. If you get accepted for an ad campaign, Moola will then stick a bunch of car vinyl sticker ads on either your car’s doors, bonnet or boot.

Don’t worry about endorsing a brand that you dislike, though, because Moola says you will have all the control to pick and choose the kind of ads that get on your car.

Then, you drive around with the ads on to generate something called impressions. Impressions basically refers to the number of people who have seen your ad so the more impressions you get, the more visible it is to the general public. And that’s important to you because that’s how you get paid.

Moola uses a complicated algorithm to calculate the number of impressions an ad generates. This algorithm prioritises mileage (distance driven) but also takes into consideration factors like time of day and a bunch of other factors. To keep things simple, the basic principle behind how you earn money is: The more you drive, the more impressions you generate and the more money you can earn.

When asked if they could calculate the impressions of a vehicle parked in a strategic spot (like the middle of KLCC Park or Bukit Bintang, for example), they said that it did not. However, the algorithm does take some parking time into consideration and they are working towards including factors like traffic conditions into the calculations too. On average, Moola says that a driver can earn about RM200 to RM300 per month.

Of course, there are a few things you need to know about this service. First is that your earning potential and responsibilities will depend on the campaigns themselves. If there are no available campaigns in your area, then you won’t be able to earn any money. Sometimes, campaigns may require you to attend a particular event with your car, or even perform some roving tasks during the period too.

Next, you can’t just use any old car. Moola requires that your vehicle be less than 10 years old and be in original factory paint where the ads will be stuck on. They say that this is to prevent any potential peeling of your vehicle’s paint when the vinyl stickers are removed because although their stickers don’t leave a residue, a poor repaint job might not hold up well.

The third thing relates to your location too. Although Moola is available throughout the country, most of their campaigns happen to take place in the Klang Valley so if you’re outside it your earning potential could be greatly reduced.

However, Moola does have its strengths. Besides the convenience of not needing to drive anywhere else beyond your route to and from work, you also don’t have to fetch strangers to strange places and put yourself at risk. What’s more, you don’t have to pay for any of the vinyl stickers so there’s no prior investment needed. There’s also no need for any kind of special licensing because Moola’s ads don’t cover the entirety of your car, leaving enough space for police officers to identify its original colour, make and model.

Though, it probably won’t be as reliable of a source of income as something like Grab or an actual part time job, because you will really need to rely on Moola being able to pull advertising campaigns. That said, the company did recently forge a partnership with PUC subsidiary, Founder Qube, an integrated media service provider to improve their services. According to Moola, this partnership will allow them to focus on developing their product while Founder Qube brings in the advertisers for them.

Moola currently has over 19,000 registered drivers and have been around since September 2016. For more info, head on over to Moola.com.my.