For $500 a week would affix a company's logo to your car to advertise for them?

[QuarterMillionMan]

Heck yes I would. I got this email which I think is bogus but if a real company offered me $500 a week I would do it.

[james.hendrickson]

I googled this quickly. Evidently this is called the 'Colgate Toothpaste Paid to Drive Scam". Evidently what happens is you start to correspond with the person on the other end of the email, and then they send you a fake check, ask you to deposit it and then send a portion back to them. Of course the check will bounce, leaving the recipient on the hook for the fraud as well as for the funds sent to the scammer.

Here is one summary of the scam.

Cleveland 19 did a summary of it on the news.

Fox 8 also did a story on a variant of the scam.

One thing I'd just comment on here is that law enforcement has been really good historically about stopping some kinds of crimes - for example kidnapping was largely irradicated in the 1930s, but in general Federal law enforcement seems less effective these days at preventing and irradicating cyber crime. There seems to be an awful lot of it these days.

[bjl584]

Of course this is a scam.

I'd say the only legit way to do something like this that isn't digital is if you own enough property close to a freeway and can have billboards constructed.

[kork13]

Clearly a scam. But to your question? Absolutely not.

By policy..... I don't put bumper stickers on my car. I don't do social media. I don't wear t-shirts with company logos or event images on them. I don't advertise or even self-advertise (sometimes to my own detriment). Put simply: I very intentionally do not draw attention to myself. There's no way that I would advertise for a company like that, regardless of what they pay. My personality just doesn't work that way.

BTW.... There ARE legitimate opportunities to advertise on your car for companies with window & door panel ads. But what they pay typically depends on two primary factors: (1) size of the ad, per square inch. (2) hours/miles driven. However, those opportunities don't pay nearly $500/wk -- closer estimates (assuming a 1-sq.ft. ad & average miles driven) would be maybe $25/wk.... On the high end.

[james.hendrickson]

@kork what legitimate companies do this? I'd be curious about them myself.

[EmelineG]

I've seen drivers in Europe who work on their car for Uber and put on the logo of the company because they pay extra for it. I'm not sure it's about $500. I think it's a much smaller amount.

[QuarterMillionMan]

In Los Angeles, I've seen private personal vehicles with a digital sign affixed to the rooves of the cars advertising a certain business. Not sure how much they get paid but if let's say somewhere inbetween kork's numbers of $25 or let's say $10 a week, for $40 a month, I would pass. At $25 a week I might consider it for $100 a month. James would you?

[ua_guy]

https://www.thepennyhoarder.com/make-money/quick-money/car-wrap-advertising/

I haven't verified any of the companies, but supposedly this is a thing.

I don't drive much right now so if they want to pay me $500/month to stick a sign on my car in the garage, sure. But I'd imagine there are mileage log requirements or other stipulations.

[kork13]

@kork what legitimate companies do this? I'd be curious about them myself.

I don't know offhand, I've mostly only read about it online.

But a quick Google search tells me that it's mostly run through advertising brokers -- they connect companies with drivers. For example: Nickelytics, Carvertise, and Wrapify. What companies do they advertise for? NASCAR, EA Sports, Buffalo Wild Wings, Pepsi, Monster, ..... That sort. How much do they offer? Still from that search, looks like ~$300/mo for a full-car wrap is the upper-end.

[QuarterMillionMan]

[james.hendrickson]

Kork, thats probably what makes the scam so insidious. It has a ring of truth, some companies evidently do car wrap advertising.

Yeah, I'd totally put an ad for EA sports or Nascar on my jeep, no problem, all day long.

[AJ444]

If it were legit sure, I always find it funny when car dealers expect you to keep their dealer brand on your car for free.

[james.hendrickson]

If it were legit sure, I always find it funny when car dealers expect you to keep their dealer brand on your car for free.

AJ444, great point. I was in the Honolulu airport today and had the same thought. I was seeing all these people with name brand logos on their clothing - under armor, etc. etc. I thought to myself, geeze, don't these people know its free advertising for the brands? Or scratch that, its not even free, in a lot of cases consumers are PAYING to advertise the brands.

[disneysteve]

If it were legit sure, I always find it funny when car dealers expect you to keep their dealer brand on your car for free.

I've also noticed how the car manufacturer's logo has gotten much bigger over the years. The Toyota or Chevy or Subaru emblem is huge compared to 20 years ago.

[james.hendrickson]

I've also noticed how the car manufacturer's logo has gotten much bigger over the years. The Toyota or Chevy or Subaru emblem is huge compared to 20 years ago.

Yep. I saw this on another forums...

Its basically a 2017 and 2018 Acura showing the increasing size of the logo.

Source: Texasag.com

But a lot of other manufacturers are showing the same trend - Mercedes, Toyota, etc.