Earn $895 Just for Doing Your Normal Driving in Several Cities: Albuquerque, Chicago, Miami, Wichita, Billings, or Portland (Maine)

If you happen to live in one of several designated cities, you can apply to participate in a Road User Study. You don't have to change your driving habits, you just let them evaluate your driving use and they pay you a total of $895.00 for completed participation.

If you can earn extra money just performing your regular tasks, that seems like making your driving dollars go further. You have to apply to participate and the site doesn't show how many people will be selected and how they'll be chosen. The purpose of the study is to evaluate whether a road-use fee is needed to supplement or replace the current gas tax (your participation doesn't mean you agree about that).

Participation basically includes some up-front training/orientation, having an on-board computer installed in your car, do your normal driving for eight months and answer six questionnaires, and have the computer removed at the end.

The cities involved are:
- Chicago, IL (Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake, and Will Counties)
- Billings, MT (Carbon and Yellowstone Counties)
- Albuquerque, NM (Bernalillo, Sandoval, Torrance, and Valencia Counties)
- Wichita, KS (Butler, Harvey, Sedgwick, and Sumner Counties)
- Portland, ME (Cumberland, Sagadahoe, and York Counties)
- Miami, FL (Broward, Miami-Dade, and Palm Beach Counties)

The requirements for the car and the driver are:
- Have a valid driver’s license
- Be 18 years of age or older
- Be a U.S. citizen or eligible for employment in the U.S.
- Own a personal automobile (year 2000 or newer)
- Provide proof of vehicle registration
- Provide proof of current insurance
- Live in one of the selected field test sites:
- Plan to reside in the area for at least the next 10 months
- Attend a 1.5 hour training session

The following vehicles are excluded from the study in year 2 because they may not be compatible with the on-board computer or because of warranty:
- All Mini Coopers
- All Ford Focus
- All Toyota Prius
- All 2007 and older Mitsubishi
- All 2007 and older VW
- All Acura RL
- All ¾ ton or larger pickups/vans, which would include for example Chevy/GMC 2500 series or higher, Ford E/F-250 or higher, and Dodge Ram 2500 or higher

If you live in one of these cities (or want to pass this on to someone who does) and want to check out the details click this link.