basically since the dvla have refused my hgv licence i have been thinking about doing courier work as i want to get back to driving so can anyone give me any advice im looking to get a transit van as i ride a bike so it handy to go somewhere and thought i could possibly make the van pay by delivering parcels etc so any advice appriciated
its a bit of a cut throat business at these times, a mate of mine has his own luton transit and collects and delivers air freight for a company at heathrow, he knows someone who works at the company and they are putting the work his way and keeping him busy. my mate said the over heads are really getting high, diesel, insurance and maintenance, needs to earn £300p/w to pay for over heads before he earns any money. long hours involved as well.
insurance is sorted as i have goods cover on my trade policy and maintence is sorted so to speak as i trained at college as a mechanic
its just everything else i need advice
go on the courier forums and you’ll see the world and his dog are at it.
Subbing for the big parcel carriers will just about make you a living but you’ll be up at 4 am and getting home around half 7 -8pm. Also if you want some time off you’ll need to arrange (pay for) cover for your round.
If you can find some specialist work one hitting it from Plymouth to Inverness you might get a half decent rate!
peewee:
insurance is sorted as i have goods cover on my trade policy
I would double check that actually covers courier use. As soon as you start carrying goods for hire or reward the premium rockets and a normal policy with good cover is unlikely to cover it.
A member on here has just bought a normal transit sized van to do a bit of courier work and the insurance even after much shopping around was the wrong side of £2k.
Paul
repton:
peewee:
insurance is sorted as i have goods cover on my trade policyI would double check that actually covers courier use. As soon as you start carrying goods for hire or reward the premium rockets and a normal policy with good cover is unlikely to cover it.
A member on here has just bought a normal transit sized van to do a bit of courier work and the insurance even after much shopping around was the wrong side of £2k.
Paul
i have double checked as i use to carry clocks for my dad so had to be covered
Rew:
have you seen this advertised in your area?
and this!
Hi Peewee,
lf your thinking of doing courier work your gonna need the following,
- Normally a vehicle that is no older than 3yrs, if your lucky 5yrs.
- Hire & Reward Courier lnsurance,approx cost £2 to £2.5.
- Public Liability Insurance ,normally cover £500,000.
- Goods ln Transit lnsurance.
- Maintainance /Roadside Cover
Normal parcel work requires you to do 80 to 120 drops a day…
lf your alicated a round theres collections on top of drops…
- if you breakdown /have a day off or take holiday you have to lay on cover for your round…
l hope the above information is a help to you,best of luck …
cheers for the advice so far certainly worth thinking another thing has sort of crossed my path is my neighbour is selling his garage and retiring and has offered his recovery truck to me would it be worthy idea to purchase and do vehicle transportation ?
I’ve looked into courier work, express light haulage and vehicle transportation and can’t make the numbers stack up to a livable wage against the worry and risk involved in the current climate.
Take a look at Shiply to see what sort of rates the light hauliers are quoting for vehicle movements. Granted they are doing it as backloads, but the rates on there won’t even cover diesel (my guess is they’re being quoted just to get any sort of money for what would have been an empty trip home), but you’ll be trying to compete with those.
Unless you have a nice contract job to pay the bills I can’t see how it can pay!
Derf:
I’ve looked into courier work, express light haulage and vehicle transportation and can’t make the numbers stack up to a livable wage against the worry and risk involved in the current climate.
I’ve done the same and come to the same conclusion.
UKMail wee advertising for van owner drivers a couple of years back round us. The claimed earnings were “up to £180 per day”. Now at the time I was getting £10/hour (so normally £100 - £150 per day) working as an HGV relief driver and on that basis it just didn’t stack up once the van, diesel, insurances, etc. were taken into account.
Paul
peewee:
insurance is sorted as i have goods cover on my trade policy and maintence is sorted so to speak as i trained at college as a mechanicits just everything else i need advice
Your motor trade policy covers you for courier work? I doubt it. It merely means you’ll not get stopped by plod for no insurance via ANPR, not that your insurance company will cover you in the event of a claim or that if plod decide to dig that you won’t be done for no insurance at a roadside check.
Also you need to get goods in transit and public liability.
peewee:
cheers for the advice so far certainly worth thinking another thing has sort of crossed my path is my neighbour is selling his garage and retiring and has offered his recovery truck to me would it be worthy idea to purchase and do vehicle transportation ?
There seems to be in the classic car market. I had a phone call the other day asking if I’d be willing to drive a lorry transporting classic cars. The guy was telling me that for example a lot of the people doing the London to Brighton run have their cars transported to London and then back home from Brighton. They don’t drive them all the way from their home and back.
I think Ken (Quinny) is doing courier van work these days. I remember a post from him a while back about it. He will be in a good position to offer some advice I think.
I know of a guy whos doing ‘Euro hot-shot work’ for a well known company In a tilt-bodied van. Makes good money,but driving 4500/5000km’s a week, hardly home.Leaves Sunday morning & back home Sat afternoon.
the idea is if possible is to do courior work or vehicle transportation if i buy the recovery truck on weekends and in spare time until there is enough work to warrent giving up my job if that is possible as i want to get back into driving
Rob K:
I think Ken (Quinny) is doing courier van work these days. I remember a post from him a while back about it. He will be in a good position to offer some advice I think.
That was about 2 years ago Rob, and it is indeed a cut throat business.
Subbing from the main courier companies is not the way to go, but is useful to get a backload from an area you happen to be in, but small van rates from these guys were about 50ppm one way.( 80ppm for bigger vans.)
What is needed and has been said, is a contract of your own, however, if you can double or treble on a job, you can make money, albeit not a lot.
Let me give you an example:
You pick up a job in Leeds to go to London. What you need is another job or two going the same way which is called doubling/trebling. That could be either Leeds to Nottingham or Leicester, or from Sheffield to Milton Keynes etc etc. You get the picture? As long as you can do that on a regular basis, and still meet your original obligation you should be ok.
Then say you are given 2 jobs from your 2 big companies, one going to London the other Glasgow. Obviously you can’t be in 2 places at once, so through your own network of contacts that you build up over time, you have to think which of the 2 jobs is more likely to land you in an area where YOU can get a backload, so you sub the other off to another individual courier looking for a backload to Glasgow. and so on and so on.
You’ll need:
A van of your choice up to 5 years max. These vans do galactic mileage, so choose carefully, and make sure it’s a TD. Get one in white as it’s more appealing to companies. Don’t put any companies name on it as they’ll expect you to run exclusively for them, and will dump you when it’s quiet meaning you’ll struggle to attract other companies.
A phone with answering service on whatever contract you have.
A laptop with mobile internet. (Use free wi-fi wherever possible.)
GIT insurance.
Public liability insurance of upwards of £1m
A bloody good sat nav.
And that’s about it.
Oh, and good luck, believe me you’ll need it.
Ken.
try citysprint we deliver there