I am looking into after 3 years of driving to go as a self employed lorry driver on class 2 and or 7.50 tonn work aswell. Just looking for any advise on this subject. Like are many companys intrested in hiring self employed drivers ? what kind of hourly rates can be earned, I’m in the gloucestershire area. will I need my own insurants, any pit falls people known about etc ? any info on this will be apracited. many thanks all.
First of all you need to sort out your english. Send enquiry emails or letters/flyers with that standard of literacy and you’ll not make it through the front door.
Rates want to be what PAYE pays plus at least 30%. You will need to come up with a watertight set of business terms setting out what you are liable for, so you don’t get stung for £1000s when you ■■■■ up, and things like payment terms so they know they have to pay you within 7 days/28 days of the invoice and not just when they feel like it.
I’ll be honest with you. 3 years in unless you’ve had a lot of experience doing all different types of work then it is going to be hard going and even though you do a good job 9 times out of 10 all it takes is that tenth time to be a crap one and they’ll remember and may not use you again.
You also want to build up contacts. My advice is to spend a couple of years on agency, work up to the point you’re getting sent to regular places and then approach those places about going self employed direct with them and work into it rather than trying to jump straight in.
You also need to make sure that your personal finances are in good health too before you start and that you’ve a good few thousand quid in the bank, enough to cover at least a couple of months living expenses. You need to be prepared to go at least a month and possibly two with absolutely no income coming in and unless you’re lucky then plan on the next few months being quite low on income too.