Unbeknownst to many, owning a pickup truck and utilising it for business purposes is an excellent (and unlimited) way to earn money. From advertising vinyls to hauling items for businesses, trucks are an incredibly versatile and easy-to-use tool.
This article will run you through the best and most reliable ways to earn money with a truck.
How To Make Money With A Truck: 5 Proven Money Making Strategies
1. Hauling
Usually the first method that people think of when talking about trucks, hauling is the process of transporting heavy items for companies and taking them to where they’re needed.
Why can’t businesses do this themselves?
Well, most companies either don’t have access to a truck or can’t afford to buy one, so instead they hire truck-owners to do the work for them.
A standard car can’t be used as it simply isn’t big enough, thus companies rely on people like you to transport their goods.
At the moment, trucks are in very high demand as there are tonnes of businesses just starting out that need items transported – wood and gravel being particularly popular.
This opens up the opportunity for truck-owners, like you, to start making some extra cash and diversifying their streams of income. Make sure you account for the costs of car insurance for truck drivers when calculating your potential profit.
Hauling is perhaps the fastest way to earn money as a truck driver and it also allows you to be very flexible, picking and choosing your hours to suit your schedule.
Junk hauling is perhaps the most popular way of earning as a truck driver as most businesses have an awful lot of waste and no way of transporting it to landfills.
If you’re interested in hauling but don’t know how to start, junk hauling is an incredibly reliable and easy-to-start method of earning.
Additionally, junk hauling can give you the opportunity to find second-hand, disused items and sell them on.
Oftentimes people throw things away that are incredibly valuable, never knowing how much they could earn if they’d just make the effort to sell their items.
As the saying goes, ‘one man’s junk is another man’s treasure’. Make it a habit to check the items you’re hauling before binning them.
Find something expensive and you can easily sell it on, further enhancing your profits and reducing the need to work 24/7 to earn a decent living.
2. Running A Removal Business
Another very popular way of earning with a truck is to start up a removal business.
You’re going to need a decent-sized truck to do this as people will have a lot of goods to transport when moving house.
You have two options here:
Becoming an individual contractor (independent business) or working for a larger corporation.
Each has its pros and cons and working as part of a bigger company tends to be the favoured option as it comes with a sense of security and stability.
However, if you have experience in business or know your trade very well, you can easily take on individual contracts or take the leap and start up a business.
Additionally, there are a number of online services such as GoShare that’ll allow you to take on jobs as and when they’re available.
All you need to do is sign up, log in and take a look to see if there are any removal jobs available.
Then just accept any offers that suit you – simple!
One extra thing to consider when becoming a removal driver is the lifting/workload.
Moving jobs will require you to carry heavy furniture in and out of homes, a task that can be incredibly difficult if you’re riding solo.
I’d recommend hiring a couple of workers to take with you on jobs, allowing you to complete removals in much less time and taking some of the weight quite literally off of your shoulders.
Simply head on over to a job-hiring site such as Indeed/Fiverr and hire somebody else to work with you.
Additional Resources: Expert Removalists Tips On Pandemic
3. Deliveries
Deliveries are also an incredibly popular and easy way to earn money with a trick.
Many small businesses don’t actually have their own personal delivery systems, unlike big corporations such as Tesco, Asda etc.
More often than not, small businesses hire independent delivery drivers to work for them as this is typically far cheaper than setting up their own delivery networks.
As a delivery driver, you can easily accept orders via phone or whichever platform you choose.
I’d advise delivering for companies that operate near your local area to avoid having to travel a long distance for each pickup.
As well as delivering for companies and businesses, you can also deliver for individual people.
Anybody that needs heavy objects transporting and doesn’t own a truck of their own will gladly pay for you to move their goods for them.
This can be as simple as picking up and taking a heavy broken item back to the store it was collected from for a client, or even transporting heavier goods on a regular basis for independent entrepreneurs.
This method of earning with a truck isn’t particularly time-consuming and doesn’t require much work, yet it can earn you a fairly sizeable amount of money when done regularly.
See Also:
When To File a Truck Accident Lawsuit
Food Truck
4. Allowing People To Hire Your Truck
This method really as simple as it gets and can apply to any expensive piece of equipment – from fancy dress costumes to your expensive removal truck.
Renting out your truck to those that need it but can’t afford your own is an incredibly simple and effortless way to make money with it.
The best part about earning money through rentals is that it allows you to continue to make money from your truck even on your days off when you wouldn’t typically be making any profits.
Why leave your truck sat on the drive gathering dust when you could be renting out for decent money?
People are always looking for trucks to hire – any vehicle for that matter (but trucks especially).
Sites such as Turo allow you to advertise your truck online and rent it out to whomever may need it.
There are, of course, many policies and systems in place that ensure that your truck isn’t damaged, however having decent insurance is always a good idea when allowing other people to use your equipment.
Be sure to use an established and well known system to rent out your truck with.
Going freelance and simply allowing anybody you know to hire your truck is incredibly risky as you won’t have the same amount of cover/safety measures as if you would using an online service.
5. Towing
Of course!
This list of methods of earning money with a truck would not be complete without the inclusion of towing!
Perhaps the most well-known way to use trucks to make some extra cash is offering towing services.
Towing is more preferable among those who own larger trucks, trucks that are able to transport more heavier goods, however it is by no means limited to these types of vehicles.
Anybody who owns a pickup truck can earn money offering towing services – all you’ll need is a tow cable and gas.
Unlike diesel, kerosene doesn’t gel as easy as diesel during the cold months. Consider buying kerosene near me at the pump by the gallon during the cold winter months and diesel in the summer months.
Also, before you begin offering towing services using your truck, you’ll first need to check the maximum amount of weight it is able to tow.
Additionally, you should bear in mind that towing is not a wholly skill-less gig.
As a tower, you’ll need to learn how to tow cars or campers without causing any damage to them – a task that can be very difficult for anybody without experience in the field.
Hiring somebody to tow vehicles can be fairly expensive and there’s a lot of money in the field for you to earn.
There is, however fairly high competition in the field with multiple big-name services available for public use.
Attracting a decent amount of clients will require you, at first at least, to offer lower prices that beat the competition.
It’s also always a good idea to offer extra services if you can, services such as sandbags and emergency kits.
As a final note, the best way to keep the value of your truck as high as possible is to look after it as best as you can.
Make an effort to keep your truck clean and to avoid damaging it, as well as being prepared to pay for any repairs you may need rather than leaving them and hoping they’ll go away.
Keeping your truck in good condition will also allow you to display advertisements on it further down the line, another incredibly quick and easy way to earn money without having to do any extra work.
