When most people think about truck driving, carrying passengers doesn’t always come to mind. If you own a pickup truck, you may feel a bit left out of the gig economy, but you shouldn’t! There are plenty of ways to make extra money with your pickup truck, or you can even take it one step further and create your own business.
Below are ten creative ideas to help you get started.
10 Ways to Make Money with a Pickup Truck
- Make Food Deliveries
- Rideshare Driving
- Deliver Packages
- Snow Plowing
- Wrap Your Truck
- Junk Hauling Business
- Moving Furniture
- Rent Out Your Truck
- Start a Landscaping Business
- Charge & Maintain Electric Scooters
1. Make Food Deliveries
Food delivery companies like Uber Eats and DoorDash don’t mind if you make your deliveries with a truck. You just need to meet their vehicle requirements.
For Uber Eats, for example, the minimum vehicle requirements are:
- New or no older than 15 years
- Has 4 doors (although requirements vary by vehicle option)
- In good condition with no cosmetic damage
- Does not have commercial branding
As a food delivery driver, you’ll pick up prepared food and deliver it right to the customer’s door.
2. Rideshare Driving
You may think since you drive a truck, you can’t drive for rideshare companies, but that’s not exactly true. Although a two-door pickup truck won’t qualify, they don’t mind if you drive a truck as long as it has four independent opening doors and there’s enough room to carry at least four passengers.
One thing to keep in mind, however, some riders may not give you as high of reviews as they normally would because most trucks have less leg room and some people find them harder to get in and out of than they would a car.
If you’re considering transporting people, take a look at our Uber driver review to see if it’s right for you!
3. Deliver Packages
In today’s busy world, many people want the items they order delivered quickly to their homes or workplace. Apps like Amazon Flex and Walmart Spark make that happen.
If you don’t like the idea of making food deliveries or transporting people around in your truck, you may find delivering things from office supply places, grocery stores, or package stores more to your liking.
4. Snow Plowing
If you’re in an area of the country where you get several inches each year, investing in a snowplow is a great way to make money with a truck.
Many private businesses need someone to clear their parking lot each day and you can often pick up private clients with longer driveways or who prefer someone else to clear their driveway for them.
You can also offer this on sites like TaskRabbit, which connects people with skills/tools (like snowplows!) to people who need work done.
5. Wrap Your Truck to Display Advertisements
Companies like Wrapify pay drivers to display ads on their vehicles. Drivers can earn around $200 to $300 a month when they agree to let the company wrap their truck.
When they’re done, your truck basically becomes a giant moving billboard, and you’ll make some nice passive income by just driving it around town.
The best part is that Wrapify prefers people who do a lot of driving in busy areas. That way their advertisements will make as many impressions as possible. Wrapify has been around since 2015 and has partnered with brands like Zoom, Molson Coors, Amazon, and more.
Related:
- Make Money Driving Around With Wrapify for Lyft And Uber Drivers
- Best Rideshare Advertising Companies
6. Junk Hauling Business
One person’s junk really is another one’s treasure, especially if you’re the one getting paid to haul it away. In recent years, junk removal companies have become extremely popular.
If you have a truck, people will actually pay you to take their used items away. If the item is something like an old washing machine or dryer, you may even find you can make some repairs to it and resell it for some extra cash. Win-win!
7. Moving Furniture
If you don’t mind heavy lifting, transporting furniture is a great way to make extra money. Sometimes it’s as simple as getting a dining room set from one place to another, and other times you may find yourself helping someone move their entire house.
This type of gig usually pays better than most, and if you don’t mind driving long distances, you can make some serious cash.
One company you might want to check out is Bellhop – Bellhop connects movers (you) to people who need things moved, and you can pick and choose gigs based on your schedule.
And if you want to start your own moving company, HireAHelper has a great resource on that topic.
Related:
8. Rent Your Truck Out
Companies like Turo work as connectors to help vehicle owners rent their vehicles to other people. If you don’t have to drive your truck all the time, allowing people to rent it could provide you with some nice extra income.
Turo not available in your area? You should also check out Hyrecar, or potentially become a fleet owner!
9. Start a Landscaping Business
If you like working outdoors and don’t mind some physical work, using your truck to start a landscaping business is a great way to make either a part-time or full-time income.
Unlike some of the other gigs where you just get in your truck and drive, to start making money with a landscaping business you’ll need some equipment to get started. Unless your truck has an extended cab and you already own a dependable lawn mower and some sturdy ramps, you’ll need to invest some money to get your landscaping business going. At a minimum, plan to purchase a trailer for hauling your lawn mower as well as the other equipment you’ll need, such as a weed eater, garden shears, rakes, and other gardening tools.
If you want to make extra cash on top of the money you make with your landscaping service, talk to the local nurseries in your area about making deliveries for them. Some landscaping businesses have found they can make an extra $40 to $50 dollars a day by delivering heavier items like mulch or pine straw bales for nurseries. You may find many homeowners will not only pay for the delivery, but they’ll also pay an additional fee if you spread the mulch or pine straw out for them too.
10. Charge and Maintain Electric Scooters
Visit any big city and you’ve no doubt seen people getting around town on their rented electric scooters. What you may not know, however, is that companies like Bird, who is one of the suppliers of this type of transportation, don’t actually have physical locations in the cities they serve. Instead, they rely on what they call ‘partners’ to keep the scooters charged and maintained. That’s where you and your truck come in.
Bird partners collect the scooters each evening, charge them overnight, then drop them off in the morning. Bird states there are no upfront costs when you leverage existing assets to get started. This translates to that you need a truck (or another large vehicle) to pick the scooters up, and they want you to have a warehouse where you can store the scooters overnight while they charge. The company provides everything else.
Bird reports their partners can earn over $1500 a week and you’ll make money on every ride.
Factors That Affect the Types of Jobs You Can Do With a Truck
There are several factors to consider before you try to make money with your truck. The area where you live could have restrictions or local government requirements you must meet when you use your truck to make income.
Some companies may have vehicle requirements you must meet as well. You may also have to purchase special insurance for your truck since you are using it in a commercial capacity.
Before you start your own business, take a look at apps like the ones mentioned above (Taskrabbit, Bellhop, Uber, Turo, etc.) It may be easier to get started working with an established company first vs starting your own company and not knowing if you even like the work!
Best Apps for Making Money with a Truck
Here are a few of the best apps you can use to earn extra cash with your pickup.
- Uber (rideshare)
- Uber Eats (food)
- DoorDash (food)
- Bellhop (moving)
- Dolly (moving)
- Urgently (you’ll provide roadside help, such as towing, battery jump starting, and changing flat tires)
- Turo (vehicle-sharing platform)
- Load Up (junk removal)
- Amazon Flex (item delivery)
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the best hauling jobs for someone with a pickuptruck?
This depends on what kind of work you like to do and how big and/or heavy-duty your truck is. If you don’t like the idea of lifting heavy objects, you may prefer to haul people or food items instead of items like furniture. On the other hand, you may prefer to haul away junk for people, or perhaps you could transport items to construction sites.
What businesses can you start with a pickup truck?
- Landscaping
- Furniture moving
- Snowplowing
- Junk hauling
- Moving service
- And more
What type of expenses should you expect?
- Cost of fuel
- Maintenance costs (tires, oil, brakes, etc.)
- Additional insurance for using your truck for commercial purposes
- Business license or special permits (if needed)
How much money can you make with a pickup truck?
It’s hard to give an exact number since the amount of money you can make varies greatly depending on the type of work you do with your truck. You could make as low as $15 for delivering a package or $50 a day by renting out your truck. The possibilities are endless.
It is possible to earn larger amounts, such as $1,000 a day, but that is usually for making long hauls that can cross several state lines and could take all day to complete.
What are the best part-time side gigs for someone with a pickup truck?
There are many part-time side gigs you can do with a truck. It’s hard to choose which ones we think are best. Delivery jobs are probably your best bet if you simply want to make some extra cash and don’t want heavy lifting. If you don’t mind getting dirty or doing some cleanup, you may prefer to do junk hauling or something like picking up scrap metal.
Is it Worth Buying a Truck to Make Money?
Once again, it depends. With rising fuel costs, you may find it is not cost-effective to buy a truck unless you have a specific gig in mind where you know you will need a bigger, heftier vehicle.
If you plan to use your truck for side gigs or to operate a business that requires you to haul items or carry larger items regularly, you could find it very beneficial to own one.
With so many apps available to connect truck owners with people that need something hauled, picked up, or delivered if you own a truck and are looking for ways to earn money, there’s never been a better time to do it.
Have you made money with your truck? What kind of business do you run? Leave us a comment below.
