Getting Started

Hi I am new here, I am looking to start doing courier work.

I have an estate car, I also have a van, it is a ldv convoy. Bit old now so would prefer to just use the car if possible. I am new to this I have never done courier work, I have done pizza deliveries in the past. I know it is completely different but is a start. I was just wondering what I need or what I need to do in order to get started i.e. insurance etc. Many thanks in advance.

The most important thing you need is plenty of back up money and then for good measure a lot more, and make sure you are sitting down when getting insurance quotes. Once that's all sorted the really hard work begins.

I never quite grasped just how cushy my last job was until I decided to start my own courier business.

A car is a real disadvantage even if you can get insurance, you need a reliable newer the better van, if you buy a small one you will think 'I should have got a bigger one' but if you get a big one to start with you'll probably think a smaller one would have sufficed.

Just my opinion and the more knowledgeable will be along shortly to put you right.

Best of luck, Ray.

Welcome Warren.

Good luck, once you have sorted insurance out, try to get as many contacts in the business as you can and this should lead to some work to start with if you're reliable.

As mentioned above, building useful contacts is probably one of the most important things to do. It's something that networking sites like mtvan are all about. Using courier exchange type sites like mtvan is only one way though. Make contact with businesses local to you who you think might need or already do make use of sameday couriers to handle urgent, fragile or awkward loads.

This is by no means the most important thing, but if you're on iPhone you might be interested in our iPhone App. View the thread here.

Three main points to look for in a van (in my opinion), in order or importance:

1. Reliable
2. Cheap to run
3. Comfort

Anything else is a bonus. My Transit might be older than many, but it ticks all the above boxes.

I whole heartedly agree with your No. 3 Theo, ever tried having a night out in a Ford Connect? NO... In that case dont!

Hi Have a look for a DXS depot near you and give them a call the vetting can be hard but they use car drivers it may help you to get a start?

you could always go done the traditional route with a good old escort van, you can still pick up good one on fleeBay Boring to drive 80mph flat at with a spinnikar deployed but reliable and cheap to run/insure If you can put up with that for a year to get you going then you will have a good chance of making it to year2

But the best thing is keep the overheads LOW Shitty sprint is also usefull when you start off they pay low but every 2 weeks so you can use their money for fuel money whilst your getting 'proper' customers,

Mr Springer I could fix the Escort in the old days I dont even know where to plug in the laptop on these modern vans!

Sureway Logistics Ltd. said:

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Hi Have a look for a DXS depot near you and give them a call the vetting can be hard but they use car drivers it may help you to get a start?

I suggest to you that anyone that uses cars for couriering has NOT got the relevant insurance, and anyone that subs out to cars doesn't care whether you have or not... Which for me says all i need to know about both parties

A car is ideal if you're thinking of becoming a "lifestyle courier" IE multidropping in a small area. Hermes are always on the lookout for people. They don't pay a lot but offer insurance cover to cover you only while delivering for them at realy cheap rates. The rounds are not big so you could do your hermes in the morning while getting other work for your van there after. Just a way of generating income while you are building a customerbase. If you're interested I could probably get the number of the area manager for your area as I run a sub depot for Hermes.

I don't think you'll get very far using the car for same day stuff though

From previous experience there are only 5 brokers that offer Courier H&R throu just one Insurance company which makes the cover very expensive.

I would bet that less than 5% of lifestyle couriers using cars are appropriately insured, it would make their insurance prohibitively expensive for poorly paid part time work

Hermese offer the correct cover for pence per day but only while the hand held is live, once the courier has completed their deliveries and run the end of day the cover ends untill the next time parcels are receipt scanned. It realy is cost effective. I'd be interested in what you base 5% on though?

Have you seen the T&C on one of these policies? It's not H&R!