A pickup truck is a huge investment, especially these days when the prices on the most expensive trims can push past six digits. But pickup owners buy them as tools first and foremost and want to get value for their money. And there’s no better way to recoup some of your costs than to figure out how to make money with your pickup truck.
There are plenty of side hustles that let you turn your truck into a source of income. You could offer moving and hauling services, hook up a snowplow, do some Uber or food delivery driving, or even turn your pickup into a rolling billboard.
There are plenty of people out there who don’t need or want a truck themselves but are willing to pay extra money to have access to one occasionally, especially if they can establish a relationship with someone they trust and turn into a repeat customer base. Who knows? Maybe you’d even enjoy these business ideas enough to turn them from part-time into full-time work.
Here are some of the best ways pickup truck owners can use their vehicles to earn extra money. A word to the wise, though: make sure your insurance will cover anything you plan to undertake before you get started. It’s better to negotiate a more thorough insurance policy up front than to have something happen and find out you’re on the hook for any damages.
How to Make Money with Your Pickup Truck
- Hauling Construction or Landscaping Materials
- Furniture or Appliance Delivery Services
- Junk Removal
- Moving Services
- Recreational Vehicle Delivery Services
- Towing Services
- Snow Plowing
- Food Delivery
- Ride-hailing
- Advertise on Your Truck
- Rent Out Your Truck
Hauling Construction or Landscaping Materials
Gardening and home improvement materials can get things really dirty, and hosing out a truck bed is far easier than cleaning upholstery. There are plenty of people who would be happy to let you make money to save themselves the inconvenience of hauling mulch or drywall around, especially if you can be available on short notice and will undercut the truck rental costs at big box stores.
Consider connecting with local construction companies and landscaping businesses to offer your services. You could also advertise on an online classifieds site like Kijiji or Craigslist, on social media such as on Facebook Marketplace or in neighbourhood Facebook groups, or even on websites that connect local handyman services with potential clients such as GoShare. If you can also perform the related construction or landscaping services on top of transporting the materials, your income opportunities are even better.
Junk Removal
Pickup trucks are perfect candidates for junk hauling services. Whether your client needs to move busted furniture, old tools, ripped-out building materials, or bags of trash, you can get paid to haul stuff other people won’t. You may even find people pay you to take things away that still have value, and you can try selling them for a profit, from used furniture to scrap metal. To get into the junk removal business, you’ll need to have a higher tolerance than average for handling cargo that may be dirty and smelly, and you’ll need safety equipment like thick gloves so you can handle heavy and sharp objects.
Furniture or Appliance Delivery Services
Some furniture stores charge significant fees for delivery services on large items like furniture and appliances. This creates another excellent opportunity to make good money with your truck, especially if you bring a dolly along and can help with the heavy lifting. Appliance repair transportation would work for this as well. You could advertise these services through the same channels listed above, either within the same ad or perhaps separately so it gets its own attention.
