Why a courier business is one of the easiest businesses to start
A courier business has one of the lowest barriers to entry of any UK service business. You need a van, the right insurance, a phone and customers. No shop to lease, no stock to buy, no qualification to pass before your first job. The UK courier and postal sector is expected to generate £28.5 billion in revenue in 2025, with over 33,000 businesses competing for a share of it.
But if you already own a suitable van, you can realistically be trading within a week.
Choose your type of courier work first
Same-day work means urgent point-to-point deliveries, often for law firms, printers and medical suppliers. Jobs pay well per drop but arrive unpredictably. Multi-drop parcel work is the opposite: a fixed route of 60 to 100 drops a day, usually subcontracted from a network like Amazon Flex, DPD or Evri. The pay per parcel is low, but the work is steady. Specialist work, such as medical samples, pays the highest rates but can need extra checks or ADR certification.
Subcontracting for a big network is the fastest way to start earning: a route, a scanning app and a guaranteed day rate while you learn the job. The trade-off is that the network sets the rate and keeps the customer.
How much does it cost to start a courier business?
If you already own a van, the cash needed to start is surprisingly small. The insurance bill is the main cost, and the one new couriers most often underestimate. A lean launch costs £1,720 to £3,130 before the van; buying a reliable used van takes the total to £5,000 to £15,000.
| Cost | Lean start (own van) | Buying a used van |
|---|---|---|
| Hire and reward insurance (annual) | £1,200 – £2,000 | £1,200 – £2,000 |
| Goods in transit insurance (annual) | £150 – £350 | £150 – £350 |
| Public liability insurance (annual) | £80 – £200 | £80 – £200 |
| Used van (reliable, under 10 years old) | £0 (already owned) | £3,000 – £10,000 |
| Road tax, MOT, servicing, breakdown | £290 – £580 | £290 – £580 |
| Total to launch | £1,720 – £3,130 | £4,720 – £13,130 |
Keep a month of running costs in reserve too. Fuel alone can run £400 to £800 a month for a busy van, and most direct clients pay on 30-day terms, so a buffer of £1,000 to £2,000 stops a slow first fortnight from becoming a crisis.
Step 1: Get the right van
Buy for reliability rather than looks. Most platforms and clients want a van under 10 years old, and the key rule is weight: keep the gross vehicle weight under 3.5 tonnes. Below that line you need no operator’s licence and no CPC qualification. Above it, you need both, plus a transport manager.
A small van such as a Ford Transit Custom or Vauxhall Vivaro suits multi-drop work. A larger Luton or Sprinter suits furniture and pallet work but costs more to run and insure. Check the service history, budget for a full service in the first month, and pay £150 for a pre-purchase inspection: a van that breaks down on a route costs you the repair bill plus the day’s income.
Step 2: Sort the insurance before you take a single job
Standard van insurance is invalid the moment you carry goods for payment, so a crash on a delivery run with the wrong policy can leave you personally liable for everything. You need three covers.
| Insurance | What it covers | Typical annual cost |
|---|---|---|
| Hire and reward | Your legal liability for using the van to deliver goods for payment | £1,200 – £2,000 |
| Goods in transit | Damage, loss or theft of the parcels you carry | £150 – £350 |
| Public liability | Injury or property damage to third parties while you work | £80 – £200 |
Hire and reward is the non-negotiable one, priced on your age, driving history, postcode and van. Get three quotes and ask whether the policy covers multi-drop work and subcontracting, because some cheap policies exclude both. Goods in transit cover usually has a per-parcel limit, often £5,000 to £10,000. For more on cover for the self-employed, see our guide to insurance for the self-employed.
Step 3: Register the business and keep HMRC happy
You do not need a specific courier licence in the UK. Most new couriers start as sole traders because it is free, takes about 15 minutes online, and you keep full control. Register as self-employed with HMRC, file a Self Assessment tax return each year, and pay income tax on profits above the £12,570 personal allowance. If turnover passes £90,000 in a year, VAT registration becomes mandatory.
A limited company costs £100 to incorporate online with Companies House and gives you a separate legal identity, which protects your personal assets if something goes wrong with a high-value delivery. Either way, open a separate business bank account on day one. Our guide on how to do a business in the United Kingdom covers the registration steps in more detail.
Step 4: Price your work so the van actually earns
The three common models are per mile, per drop and a day rate, and most experienced couriers mix all three. A same-day delivery might be priced at £1.20 to £1.80 a mile with a £15 minimum, a multi-drop route pays £1.20 to £2.50 per successful drop, and a full day of dedicated work for one client usually runs £180 to £300.
| Pricing model | Typical UK rate | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Per mile (same-day) | £1.20 – £1.80 per mile, £15 minimum | Urgent point-to-point jobs |
| Per drop (multi-drop) | £1.20 – £2.50 per drop | Parcel routes, ecommerce rounds |
| Day rate (dedicated) | £180 – £300 per day | One client, full-day hire |
| Waiting time | £15 – £25 per hour | Collections with delays |
Before you quote, work out your real cost per mile: annual fuel, insurance, tax, servicing, tyres and van depreciation divided by expected miles usually lands between 45p and 70p a mile. Any job priced below that loses money, however busy it keeps you. The same cost-first logic is covered in our guide to how to price a cleaning business in the UK.
Step 5: Find your first customers
Work comes from two places: platforms that hand you jobs, and direct clients you win yourself. Start with both, because platforms pay the bills while direct clients build the business. The Courier Exchange is the biggest UK load board for independent couriers, at £170 a month plus VAT. Hauly is a newer platform with 48-hour verification that suits new drivers. Amazon Flex, DPD and Evri all take on self-employed drivers for set routes, and they are the easiest first step because the work is regular. Treat this as a training ground and a cash flow bridge, not the final business, because the rates are fixed and modest.
Direct clients pay better and stay longer, so start winning them from week one. Walk into local businesses that ship parcels every day: independent pharmacies, florists, print shops, garages and parts suppliers. Offer a free trial week at a fair rate and a phone number that actually gets answered. One local business sending ten parcels a day, five days a week, is worth £1,000 to £2,000 a month. Put your phone number and service area on Google Business Profile, and ask every happy customer for a short testimonial.
How much can you actually earn?
Owner-drivers typically aim for £150 to £300 a day before costs. Analysis of 280 drivers in 2026 found first-year net income averaging £1,074 a month in month one, rising to £2,106 a month by month six. A realistic year-one revenue for a single-van sole trader is £30,000 to £60,000, with first-year costs including van depreciation typically running £8,000 to £18,000.
The top earners share three habits: a mix of platform routes and direct clients, a loaded van on the way back instead of an empty one, and an early specialism, because a courier known for reliable medical or legal deliveries can charge more than a generalist on a load board. Keep every fuel receipt, photograph every delivery as proof, and log your mileage daily: HMRC accepts 45p per mile for the first 10,000 business miles, but only if your records are complete.
The bottom line
Starting a courier business in the UK needs a reliable van under 3.5 tonnes, three insurance policies costing roughly £1,430 to £2,550 a year, HMRC registration and a clear price per mile. That is the whole list. The hard part is winning direct clients, pricing every job above your true cost, and saying no to jobs that lose money, like a 120-mile round trip for a £25 parcel. A sensible first month: week one for paperwork and insurance, week two for joining one platform so money starts coming in, and weeks three and four for winning direct clients. Win five local direct clients in your first three months, and keep a record of every mile and every receipt. Do that, and a single van can become a genuine full-time income within six months. For a comparison with another van-based business, see how to start a mobile car valeting business in the UK.