How much do self-employed courier drivers earn in Birmingham?
Honest numbers for owner-drivers in the West Midlands: what a same-day job pays, realistic days, the costs that come out, and how platform work compares to load boards and gig apps.
Ask ten owner-drivers what they earn and you'll get ten answers, mostly about gross income on a good week. Here are the numbers that matter: what a job pays, what a realistic day looks like, and what comes out before it's yours.
What a job pays with us
The customer's price is fixed by distance and vehicle. Partner drivers receive the price less a 20% platform fee. Standard-rate examples:
| Job | Car | SWB van | Luton |
|---|---|---|---|
| Birmingham to Coventry, 22 mi | £26.32 | £42.08 | £68.00 |
| Wolverhampton to Birmingham, 16 mi | £21.76 | £36.00 | £68.00 |
| Birmingham to Manchester, 88 mi | £76.48 | £110.72 | £159.20 |
| Birmingham to London, 126 mi | £105.36 | £150.24 | £212.40 |
Priority jobs pay 25% more and out-of-hours jobs 40% more. Waiting time beyond 30 minutes is charged to the customer at £0.50 a minute and paid to you.
A realistic day
A busy SWB van day in the Midlands is four to six local jobs or one long run plus one or two local ones. Four local jobs at around £40 each is £160; a London run plus a local job is around £190. Quiet days happen; a driver mixing our work with their own customers and the occasional load-board job averages £150–£220 a day in our experience.
What comes out
- Fuel: about £0.19 a mile for a diesel van at 35 mpg. A 120-mile day is roughly £23.
- Insurance: hire and reward plus goods in transit, typically £2,500–£4,500 a year, so £10–£18 a working day.
- Van finance or depreciation, tyres, servicing: £15–£30 a day depending on the vehicle.
- Tax and National Insurance: you're self-employed, so set aside 20–25% of profit.
A fair rule of thumb: a van earning £180 gross on 120 miles clears about £110 after running costs, before tax. That's £13–£14 an hour on an eight-hour day, with your time between jobs included.
Why drivers choose a platform over a load board
Load boards charge £39–£300 a month and you bid against other drivers for every job, often with long empty miles to collection. Gig apps pay per bag. A dispatch platform finds the customer, sets the price and pays weekly; you accept what suits you and pay nothing to be on it. The trade-off is the 20% fee, which is the cost of not doing your own sales and admin.
Prices quoted are our published rates at the time of writing, with no VAT added. Enter your postcodes for a fixed price today.