Side Hustle with a Truck: 15 Easy Ways to Make Money

You’ve heard of side hustles, but what about a truck? A truck can be used for so many things! It can be your own moving company, delivery service, and you could even start a food stand or other vendor. There are tons of ways to make money with a pickup truck aside from driving it across the country! Let’s look at 15 small businesses you can start to use your vehicle as an income generator – to start a side hustle with a truck.

1. Start a Moving Company

Moving someone else’s furniture with a moving service is a great way to make money. You don’t need to have a special moving company or license, you can basically do it out of your pickup truck!

People are always in need of movers and you can charge them by the hour, job, or flat fee depending on what they want. Try to negotiate deals with customers for multiple hours because anything beyond two has a high chance of going over time.

2. Become a Deliver Service

If there is something that customers could use but not buy enough of for it to be worth having an actual store or restaurant, you could deliver it for them! This works best if the product is cheap and light so that your fuel costs won’t outweigh your profits.

Delivery services can deliver almost anything including food, convenience store goods, and even flowers! Amazon Flex is a way to make money doing this.

Make sure you check with your customer to see if the delivery has a certain area or time of day requirement so you don’t come up short. Making money hauling stuff like scrap metal or doing local deliveries or delivery jobs (like to deliver packages) is a great way to make money.

3. Start a Food Stand

You could also start a simple food stand and sell snacks or drinks at local events and landmarks. You could even expand this into an actual small restaurant if there is enough demand for it, but it would be more difficult to pull off something like that out of a truck rather than in an actual building.

Be careful though because some cities don’t allow food trucks or street vendors to operate within city limits! You will need to look up your local rules before you start this business.

4. Become a Moving Target

This sounds like an odd job, but it does actually exist! If you have a pickup truck or van that can easily accommodate people, then start looking for moving target jobs online.

These jobs are typically held at large gun ranges and you would be paid per hour depending on how many shooters there are. However they could also be held at military training bases so do some research before applying! If you don’t mind if your pickup truck becomes scrap metal, this is an interesting option.

5. Start a Wood Delivery Service

Wood is one of those things that costs more if bought by the piece than by the bulk, so you could deliver wood for people who don’t want to buy too much once or may not have room for it. This is especially useful if you have a flatbed trailer on your truck so you can carry more wood at once. Make sure to charge by the yard since people are unlikely to want something cut down anyway, and it will save you some time too!

6.Snow Plowing Services

Snow plowing is a service that’s needed everywhere, and you can do it out of your pickup truck! People will typically hire snow plow companies which charge a lot of money so you can offer them something more affordable.

This works great if you have a 4 wheel drive or all wheel drive car because the roads will be dangerous to drive on. Remember, though, that it’s a small business that will only be making money during the winter.

7. Become a Courier

This requires some research but there are several opportunities for couriers who use their own vehicles. Delivery services like UPS and FedEx (or Amazon Flex) pay good money for people to pick up packages from one place and deliver them to another location, sometimes even within hours!

You could also be an eBay courier , since they occasionally need help delivering expensive products and don’t want to depend on the mail. There are also courier services for things like tax information, legal documents, and more!

8. Start a Mechanic Shop

If you know how to fix cars, starting your own mechanic shop would be an awesome way to use your vehicle. You can charge people by the job or on an hourly basis depending on what they want, but remember that most jobs will take longer than expected so it’s better to charge by the hour in case you need to stay past closing time.

Also remember that there may not always be customers since this isn’t a storefront business! You could advertise online through places like Craigslist if needed.

9. Car Pool/Tow Other Cars

This sounds weird but if you have a car that can easily accommodate passengers, you could start your very own ride sharing company.

Uber is incredibly popular these days so any business like this would do well. If you have the time, this would be an awesome way to earn some extra cash or even get free rides for yourself if someone else pays! With a truck, though, an even better option for making money would be to start a towing service or towing company.

10. Do Landscaping

This is an easy but long term investment. You could do simple landscaping for people on the side to make some extra money, or you could invest in bigger projects like building a stone patio for someone’s yard. Even something as simple as mowing lawns would work well here, especially if you have a riding lawnmower so you don’t have to walk back and forth across the yard.

11. Deliver Pizza

If you have a truck or van that can easily accommodate people then becoming a pizza delivery driver is an awesome way to earn some extra cash. This works best if your pickup truck has 4 wheel drive since winter roads are often dicey.

Talks about this might be tough if don’t actually work for a Pizza delivery company like Dominos or Papa Johns, but if you’re confident in your parking and driving skills then there are several options online to make the required arrangements.

12. Start an Auto Glass Repair Shop

This requires some startup costs since you would need glass replacement parts, but it could be incredibly lucrative once you get started! Many places like Safelite charge customers over $400 to replace windshields so you can charge much less than this.

Do some research into local laws before deciding though because auto glass repair shops aren’t allowed everywhere and this is something that should be known ahead of time. As long as your pickup truck isn’t too old and has enough space, anyone will want you for their next glass repair.

13. Become a Dog Walker

When it’s nice outside, people often dream of going on walks or going to the park with their furry friends! You could join them by becoming a dog walker and taking Fido for some fun in the sun while making a little money on the side.

Most customers will pay around $20-30 per walk so if you can do this 4 times per day then you’ll be looking at over $200/day which is definitely worth doing! Just make sure your truck has enough space for all those leashes.

14. Use Your Truck for Advertising

This is one of the most unique ways to make money with your pickup truck, but it’s actually done by many people! You can purchase space on your vehicle that can be used as a mobile billboard to advertise local businesses.

It’s important that you choose something that won’t offend people driving behind you because you don’t want any calls for boycotts, but this could be one of the best options if you have an extra $100-200 per month to spend. Just be sure not to obstruct anything so you don’t get fined!

15. Resell Large Items

Sometimes people will purchase something like a TV, but decide they don’t want it anymore after bringing it home. Instead of letting that item go to waste, you could pick it up and resell it.

You can do this with many things like furniture, appliances, tools, etc. Just make sure to take good pictures of everything so you can price them competitively. You could combine this reselling small business with a junk removal service or doing odd jobs hauling things.

Wrap Up

There are so many options and resources out there for how to make money with a pickup truck! You can do most of them as side hustles or even full time if you’re dedicated enough. The most important thing is that you choose something, follow through, and stick with it because nothing will happen right away and the only way to be successful is through hard work and perseverance. Good luck!

FAQ – Side Hustle with a Truck