“There’s a con in here somewhere.” Almost everyone reading our offer for the first time says that to themselves. And it is the right reaction — in haulage we have all seen enough firms that promised and then docked your pay for every little thing.
So we are not going to talk you into anything. We will give you six questions that test any haulage firm, and answer them for ourselves.
You are right to ask
Distrust in this trade isn’t paranoia, it’s experience. These are the practices drivers run into again and again. None of them is illegal; they are just not mentioned until you have signed.
- A rate that only applies above a certain monthly mileage. Below it, a different, lower one.
- Charges that are nowhere in the price list and turn up in the third month.
- Deductions for “damage” when the vehicle goes back, judged by the person who owns it.
- Payment conditional on the customer having paid. He didn’t — so you don’t get paid.
- A one-year contract with a penalty for early termination.
- Promised kilometres that dispatch never delivers, with nothing anywhere saying it has to.
They have one thing in common: you only find out about them from the inside. That is why it is worth asking beforehand, and why we wrote this article.
Six questions to put to any firm
Ours included. Take them to any meeting — if anyone answers any of them evasively, you have your answer.
| Question | Our answer | |
|---|---|---|
| ☐ | Can I see what I have earned as I go, or do I find out at the end of the month? | As you go. Your income is online on your phone, and the figure updates after every completed load. |
| ☐ | Exactly when do I get paid, and what happens if the customer doesn’t pay? | Weekly, and the risk is ours. Settlement runs weekly with 60-day payment terms, or at once for 8 % of the amount paid out. If the customer doesn’t pay, it makes no difference to what you get. |
| ☐ | What do you earn on, and do you take a percentage of my load? | A flat fee and the rent. 550 € a month and the rent for the set. No percentage of any individual load. |
| ☐ | What exactly is in the rent, and what do I pay for separately? | Servicing and insurance are in. Maintenance, technical inspections, tyres, both insurance policies, a replacement vehicle. Fuel, tolls, fines and load securing equipment are yours. |
| ☐ | How long am I tied in, and what does leaving cost me? | A month, and leaving is free. After the first month you hand the keys back whenever you like. No penalty, and the deposit comes back in full. |
| ☐ | Can I talk to someone who drives for you, without you in the room? | Yes, we’ll give you a number. Write to us and we will put you in touch with a driver. You call him yourself and ask whatever you want. |
The last question is the most important of the six
A firm that won’t give you a number for its own drivers has just answered all the ones before it.
When does the money actually arrive?
Settlement runs on a weekly basis with 60-day payment terms. In practice that means: what you drive this week is in your account two months later. After that the money comes every week, regularly, one week after another.
Sixty days is not our condition. It is the normal payment term in freight forwarding, because that is how long the shipper takes to pay. Anyone who promises you fourteen days has either never done this or is taking it off you somewhere else.
How it runs:
- You drive a week. Loads are closed off as you go, and the settlement is built up week by week.
- You hand in the documents. CMR and POD. The payment term starts from complete documents.
- The first payment arrives 60 days later. This is the shift that makes you need a reserve at the start.
- From then on, every week. One week after another, with no gaps. The shift happens once only, at the start.
And if you don’t want to wait
You can have your profit paid out practically at once, whenever you like. The fee is 8 % of the amount you have paid out — not of the freight rate, not of turnover. Have 2 000 € sent and the fee is 160 €, leaving 1 840 € in your account.
You can also take only part of it. The rest waits for the normal term and comes in full. Most drivers use it only to get going, until the regular weekly rhythm kicks in, and after that they don’t need it.
And what is in it for us?
Nobody asks this out loud, and it is the most important question of the lot. A firm that won’t tell you what it earns on has a reason not to.
We earn on two things: a monthly administration fee and renting out the equipment. No percentage of any individual load of yours, and no charge for issuing an invoice.
| Item | Amount | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Administration fee | 550 €/month | licences, finding and planning the work, invoicing, chasing payment |
| Rent for the set | 3 050 €/month | depreciation, servicing, technical inspections, tyres, both insurance policies, a replacement vehicle |
| Cut of your load | 0 % | — |
The rent shown is for a Ford F-MAX 500 with a Krone Profi Liner. For another make it changes according to the price list on Rent a tractor.
One thing follows from that, and it matters to you more than our good intentions: when you drive more kilometres, we don’t get more out of it. So we have no reason to shave anything off it. We have a reason to want you to stay.
What if it doesn’t work out?
You are not signing anything for a year. After the first month you can hand the keys back and stop, with no penalty. The deposit comes back in full.
So if you try it and it doesn’t suit you, you lose one month of your time. For that price you find out whether working for yourself suits you, instead of chewing it over in a lorry park for another five years.
| What you actually risk | What you don’t risk |
|---|---|
| One month of your time | The deposit — it comes back in full |
| The reserve for the first 60 days, until the weekly rhythm kicks in | A loan or a down payment — you put up neither |
| That working for yourself doesn’t suit you — for some it doesn’t | A penalty for early termination — there isn’t one |
| An unpaid customer invoice — that risk is ours |
So there is a catch?
There is. Just somewhere other than where you are looking for it.
The licence, the equipment, the work and the paperwork are off your back. What we couldn’t take off you, and don’t want to, is responsibility for the result.
| Area | How it works |
|---|---|
| Licences and papers | Transport licence, EU Community licence, financial standing, invoicing, chasing payment. You don’t apply, don’t document, don’t deal with it. |
| Equipment | A rented set with no loan. Servicing, technical inspections, tyres, both insurance policies, a replacement vehicle if it breaks down. |
| Operations | We plan the work a week ahead. Fuel and tolls go on a card, and we carry the risk of not being paid. |
| Left to you | How far you drive and how you drive for fuel. |
No wage arrives on the 15th. What arrives is what you drove. Fewer kilometres or higher fuel consumption means less money, and nobody tops it up to a table for you.
For some people that is the biggest catch they can imagine. For others it is exactly the reason they go into it.
Part of it is your own trade licence, tax under whichever regime you are on, fines for your own foot on the accelerator, and a reserve for the first two months — what that reserve comes to is worked out in How much money you need to start. There is no such thing as a business that costs nothing at all.
Don’t take our word for any of it
Everything above is our version of it. You can check it two ways, and we recommend both.
Read the contract before you sign it. We send it in advance, not at the meeting. Take your time over it and show it to whoever you like. You can also come to the depot on any working day — the address and the opening hours are on Rent a tractor.
Call our drivers. Write to us on WhatsApp and we will give you the number of someone who drives for us. You call him without us there and ask whatever you want — including the things you would rather not ask us.
If something still doesn’t sit right after both, don’t do it. A driver with doubts is no good to anyone as a partner, himself included.
Anything still unanswered? Send it straight to us on WhatsApp or through Contact. We will answer the things firms in this trade would rather not answer — and when the answer isn’t the one you wanted to hear, we will say that too.
The rent and administration fee figures are exclusive of VAT and current as at September 2026. The income calculations are worked scenarios, not a guarantee. The conditions for returning the deposit and the early-payment discount are set out in the contract we send you before signing.
