How to start a box truck business

Checked October 2026

The short answer: start in this order — pick the kind of work, buy the truck that fits it, form the business, get insured, take the legal path (your own authority or leasing on), and line up companies before your first payment comes due. Most drivers who fail do the steps backwards: truck first, then a scramble for work.

Step 1: Pick the work before the truck

Box truck work comes in shapes: final-mile routes for delivery companies, furniture and appliance delivery, moving work, expedited freight, and store delivery contracts. Each shape wants a different truck. Routes want reliability. Furniture wants a liftgate and a helper. Expedited freight wants a 26-foot box and room to sleep or rest. Our requirements guide lists what companies ask for, shape by shape.

Step 2: Buy the truck the work wants

For most contract work that is a 26-foot box truck with a liftgate — the size companies ask for first. Buy the cleanest used truck you can find, not the cheapest. A truck in the shop earns nothing, and it earns nothing at the exact moment a company is deciding whether to keep you. Our buying guide walks through sizes, engines, and the liftgate question.

Step 3: Form the business

Most drivers form an LLC and get an EIN from the IRS (it is free). Companies and insurers deal with a business, not with a man and a truck. Our LLC guide gives the plain picture.

Step 4: Insurance — the real first cost

Insurance is the biggest check after the truck itself. A new authority pays roughly $1,000 to $2,085 a month for full cover in the first year; an established local operator pays less. Nothing moves until the insurance can be filed. Our insurance guide breaks down what the price holds.

Step 5: The legal path — authority or lease on

Two lawful roads: get your own operating authority (DOT number, MC number, insurance filing, BOC-3), or lease on to a carrier and run under theirs. Authority takes about three to four weeks to switch on and costs a few hundred dollars in fees — the insurance is the real money. Our authority guide and our lease-on comparison walk both roads honestly.

Step 6: Line up the companies

Do this while the paperwork runs, not after. The drivers with full weeks made a list of the companies in their city, reached the person who signs up drivers at each one, and got on every list they could. One company calling twice a week is not a living. Six companies calling is. That list is this book.