Courier jobs for self-employed courier drivers
Documents, spare parts, urgent single consignments: courier runs by car, compact van or van in Cologne, Düsseldorf and NRW. You see the earnings before you accept.
- No subscription or lead fees
- Earnings shown upfront
- Choose the jobs that fit
A courier job is a direct run: pick up, drive without transhipment and deliver to a fixed recipient – often the same day. Unlike parcel delivery, you do not drive a route with a hundred stops but one or a few consignments from A to B.
Many courier runs fit in a car or compact van. What matters is that pickup and delivery fit your service area and that the drive to pickup does not eat up the earnings. So before you accept, check route, time windows and earnings together.
Courier jobs come from regular customers, from courier companies looking for subcontractors, from transport exchanges – or from a marketplace like Maxmove, where you take jobs with fixed earnings without a subscription or bidding. The comparison courier apps for drivers shows which apps exist for courier drivers.
Available jobs appear in the app after verification. Availability depends on your vehicle, area and customer demand.
What do transport orders pay?
The pay for every order is shown before you accept it. Maxmove keeps 10–18 % of the customer price per completed order; the rest is yours. Three real routes from the current rate card show what that means in euros.
| Route | Vehicle class | Customer price | Your share (approx. 82–90 %) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Köln Innenstadt → Köln Ehrenfeld7 km | Compact van | from €35.25 | approx. €29 – €32 |
| Köln → Düsseldorf40 km | Transporter | from €112.95 | approx. €93 – €102 |
| Köln → Dortmund93 km | Sprinter L2 | from €228.60 | approx. €187 – €206 |
Published customer-price examples as of October 1, 2026, for weekdays at 10:00 (Berlin time), without extras such as waiting time or a second person. This is neither an available order nor an earnings forecast. Get a live quote in the transport cost calculator.
Your day in the app.
From signup to your first order.
- 012 minutes
Register with your mobile number
Enter your number, confirm the code, set up your account. No paperwork yet.
- 02About 10 minutes, in the app
Upload your documents
ID, driving licence, business registration and your vehicle papers. Just photograph them in the app.
- 03You get a push notification
We check and unlock you
Our team reviews your documents. Once approved, your account goes live and matching orders start showing.
- 04Pay fixed before you accept
Accept your first order
Matching orders arrive as a notification. Whoever accepts first drives it.
What do I need to qualify for transport orders?
Anyone carrying goods commercially for third parties in Germany needs different credentials depending on vehicle weight. Up to 3.5 t, a business registration, driving licence and goods-in-transit liability insurance are enough; above that you also need the permit under § 3 GüKG.
| Permitted gross weight | Permit | Note |
|---|---|---|
| up to 3.5 t | Business registration, no road haulage permit | The entry point for courier and light transport – workable as a one-person business |
| above 3.5 t | Permit under § 3 GüKG or an EU licence | Requires professional competence, financial standing and good repute |
| all classes | Goods-in-transit liability insurance | No order is released without a valid policy |
This overview is not legal advice. The GüKG and the conditions set by your competent authority govern – when in doubt, ask your chamber of commerce or the BALM.
Before you get started
Plan your next job
- Find courier and delivery work in NRW
- Courier apps for drivers compared
- Checklist: starting a courier business
- Amazon Flex alternative for drivers with their own car
- Transport orders up to 3.5 tonnes
- Transport orders for the self-employed
- Transport orders for vans
- A freight exchange without a subscription
- Courier jobs in Köln
- Become a Maxmove driver
Ready to drive?
Register with your mobile number in two minutes, or get the driver app straight away.