AnyVan is one of the biggest names in UK removal and delivery platforms. For drivers who are new to the industry or need to fill gaps in their schedule, it’s a recognisable source of work. But the gap between what the customer pays and what the driver receives is something most drivers discover after they’ve started, not before.
Here’s an honest look at how the numbers break down — and what the same jobs would be worth if they came through directly.
What AnyVan Actually Keeps
AnyVan doesn’t publicly publish its commission rates. The fee structure has changed over the years and drivers on forums like MTvan and review platforms like Indeed describe it as deliberately opaque — you bid the price you want to receive, the platform adds its fee on top of that, and the customer sees a different number to what you quoted.
Based on driver reports across multiple platforms, the picture is fairly consistent: drivers typically receive somewhere between 25% and 40% of what the customer pays. The platform keeps the rest. On a £200 job, that could mean the driver walks away with £50–£80 while AnyVan keeps £120–£150.
Some examples drivers have reported publicly: being offered a sofa move of 50 miles for £21. Overnight jobs where accommodation is required but only £50 is covered. A system introduced called “Journeys” that drivers describe as more miles for less money. The reviews on Indeed are blunt — phrases like “below minimum wage once you factor in fuel and wear” appear regularly in recent posts.
To be clear, this isn’t unusual for a lead platform model. Someone has to pay for the customer acquisition, the marketing, the booking system, the payment processing. The platform charges for that. The question is whether the rate it charges leaves enough margin for the driver to run a viable business.
How That Compares to Other Platform Models
Not all platforms work the same way. Some take a fixed commission on leads they deliver and the driver sets their own rate on top of that — the commission is smaller, the pricing is transparent upfront, and the driver keeps a meaningful proportion of each job. Others operate pure lead-generation models where the driver wins the customer and then handles the job directly.
The common thread across all platform models: you’re paying for access to customers you didn’t find yourself. That cost comes off every job, which is a structural drag on your earnings that doesn’t go away as long as you’re platform-dependent.
What the Same Work Pays When It’s Direct
Direct work means the customer came to you — through your own Google presence, a referral, a repeat booking, a WhatsApp message. You set the price, you quote them, you do the job, and you keep the full amount.
The maths on this is straightforward. A driver doing 10 jobs a week at an average of £120 each generates £1,200 in gross job value. If all 10 come through a platform at a 60% cut to the platform, the driver takes home £480. If all 10 are direct, the driver keeps £1,200.
Most drivers don’t operate at either extreme — it’s a mix. But even shifting a third of your work to direct over time makes a significant difference to your weekly take-home, with no change to your rates or hours.
Why Direct Work Is Harder to Win Without a System
The reason platforms retain drivers even when the pay is poor is that they handle the hard part: finding the customer. Going direct means doing that yourself — and then handling the quote, the confirmation, the follow-up, and the payment too.
For drivers doing this manually, the admin overhead eats into the advantage. A direct enquiry that takes 30 minutes of back-and-forth to convert is still better than a platform job with 60% taken off, but it’s less obviously better than it should be.
The drivers who build a successful direct pipeline tend to have a fast, consistent way to quote. They respond quickly, their quote looks professional, and the process from enquiry to confirmed booking is short enough that customers don’t drift elsewhere.
Where Van Manager Fits
Van Manager is a direct quoting tool — there’s no commission, no platform fee, no cut taken per job. You enter the job details, it generates a quote based on your rate and the time involved, and you send it straight to the customer. Whatever the customer pays, you keep.
It doesn’t generate leads. It won’t replace whatever source you’re using to find customers. But for drivers who are already getting direct enquiries — or who are deliberately trying to build that side of their business — it handles the quoting fast enough that going direct stops feeling like more work than using a platform.
If you want to see how it works, take a look at the Van Manager page.
The Honest Summary
AnyVan is a real source of work for a lot of drivers. For filling gaps, getting started, or testing a new area, platforms serve a purpose. But the economics of relying on them entirely — particularly platforms where the commission structure is unclear and the rates can be very low — don’t add up well over a full year of driving.
Building even a modest direct pipeline alongside platform work changes what you take home from the same number of hours. The tools to do that well are simpler than they used to be.
