Buying or selling a courier or delivery business comes down to stops that are contracted, drivers who will stay for a new name, and insurance a successor can bind. What trades is transferable cash flow after a real driver and dispatcher wage, vans a lender can title, and accounts that are not one hospital or one law firm on a handshake. A medical courier, a legal and bank runner, an on-demand delivery company, and a last-mile contractor for one platform are different businesses. Price a seat you still drive as if it were a dispatched fleet and you will use the wrong multiple.
The short answer: an owner-operated route, where you are still the driver or the only dispatcher, often trades around 2x–3.5x Seller's Discretionary Earnings (SDE) after a real wage for those hours. A company with a dispatcher already on the radio, written account agreements, and more than one customer can move toward 2.5x–4.5x SDE. A managed fleet can be read on adjusted EBITDA. Insurance and whether the drivers are employees or contractors move the check as much as last year’s revenue. Those ranges are directional. They are not a quote.
This guide is for courier and delivery businesses — scheduled routes and on-demand work in cars and vans, not a heavy trucking company. It sits on our courier sale page. A platform contractor who owns no accounts is a job. A route with contracts is a company.
Companies that sell well have a stop list, a second driver or a dispatcher who has already covered a Tuesday, and loss runs a buyer can read. Companies that sell poorly are a personality with a van, one account at a third of revenue, and contractors you have been treating as employees without saying so.
This article is not legal, insurance, employment, or tax advice. Independent-contractor tests, cargo rules, and what a medical route must document change by state. Confirm them with qualified counsel before you sign a letter of intent.
Why Courier Work Is Different
A courier sells a deadline, a chain of custody, and a van that is legal to roll. Several facts change the price:
- The account is the asset. A hospital, a bank, a lab, or a law firm can rebid. A verbal “we have always run their route” is not a contract. Written terms, a rate, and a notice period transfer. A text does not.
- You are often the route. If every stat call comes to your phone, that is key-person risk. A transferable company has a dispatcher and a bench.
- Employees and contractors are not the same cost. A buyer’s counsel and a lender will ask which test you have been using. A reclassification risk is a price cut or a walk-away.
- Insurance is the license to operate. Cargo, auto, and — on medical routes — what you are allowed to carry have to bind in the buyer’s name at a premium the cash flow can pay.
- Main Street is the usual credit. You in the van is SDE. A dispatcher and a second shift can support a fuller file. This is not a truckload carrier.
Scheduled routes sell density and a contract. On-demand and stat sell response time and a higher rate. Platform last-mile sells someone else’s algorithm. If you do not own the customer, say that in the first paragraph of the offering. Buyers will find it anyway.
What Buyers Underwrite
Contracts and the stop list
Contracts and the stop list are the book. Buyers want the account, the rate, the term, and how either side can end it. One health system or one firm at a quarter of revenue is concentration, even when the route feels permanent.
Drivers, vehicles, and titles
Drivers, vehicles, and titles are who is on payroll, who is a contractor, and which vans have liens. A van in your personal name is not automatically in the deal. Miles and maintenance matter because a buyer will inherit the next repair.
Insurance and claims
Insurance and claims are the loss run and the cargo limit. A clean van photo does not fix a claim history. Medical and pharmaceutical routes add chain-of-custody and what you are credentialed to carry.
The software
The software is how stops are proved. A scanner log that matches invoices is a file. A notebook in the console is a story. On-demand companies that live in one app should show the export, not a screenshot.
Recurring Routes Versus a Busy Week
Buyers pay for stops that repeat. They haircut a holiday spike, a one-time project, and a platform week you will not see again.
Contracted scheduled work with a rate confirmation transfers more cleanly than a customer who calls your cell. Even then, many accounts rebid annually. Map that. Stat and on-demand is real and a weaker multiple. It depends on you saying yes.
What a buyer will pay for is the test in recurring revenue a buyer will fund: a file they can reconcile, an account that is not only you, and insurance that survives a new name. A downtown legal runner and a regional medical route differ in hours and credential. Buyers want a year of revenue by account.
How Buyers Value a Courier Company
Start with a real valuation.
Seller's discretionary earnings
Seller's discretionary earnings still clears most small routes. Owner pay comes back. A market wage for the driving and dispatching you still do does not. Fuel and repairs run through a personal card have to be in the cost.
Adjusted EBITDA
Adjusted EBITDA is for a company that already dispatches without you and already invoices more than one account. Insurance, contractor status, and concentration move the multiple. A one-van route does not become EBITDA because the scanner is new.
Who Buys, and How the Purchase Gets Financed
Drivers buy a route so they can stop building stops from zero. They can deliver. They still need insurance they can bind and a wage that assumes they are not you.
Other couriers and the customers themselves buy density or a route they already use. They underwrite whether drivers will stay and whether the account will sign a new name.
A small group shows up when there is a dispatcher and a file. They walk when the business is your personal phone. Most courier companies in this guide are Main Street.
SBA 7(a) can fund a route when contracts are in writing and insurance is bindable. The 7(a) cap is $5 million, above almost every independent courier. The constraint is concentration, contractor status, and equity. SBA 504 can finance long-lived vehicles in some structures and real estate. It is not a loan for the goodwill of a stop list.
Lenders read the file the way we describe in working with an SBA lender: revenue by account, a loss run, titles, and a use of proceeds that includes the vans. One hospital is the usual haircut.
Seller financing is common when you are still in the van or the top account is verbal. Earn-outs show up when the contract can be cancelled on short notice. An earn-out that only pays if you keep driving is a job.
Diligence and the Year Before You List
Accounts and drivers should not hear about a sale as a rumor that the route is ending. The same rules are in how to sell your company confidentially. Prepare with our due diligence guide and the 12–36 month roadmap.
Use the year. Put the top accounts in writing. Put a dispatcher on the clock if every stat call is still yours. List vans, liens, and the loss run. Separate scheduled revenue from platform and stat work. One account, a contractor file you cannot explain, and a public listing that spooks a hospital quietly reprice the deal.
What a Buyer Will Ask on the First Call
They will ask which accounts are under contract, who dispatches if you are in the van, whether drivers are employees or contractors, and what the insurance will cost in their name. Bring the loss run, not a promise that the premium is fine. Cargo and auto claims reprice these deals more often than the route software does.
Scheduled work and on-demand work need two columns. A hospital route with a rate and a notice period can support a loan. A week of app deliveries cannot, because you do not own the customer. If both sit in one sales line, split them before a buyer does. One health system or one firm at a quarter of revenue is concentration even when the relationship feels old. Ask, in writing, whether they will sign a new name. The answer belongs in the letter of intent.
Vans are the collateral lenders actually understand. Titles, liens, miles, and who maintains them. A personal truck you have been expensing is not fleet. Contractor files are the legal question buyers will not skip. If you have been calling people independent and directing their day like employees, say so to counsel before you say so in a listing. A reclassification reserve changes the price. It should not be a surprise in week four.
A downtown runner and a regional medical route can both sell. The credential, the hours, and the cargo differ. The file does not: accounts, insurance, titles, and a person besides you who already covers the board. A scanner export that matches invoices is that file. A notebook is a story the buyer will not pay a multiple on.
The first offer should split contracted stops from on-demand work and should name the vans. If the price assumes every account renews and the insurance quote is still “to come,” you do not have a price. Ask which contracts the buyer has read, whether a health system or a law firm must consent, and who covers the board for the first thirty days. A buyer who needs you in the van every morning is buying a job. Pay for that time in a short transition, and do not let it become an earn-out on revenue you no longer control. Fuel, tolls, and a driver wage you have been skipping in the add-backs will come out in diligence. Put them in the trailing twelve yourself. Titles with liens have to be in the use of proceeds. A close that funds goodwill and then discovers the vans are financed is how the wire gets short on Friday. A dispatcher already on the payroll is worth more in this file than another van. Name that person, the wage, and the days they already cover so the buyer is not pricing a hire they have not met.
Talk With Bridge Point
If you are preparing to sell a courier business — or you are a buyer who can insure the vans and keep the stops — Bridge Point Business Brokers can help you value the file and run a confidential process. Start with a business valuation, the courier sale page, or contact us. Call (352) 515-0226.
Frequently Asked Questions
How is a courier business valued in 2026?
An owner-operated route often trades around 2x–3.5x Seller's Discretionary Earnings after a real driver or dispatcher wage. A company with a dispatcher, written accounts, and more than one customer can move toward 2.5x–4.5x SDE. Insurance and driver status change the check. These ranges are directional only — not a quote.
Do delivery contracts transfer to a buyer?
Only if the agreement says they do, or the account will sign a new one. Many hospitals, banks, and firms rebid. A verbal route is not an asset until it is in writing.
Are drivers employees or contractors?
Buyers and lenders will ask which test you have been using. A mismatch is a legal and a price issue. List both groups before you go to market.
Is a platform delivery business the same as a courier route?
No. If the customer belongs to an app, you are selling vans, drivers, and a score, not an account. Say that in the offering. Buyers will separate it from contracted stops.
Will SBA finance a courier company?
SBA 7(a) often can when contracts are in writing and insurance will bind. The 7(a) cap is $5 million. SBA 504 is for real estate and long-lived equipment, not the goodwill of a stop list. One account usually means more equity or a seller note.
What quietly reprices a courier sale?
One account at a quarter of revenue, owner-only dispatch, a loss run that reprices insurance, vans titled to the founder, and on-demand spikes treated as contract revenue.
How can an owner increase value before a sale?
Put the top accounts in writing, put a dispatcher on the clock, clean titles and the loss run, separate scheduled work from platform work, and obtain a professional valuation 12–36 months before you go to market.
Ready to Take the Next Step?
Bridge Point Business Brokers helps business owners nationwide plan and execute successful exits. Schedule a confidential, no-obligation consultation today.