Transportation & Logistics · Buyer guide
Buying a Courier & Last-Mile Delivery business
Published · Reviewed by The Diligence Standard Team · Updated
a Courier & Last-Mile Delivery business can look attractive on a summary P&L while the operating details underneath it change the cash flow, transferability and capital a buyer will actually own. Diligence should connect the reported earnings to the business-specific drivers that create them.
How the business works
Route/customer concentration, driver economics, vehicle utilization and contract pricing determine margin durability.
Risks to test
- One customer dominates routes
- Independent-contractor classification
- Fuel/insurance inflation
- Vehicle CapEx
- Thin contract margins
- Owner dispatch dependence
Evidence to request and reconcile
- Route/customer revenue
- Contracts/rate sheets
- Driver payroll/1099s
- Fuel/vehicle data
- On-time KPIs
- Insurance/loss runs
Decision questions
- Which contracts can be repriced?
- What happens if the largest customer leaves?
- Are drivers correctly classified?
- How much fleet replacement is coming?
- Who manages dispatch and exceptions?