Niko Timer

Truck Driver Earnings in Europe: An Overview for My Subscribers

Hey everyone! On my channel, you often see me driving a truck with a trailer, and one of the most common questions I get is about truck drivers' earnings. I understand your curiosity, but personal income information is quite sensitive, and it's not something I'd like to share publicly.

However, I can give you a general idea of how truck driver salaries are structured in different European countries, considering the specifics of the haulage and trailer types. This information should help you get a clearer picture.

It's important to remember that the figures mentioned below are approximate and can vary significantly depending on many factors: driver experience, company size and policy, overtime, work schedule type, and current market demand.

General Factors Affecting Salary
Work Experience: Experienced drivers generally earn more.

Trailer Type and Cargo Specifics: Transporting hazardous, oversized, or specialized cargo (e.g., in tankers) often pays more.

Type of Haulage: Long-distance international trips are generally more profitable than short routes with frequent deliveries.

Work Schedule: Night shifts, weekend, and holiday work are usually paid at higher rates.

Additional Responsibilities: Self-loading/unloading, paperwork, minor repairs, etc.

Language Skills: In international transport, knowing English and/or the language of the destination country can be an advantage.

Collective Bargaining Agreements and Trade Unions: In some countries, they play a significant role in shaping salaries and working conditions.

Earnings by Country (Approximate)
In most European countries, a truck driver's salary includes a basic rate (hourly or monthly) and various allowances (for daily subsistence, mileage, cargo complexity, overtime).

Netherlands:

Payment: Often hourly. For experienced drivers, it can start from €15-€20 per hour and up. Monthly gross salary can range from €2800 to €4000+, depending on experience, schedule, and type of transport.

Peculiarities: High demands for qualifications and language skills. Transporting specific goods or working on complex routes pays better.

Germany:

Payment: Often a monthly gross salary, but hourly pay is also common. Entry-level salaries can be from €2500-€3000 per month. With experience and for work on complex routes or with specialized trailers (tankers, hazardous goods), it can reach €3500-€4500+ (gross).

Peculiarities: Highly developed logistics market. Many companies offer various types of transport. Daily allowances (Spesen) are an important part of the income.

Belgium:

Payment: Monthly gross salary can vary from €2700 to €4000+. Hourly rates for experienced drivers start from €15-€18.

Peculiarities: Similar to the Netherlands and Germany in terms of salary levels. Additional bonuses for difficult schedules or specific goods.

France:

Payment: Monthly gross salary can range from €2200 to €3500+. The hourly rate can be from €12-€16.

Peculiarities: Fewer opportunities for hourly pay, more often a fixed salary with overtime and daily allowances. High demands for compliance with working and resting hours.

Czech Republic:

Payment: Significantly lower than in Western Europe. Monthly gross salary can be from €1500 to €2500. For international routes and experienced drivers, it can be higher.

Peculiarities: Many Czech companies operate international transport, offering competitive salaries for Eastern Europe, but they still lag behind Western European rates.

England (United Kingdom):

Payment: Often hourly pay or a fixed weekly/monthly salary. Rates can be from £13-£20 per hour. Monthly gross salary can reach from £2800 to £4500+.

Peculiarities: A shortage of drivers has been observed since Brexit, which may lead to higher wages. Specific licenses and permits are required. Lots of work in domestic transport.

Spain:

Payment: Monthly gross salary can be from €1800 to €3000. Hourly pay is less common.

Peculiarities: Salaries can vary greatly depending on the region and type of transport. Work on domestic routes is often paid less than international trips.

Lithuania:

Payment: Similar to the Czech Republic. Monthly gross salary can be from €1500 to €2500. Many Lithuanian companies are actively involved in the international market, so salaries for such trips can be higher due to daily allowances and bonuses.

Peculiarities: A large number of logistics companies focused on international transport across Europe.

Finland:

Payment: Monthly gross salary can vary from €2500 to €4000+. Hourly rates for experienced drivers can be from €15-€20.

Peculiarities: High safety and working condition standards. Demands for qualifications and language skills. High cost of living, which is compensated by salary levels.

Impact of Trailer Type and Cargo Specifics
Curtain-sided Trailers (Tautliners): The most common type of transport. Salaries correspond to average figures for the country.

Refrigerated Trailers (Reefers): Often paid slightly higher due to the need to maintain temperature control and stricter cargo monitoring requirements. There might be a 5-10% premium.

Tankers (Liquid Cargo): Require special training (ADR if hazardous liquids), high attention, and responsibility. Salaries are typically 15-25% higher compared to curtain-siders.

Containers: Often involve working in ports and terminals. Can include both long-haul transport and short "shuttle" runs. Pay can be average, but in some cases (e.g., when handling hazardous containers) it's higher.

Hazardous Goods (ADR/Dangerous Goods): Require special permits and increased responsibility. This is one of the highest-paying niches in the trucking industry, with premiums potentially reaching 20-30% or more.

Oversized/Heavy-haul Cargo: Specialized transport requiring special equipment, permits, and extensive experience. These are often the highest-paying transport jobs, as the complexity and responsibility are very high.

Types of Haulage and Their Impact on Income
Long-distance Trips with One Load and One Unload (Long-haul): The classic work model where the driver spends a lot of time on the road. Income is often made up of a fixed rate per trip, daily allowances, and mileage bonuses. Less physical work, but more time away from home.

Short Trips with Multiple Unloads and Intensive Physical Work (Distribution/Groupage): This often involves delivering goods to stores or warehouses, where the driver actively participates in unloading (e.g., using a hand pallet truck). This work is more physically demanding but can offer higher hourly rates due to its intensity. Drivers often return home every evening.

I hope this information was helpful and gave you a general overview of truck driver earnings in Europe. Remember that this profession requires not only the ability to drive a large vehicle but also high responsibility, endurance, and a willingness to live life on the road.

Good luck on the roads, everyone!

5 months ago | [YT] | 92

Niko Timer

Cameras instead of regular mirrors on modern trucks. What is a mirror, everyone knows and everyone who at least once in their life looked at themselves in the mirror knows how to use a mirror. If the truck is equipped with regular mirrors that allow the driver to change the angle of the mirror, if you get closer to the mirror and look from the other side, you will always see the point where you will look in the mirror. In the monitors that are installed in some trucks, it is no longer possible to see anything except what the monitor shows you. Even if you try to change the angle of view, nothing will change, you will still only see what the camera shows you. It is very difficult to get used to this the first few days of driving a truck.

Over time, this issue ceases to be relevant and drivers get used to this situation.
A camera is an optical device with a round lens shape and what is visible in the monitors is already a cropped part of the picture. But distortions remain and when you need to reverse along a straight line, difficulties arise at this moment because the picture is actually distorted and it is impossible to drive straight. Over time, the driver compares the image when reversing from two cameras and chooses the best view for himself in the monitors, but it does not look even in both monitors. It seems that the trailer is bent to the left in the left camera and bent to the right in the right camera! So, a simple method for correct reversing is to monitor both cameras, left and right, at the same time!

It is very convenient to have cameras instead of regular large mirrors, this is their compact size! When you get to a tight truck stop full of trucks at night, then it is very easy to drive along a narrow corridor between trucks and you are not afraid of breaking the large mirrors of your truck and the standing trucks. In my videos, I have shown several times how truck stops look at night in Europe and how difficult it is to drive along a narrow corridor there.
Another advantage of cameras instead of regular mirrors is a free view in the side windows. This is especially important when you enter a roundabout and do not see a car driving along the roundabout because the mirror creates an obstacle. This happens very often and it is a dangerous situation. If the sun shines from behind directly on the mirror, then the driver needs to change the position of the body forward or backward to remove his eyes from the line of sunlight. There is no such problem in cameras and the sun does not blind the truck driver because the brightness of the monitor inside the cabin is limited, the sun looks like a white circle!

At night, the camera does not blind the driver because the brightness is adjusted according to the amount of light inside the cabin, the sensor is triggered and in complete darkness the monitors shine dimly. If the camera lens is dirty, this problem can be solved in ten seconds. Ordinary mirrors need to be washed with a special window cleaner and this takes a lot of time and it is like a bodybuilding workout! In rainy weather, the cameras have proven themselves well and drops of water distort the picture only when parked when water flows down the lens. Large mirrors usually collect a lot of water drops and this is much worse than just one drop on the camera that is quickly blown away by the wind.

At night, the camera does not blind the driver because the brightness is adjusted according to the amount of light inside the cabin, the sensor is triggered and in complete darkness the monitors shine dimly. If the camera lens is dirty, this problem can be solved in ten seconds. Regular mirrors need to be washed with a special window cleaner and this takes a lot of time and it is like a bodybuilding workout!
In rainy weather, the cameras have proven themselves well and drops of water distort the picture only when parked when water flows down the lens. Large mirrors usually collect a lot of water drops and this is much worse than just one drop on the camera that is quickly blown away by the wind.

The only big fat minus of the cameras is their short working life. Perhaps this problem only affects my truck, but with a truck mileage of 250,000 kilometers, the camera on the right side almost does not work!

What do you think about this topic!

11 months ago | [YT] | 110

Niko Timer

Modern private cars and commercial trucks have modern night lighting systems. LED system is not a regular halogen lamp that can be easily and cheaply replaced if it breaks! Modern LED system already needs to be replaced as a set if it stops shining and it is expensive! But manufacturers of modern LED systems claim that the service life of such systems is about fifty thousand working hours. If we compare regular halogen lamps whose resource is only 500 working hours, the difference is very big.

The question arises, what is better to choose from the headlight options when buying a truck or a private car. If you buy a new truck then the choice is more obvious and you can choose an LED system with automatic switching of light, but if you buy a used truck with mileage you need to think about how many more working hours the LED headlight system will function!

Please write what you think on this topic!

11 months ago | [YT] | 85

Niko Timer

Do you like being a truck driver?
Many people ask me if I like my job and if I can recommend this profession to other people!
This is not an easy question and not an easy answer because like all professions in this world that give you the opportunity to earn fat money, they demand a lot in return! Many companies in Europe hire people without experience and pay them little money because they understand that a person needs experience and a person will work for little money. Then a person gets used to this company and no longer wants to change his comfort zone.

So he works for little money for many years! Many people make this mistake and I understand such people, they are happy and have as much money as they need! We could finish the article here and conclude that everyone is happy in their own way and everyone understands happiness as they have it at the moment!
But the problem with this profession is that time does not stand still and is constantly moving forward. A person works as a truck driver and sells his time to the company for little money. A truck driver lives in the cabin and a typical shift for such a driver lasts four weeks. During this time, a person gets used to living alone and does not see his family, just as the family does not see him! Year after year, time separates people, you can even say that working as a truck driver separates families.

This is, of course, everyone's personal choice, but I think that this profession is not for everyone! Even if you think that you will work a little, earn money, improve your financial situation and change your profession, I can say with confidence that you will not succeed! You will get used to this life and you will not be able to change your profession! You will like drinking alcohol because no one will forbid you to do so. Your cabin is your fortress and no one will enter it without your permission. In my opinion, this is a good profession, but only if you are sure that your family will always wait for you at home and miss you! If you are sure that you will not drink alcohol and will not become dependent on alcohol.

And what do you think, am I right or not?

11 months ago | [YT] | 215