Need a massive amount of dirt, sand, gravel, or refuse material hauled away? Renting a dump truck may be your best bet to get the job done. But how much would renting out a whole dump truck cost?
Renting a dump truck costs an average of $389 for a small dump truck, $446 for a medium dump truck, and $564 for a large dump truck. This doesn’t include the cost of acquiring a CDL, which may or may not be necessary depending on the size and model of truck you would like to rent.
There are a few nuances to renting out a dump truck that may interest you to know, however. Below lies not only the spreadsheet used to find the above-average prices but a few answers to some other questions and considerations you may be taking into account before renting.
What size dump truck will I need?
| Size of Dump Truck | Average Cost to Rent per Day |
| 2-3 cubic yards | (255+411+350)/3=$389 |
| 5-6 cubic yards | (495+417+425)/3=$446 |
| 10-14 cubic yards | (653+700+339)/3=$564 |
(Source 1), (Source 2), (Source 3), (Source 4)
Depending on what you are trying to move with your rented truck, you may need a widely different size compared to what you may be thinking.
If you are using a dump truck to bring new material to a site, such as mulch, wood chips, or topsoil, something to consider is that a cubic yard of such material will cover about 100 square feet at 3 inches of depth (source).
In addition, depending on how much material you want to move, you may need to take several more trips with one size truck than you would with a larger one. Keeping this in mind, it would be prudent to calculate how much more you would spend gas to take those extra trips and whether or not that amount would exceed the additional costs you would incur for a larger vehicle.
Also, remember that you may need a Commercial Driver’s License for larger trucks, an additional expense that you can sometimes avoid by simply renting out a smaller dump truck (more on that in the next section.)
CDL Considerations
As mentioned before, the size of the dump truck you seek to rent may cause you to need to acquire a CDL, or commercial driver’s licenses. If you’ve ever looked into becoming a truck driver for a career, then it is the same type of license that is required to do so and you may be familiar with the concept. If not, it is good to know that there are actually a few different classes of CDL licenses.
While there are 3 classes, namely Class A, Class B, and Class C, of dump trucks, the kind you will most likely need in order to drive a dump truck would be a Class B license, which is required to drive a vehicle with a weight of greater than 26,000 lbs. Class A would be required if you wanted an absolutely massive dump truck to rent, however.
When you look to rent online, most websites will tell you on a vehicle-by-vehicle basis which vehicles require a commercial license and which ones don’t. Make sure to ask ahead of time, either on the phone or through email, if this is unclear. You absolutely cannot drive a big enough truck without one.
The cost of acquiring a CDL is somewhat variable. It depends on where you live and which CDL school you go to. It is a good idea to call the DMV in the state you live in to see which fees they do or do not charge over the course of acquiring a commercial license. Some states charge application fees, and testing fees, and may require a fee for the license itself (source).
The process of qualifying for a CDL is often the costly part. Some particularly important factors include whether or not the school is public or private, how prestigious the school is, and the quality of the equipment they have available to train you with. Make sure whoever you get your training from for your CDL is actually approved by the government to do so, as otherwise, you will need to train again but with someone properly licensed to provide said training. CDLs require both a written and a driving test in order to finally receive them, even after all the learning you have done already.
Finally, regarding CDLs, some CDLs are issued for a single state only, meaning that you will only be able to drive the dump truck you rent within the state you received the CDL in, which could be a problem if you were intending to take material between states with the truck. In any case, if you have a job you will require a rental for in the future and you want to be the one to drive said rental, make sure to plan ahead and get your new license sooner rather than later, as it can be a somewhat time-intensive process and take a few months. Otherwise, you may want to consider hiring a driver to work for you if you are not willing to put in the work to acquire the needed CDL for the truck you’ve got your eyes on.
Is it cheaper to rent or to buy a dump truck?
Considering how expensive it may seem to rent a dump truck for more than a day, as the weekly costs can rise into the thousands, you may want to consider purchasing a truck if your need for one will be regular. New dump trucks cost upwards of 100,000 dollars, but used ones can sometimes cost as little as 15,000 dollars. If you have a particularly long-term project, you may be better off buying a used truck and reselling it after the job is done as opposed to renting for weeks and months on end.
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