But, this is much harder than it seems. And, you won’t see a real profit unless you play the game for a few hours. That said, I’ve got a step-by-step guide below that will teach you exactly how to earn money in Euro Truck Simulator 2. Also, I’ll include some tips that I use to save as much money as possible.
Money Tips in ETS2
There’s no simple or easy way to make money in this game. So you’ll have to spend at least 3 hours driving around before the cash starts flowing.
1. Select the Best Headquarters and Preferred Truck Design
Before you even take your first delivery, there are two things you’ll need to consider. At first, you have to choose a truck design that will allow you to buy the cheapest truck available. Your “Preferred Truck Design” manufacturer will be the first truck dealer available. So, if you go for a Renault truck design, you’ll unlock a Renault dealer after your first delivery. Here’s a table with every manufacturer and their cheapest trucks: I usually go for the Iveco truck (pictured above) because it’s the cheapest. As I’ll explain below, you won’t drive your first truck for too long, so it doesn’t have to be the best one. Once you’ve selected a truck design, you’ll have to choose your headquarters’ location. For this, it’s better to pick a place with several cities around it. That’s because you’ll need to visit many cities when you start, to find recruitment agencies. The more of these you spot, the more vast your driver selection will be. I always opt for Cologne. It’s close to mainland Europe and the UK; my driver will also be able to watch Gamescom live. Pro Tip: Don’t go through the tutorial unless you’re a first-time player. Your delivery is within your starting location in the tutorial, which minimizes the number of quick job offers you get.
2. Get the Best “Price per Distance” Quick Jobs
So, you’ve done your first delivery. Great! You’ll have to take quick jobs for the first 2-3 deliveries. And since you want to earn some dough as fast as possible, you have to go for jobs that will pay you the best for the time you spend driving. ETS2 has a feature that allows you to sort the jobs by the price they pay per distance. These will usually be the best-paying ones either way. Pro Tip: It’s better to take a lower-paying offer that takes you to a new city. Exploring the map is key to earning money fast in ETS2.
3. Take Your First Loan & Buy Your First Truck
After your first deliveries, you’ll receive an email from the bank. This enables you to take your first loan of €100,000. It will be enough for you to buy your first truck. If you can’t find the bank menu, it’s located at the bottom right of the main menu. After you take your first loan, you can navigate to the top right of the main menu, where you’ll find all the truck dealers. You can visit the dealer or buy your truck online. Buying your truck online was initially available after buying 5 trucks from that dealership, but it was changed recently. So, now you’ve got your first truck. And a debt of €100,000! Pro Tip: If you want to use less fuel, you can keep the engine in higher gears (if you’re not using an automatic gearbox) and let off the gas on downhills. Try to keep enough fuel to last you for at least 5 deliveries.
4. Only Accept Freight Market Jobs From the City You’re In
Now that you’ve got your own truck, you can start taking Freight Market jobs. But you’ll have to pay for all the maintenance and fuel needed. So saving fuel will be essential here. Ideally, you won’t have to refuel before relocating your truck to one of your drivers. To achieve this, you need to only accept jobs in the city you’re in. Preferably these will take you to new cities. Pro Tip: If a city has a better offer than the one you’re in, you can fast travel there. In the example below, I made an extra €500.
5. Take Your Second Loan & Buy Your First Garage
Once you reach Level 3, you should get another email from the bank. This time around, you’ll be able to loan an extra €400,000. This is enough for a new garage, along with 2 trucks. And it leaves you with a few more thousand euros to spend on hiring drivers. But first, you’ll need to buy a garage. To do that you’ll need to head to a garage for sale, as shown below. A new garage opens up 3 driver slots and costs €180,000. Pro Tip: Instead of buying a garage, you can upgrade your own one. But you’ll spend €180,000 for only 2 extra driver slots.
6. Hire 3 Drivers for Your Garage & Buy Trucks for Them
Now comes the fun part where you’ll be able to make some real money. Navigate to the top right of the main menu and select the “Recruitment Agency” tab. You should see something like this: Once you hire the drivers, they’ll be automatically sent to your garage. Then you’ll just need to buy trucks for 2 of them. To do this, follow the same process you did when you purchased your first truck. The drivers will immediately start working when their trucks arrive. And then you only have one thing left to do.
7. Relocate Your Truck to a Driver & Start Doing Quick Jobs
Unfortunately, you’ll have to say goodbye to your first truck. Trust me, it’s for a better cause. To relocate your truck, go to the “Truck Manager” and select your truck. When you select “Relocate”, you’ll be prompted to choose a garage and a driver. Once all this is done, you have to return to “Quick Jobs” and start working. Pro Tip: Opting for quick jobs instead of the freight market at the beginning is better for a few reasons:
You don’t have to pay for fuel and maintenance Your driver doesn’t need to rest You try out new trucks on every delivery
Although keep in mind that it’s often better to sacrifice a few thousand euros in-game for a better driving experience. So if you simply want to use your truck to drive around, go right ahead.
