Earn More from Your Semi Truck: Start a Heavy Towing Business—Without Giving Up Transport Work

Owning your own semi truck is a step towards financial freedom.

But it doesn’t take long for most owner-operators to start feeling the limits on their earning potential.

Trucking is highly competitive, which squeezes the margins you can earn as a driver. Meanwhile you have insurance and truck payments that don’t care what the market rate is or how many jobs you have lined up.

You can end up feeling like you’re stuck in the same old grind, trading time for money, just with more responsibilities to worry about.

But your semi tractor can do a lot more than pull a trailer.

Lots of owner operators are turning to higher-margin work in heavy towing and recovery to boost their incomes. But with our detachable heavy-duty towing equipment, you can still do transport work to supplement your income.

Earn More Per Job with Heavy Towing and Recovery

There’s an old saying that “the riches are in the niches.”

In other words, the more specialized your work is the less competition you face, so the more you can charge for it.

Heavy towing and recovery work is a niche that’s wide open to semi owner-operators. The jobs are specialized, so the margin you make on each job tends to be significantly higher than standard transport work.

With detachable equipment like our Fifthwheeler underlift, you can switch back and forth between heavy towing and transport work in only 15 minutes. That way while you’re growing your heavy towing business, you can still take transport work as needed.

Capitalize on the Seasonal Waves

Depending on where you live, there might be times of the year when transport work is actually very lucrative.

In agricultural regions, for instance, demand for drivers can spike in late summer and early fall, driving up the prices you can charge.

Similarly, calls for vehicle recoveries spike in the winter. Many heavy wrecker drivers with non-detachable equipment—who don’t have the flexibility to take other kinds of work—put away money in the winter for the slower summer season.

With our D-Boom detachable boom, or our full Genesis 30T detachable wrecker, you can take advantage of both. Focus on wrecker work to maximize your income during the busy winter months, then switch to transport work when it’s more steady or lucrative.

Start Now and Build Your Detachable Wrecker Over Time

The two biggest barriers to entry in heavy towing are the cost of the equipment, and the need to devote your whole truck to it.

With Zacklift detachable equipment, not only can you swap between transport and heavy towing in only 15 minutes, but you don’t have to invest in a full wrecker all at once.

You can start with the Fifthwheeler underlift and start earning money with heavy towing jobs. Then as that pays off you can add a D-Boom, Stifflegs, and other components to outfit a fully-capable and fully-detachable wrecker.

If you’re ready to bust through the current cap on your income, get in touch today and we’ll help you choose the right place to start.

‍