My wife and I were bored during a recent rainy weekend. Having just bought a towing vehicle, I know the next step down this rabbit hole of a hobby is a car trailer. Knowing who she married, my wife has accepted this fact. So, with nothing better to do, we decided to start doing some primary research.
I’ve done some preliminary searching online – mainly just seeing where car trailers are sold and what the price ranges are. Luckily, the options are rather limited compared to what you can face for a tow vehicle. The first big decision is open or enclosed; then steel or aluminum. Beyond that, there are considerations like braking system, trailer weight, etc. but I’m not there yet.
For my first car trailer, I’m looking to get an open rather than enclosed. Enclosed trailers are more expensive, and there is also a lot of space inside that I would not be utilizing yet. An open trailer is simpler, easier to store and maintain, and can still be modified to increase utility with tire racks and tool boxes. I reserve the right to change my tune on this decision, which is not unusual for me to do with big decisions.
Open car trailers are made with all steel, steel and wood, or all aluminum. Aluminum trailers are quite a bit more expensive than the others and are not easy to find, at least near me. However, they are much lighter to tow and require less maintenance since aluminum doesn’t rust like steel. I’m leaning toward aluminum for those reasons, but I want to do more research.
This trip was focused on the steel and steel/wood variety. I looked up a place near me that had car trailers in stock, and we drove out there. I was a little disappointed when we pulled up, because it looked like there were only a few car trailers in stock. Most of what they had were smaller utility trailers. Still, I was starting from scratch, so I looked for the salesman and started asking questions.
He had one 18-foot split-deck trailer made entirely of steel. This is the cheapest variant you can get. This trailer was about $3,000. However, I’m not a fan of the split style. For one thing, you’ll always have to take care to line up the tires when loading. The other thing is having the middle of the trailer open leaves the car exposed to whatever gets kicked up off the road beneath it.
The only other two were 18-foot trailers (18-foot is the most common size, apparently) made of a steel frame with a single wood deck and made by BigTex. In my mind, the single deck car trailers fix the issues the split decks have. Of course, they are slightly more expensive at around $4,000. I’m also wary of the maintenance required to keep the wood from deteriorating. According to the salesman, that entails sealing the wood once a year or so. Objectively, I know that’s not a lot, but I would like something I don’t have to worry about at all.
One of the car trailers was a traditional flatbed, and the other had a “dovetail.” Both of them had stow-away ramps you use to drive the car up. The dovetail, though, created a smoother transition up onto the flatbed, which is supposed to make loading easier for low vehicles. For that convenience, you would pay about $500 more, but I thought the shape was kind of weird. I knew there was technically enough ground clearance for the dovetail, but I couldn’t help think how often it would get hit or dragged on something in the road. I would much rather have a retractable dovetail.
We walked away without a trailer, but I did pick up a lot of useful information:
- You can get a good wooden car trailer for around $4,000
- Wood decks have to be treated, and the wood may eventually need to be replaced
- 18-foot trailers are the most common for towing vehicles
- The stated length is the length of the flat portion of the trailer – the part your car will be on; tongue length or dovetails/ramps are not included
- Steel car trailers rust quite a bit even when they aren’t used regularly, especially when stored outside
My next step would be to check out aluminum car trailers. They come in single- and split-deck configurations and require very little maintenance. From what I’ve seen online, however, they start at around $5,000. We’ll see if the price difference is something I can justify – to myself and to my wife.
