Buying a car trailer - what do I need to know?

Ideally, it will have a weight plate giving its empty weight and max load capacity. This will only be there if its a factory made thing though - anything home made will likely not have a plate.
All wheels must be braked, and preferably it should have auto-reverse brakes. As the name suggests, they allow reversing automatically. Older brakes require you to get out and flip a wee lever or catch on the hitch before reversing to prevent the brakes coming on as you back up.
It it has ramps, check it also has somewhere to stow them securely. designs where the ramps are fixed to the end and hinge up vertically are a pain as they limit the length of car you can fit on where detachable ramps allow an overhang. Fixed tail lights mounted out of the way are a must, as messing with trailerboards quickly gets old.

Given VOSA's ever increasing vigilance and changes in legislation, I would aim for a factory-build job rather than home made, as the lack of a weight plate may land you in trouble at a checkpoint if they believe its not up the carrying the weight you have on it.

Check the tyres are good, not just tread, but look for cracks and perishing. Check they are load-rated to cope with the trailers max weight. Most car tyres are not up to the job, it really should have van tyres. Beware the small, wide, low profile tyres on some newer trailers as they are very expensive to replace. Have a spare wheel and a means of fitting it at the roadside....your cars jack might not lift the trailer and the wheelbrace might not fit trailer nuts.
Look at the tyre wear...if its uneven, bald on the edges, then they might be old car tyres fitted to the trailer, or it might mean it has alignment problems......its rare for anything to be adjustable, so if something is "out" then its been bent either through overloading or hitting something. Look down the sides and check the wheels are parallel as far as you can tell.

Check the brakes work (auto reverse) as follows......pull the handbrake on half-way and the trailer will not roll forwards, but with a bit of effort will push backwards. Pull the h-brake on fully and it should not roll forwards at all, and will only push backwards a few inches before a clunck from each wheel and they will lock up completely.
Check the cables are not frayed, and lift the coupling up and down with it not hitched up....some play is normal and grease through the nipples will cure it, if its 10mm+ they it has probably never been greased and the bushings in the damper are worn, which can be expensive.

If you have a trolley jack and the seller is willing, lift it one side at a time and check for play in the bearings. (rock the wheel top and bottom, handbrake off, as you would with a car) If the hub nut covers are slightly conical with a flat face,then it probably runs tapered bearings which you can tighten up......remove the cap, pull out the split pin, tighten the hub nut right up, slacken it off, then re-tighten to "pretty tight", refit the split pin and fit the cap full of new grease
If they hub nut covers look like this......
then the bearings are NOT adjustable and will need replaced if worn. The hub nut under these caps is a "one-shot" nut that should never be re-used if removed.

Check its not rusty, obviously bent or twisted and generally looks "right".

I look through ebay at them every now and then and the dangerous, worn out old wibblepoo some people are selling is comical and decent ones often want strong money, with the likes of a used Ifor Williams or Indespension often not far off the brand new prices.......which is something to consider. A used Ifor on ebay that may need tyres and some other bits n bobs may well cost more once sorted out than a brand spanker from a dealership, who are often willing to haggle or throw in extras like spare wheel, straps, winch etc.


Do you NEED one? trailer are ace, but they are cumbersome, require storage, are very, VERY desireable and stealable and if stolen will never, ever be recovered.

Oh, and if you are buying one from a known brand name, then contact them with the serial number (or maybe the cops?) to see if it is stolen or not.
Serial number should be on the weight plate and may also be stamped into the chassis somewhere around the front.

No problems. I used to sell, hire, service and repair them for a living, so if you have any questions, just ask.

Just treat it like buying a car. You wouldnt buy a car if the VIN plate was missing or it looked like it had been messed with (at least, most people wouldnt).
Find out where the seller got it from, how long he's had it. Does he have the original bill of sale? Any genuine seller wont mind you doing a bit of digging.
Most importantly, if something seems too good to be true then it probably is, so if you have any doubts at all just walk away.

make sure your car can tow it too lol and of course you are legally able to tow as well

Also make sure the trailer isn't plated to carry more than the tow car can tow, even if you never get to that weight i know a few people have been done at VOSA checkpoints for it, crazy but true !

Well I have a 20 year old Brian james trailer, works great has shifted 5 tons before without any hassle, never had a load plate and doesn’t have auto reverse hubs, i like it this way it's tough as hell and contains nothing you cant fix yourself...

I used to have a new tilt bed Brian James Clubman when i was getting into track support and looking posh helped and whilst ok and very light it wasn’t a patch on the strength and quality of the 20 year old one..

Got stopped once and asked where the load plate was, never had one sez I, got to have one they say, I said i'd contact Brian James and get one and I went on my way, got busy with the number/letter punches that night and made one, that keeps it nice and legal, never had a problem since..

There aren't many cars around today excluding 4x4s that will legally tow a large twin axle car trailer. As others have said its the maximum plated weight of the trailer that counts legally not its actual weight.

If you get a trailer and I can see why you want one be carefull to make sure your vehicle is legally allowed to tow it.

yes so have I was walking down the high street when a badly loaded trailer came off its hitch wiped out the side of a passing car then carreeded across the pavement in front of me.

I can honestly say that I owe my life to a tube of smarties ;D


The door of the passing cars outer skin was ripped off completly and lay a hundred yards down the road. Accident couldn't have been at more than 20mph and thankfully no one was hurt!
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