Trailer crew, help me make decisions
 

I'm getting very close to buying a van. I need to get a trailer, and I live in an apartment so I'll need a place to store the trailer. Here we go with the facts:

Fees:
Trailer storage is no cheaper than $45/month
$50 annual registration
~$300 Title fees
bullshit maintenence
So we're looking at $600 in annual expenses.

Renting a trailer is $25/day.
I'll probably need 4-days if I leave on Friday, and return on Sunday to return on Monday morning.

If I use the tire trailer for local events, then I'll only use the van and trailer for over-night stuff.
I plan to attend:
MSR-H
College Station
HHR
Hallett
Hallett
HHR
College Station
NOLA

So, that's roughly $800 before tax to rent the trailer from Penske. What do you guys think about all this nonsense?

Think of it as paying $100/year for someone else to do maintenance on a trailer for you. (w/maintenance, it's really $700/year if you do all the work involved and not $600 to own).

Is it worth $100 a year to you to have someone else do all maintenance/et al for you?

(Edit: Hint, if your answer is no, your free time isn't worth very much to you.)

The real motivating factor is here is the rental place is about 1000' from my apartment and the storage place is 8-miles, lol.

Where do you pay $25 a day to rent a trailer? I know every time I have rented one from U-Haul it is $55 a day.

Personal opinion:

I've used Penske's 4-wheel car carriers to haul my vehicles across the country several times. They are big and very heavy, but quite nice.

Minuses: you probably won't be able to open the door of your Miata while it's on the trailer, as it won't clear the left fender. I've learned over the years to carry some pieces of wood which I park the Miata on top of in order to raise it up. Also, they don't really "maintain" the trailers as such- I've never gotten one with working brakes.

What does your insurance say about coverage of a trailer you own vice rent... could be added expense either way... might swing the vote though.

Penske. I agree that it sounded really low. I may need to call another location and confirm. If a car hauler is $25 per day, is a tow-dolly free?

I don't think we have to insure trailers in Texas.

What are the chances that I'll get my car up the ramps...when it's low enough to tuck tire in the front.

The real pain here is that I'm giving away $600/year in storage fees just to own the god damned thing.

Find a place to store the trailer that doesn't involve paying $45/mo. Mine sits on the street half a block from the shop.

Texas really rapes you on licensing fees. In CA, trailer fees are $38 for the plates plus $10 every 5 years.

+1 Some of the most white knuckle driving I've ever done was hauling my 4Runner on a trailer behind a loaded moving truck. I don't know how much of a surge is required to activate surge brakes, but it was certainly beyond the range of sphincter pucker.

The main issue is the storage fees. Can you not leave it parked on a public street somewhere near your house/apt.? I see a few street parked around here that never seem to move, though I admit I don't know if it's legal. Just leave a sawed-off hitch ball locked into the trailer so someone can't just hook up and drive off with it.

or find someone with space and allow them to use it on occasion. tell them you will need it every weekend.

You are getting to the point now that you should really consider the investment of a trailer.

I would be willing to bet that your track time will increase over the years, and you can also trailer your car for dyno work or other services you may encounter.

It's kind of bothering me to realize that it's going to cost me about $1200 per year just to own a van and trailer, before I drive them around and floss.

Just wait until the first fuel stop.

Won't stop a thief. They usually just hook the safety chains up and go--they don't even deal with the coupler. Makes you feel safe sharing the roads with them, right?

You can take a few measures to prevent trailer theft, but at the end of the day, if someone wants to steal it they will. Insurance is cheap. My trailer is insured for $5k comp/collision at $100/year. Liability is on the tow vehicle when coupled.

My trailer is boss, but I am lucky enough to be able to leave it in a secured area, behind a fence and a lock. If I didn't have a place to store such a large trailer, I'd have a 14' single axle that fit in the garage, and would store the car on it.

Miatas fit on 14' Trailors? How small of a trailor will they fit on?

Try driving one through Vail pass, at night, in January, in a snowstorm.

I didn't really think that one through ahead of time...



The ramps are quite long, and the bed isn't all that high, so I wouldn't think that getting onto and off of the trailer would be a major problem. It's easy enough to drive down to your local Penske shop and try it out.

One interesting design feature about the trailers I just remembered is that when you're loading and unloading the car, there's nothing supporting the back of the trailer, so as you drive the car onto the trailer, it tries to see-saw on the axles and pick up the back of your tow vehicle by the ball. Hardly noticeable on a 16' box truck, but it might be interesting on something lighter-weight. :D

Move to Houston and store your trailer at my shop for free. Problem solved.

If you could really rent the trailer for that much and you know you will always be able to, then that would be my route. You will have a fixed cost with it and little to no variable cost. I do agree that they do not maintain their trailers worth a crap, but you can give it a good once over before you get it to make sure it is road worthy.

Eventually, if I were you, I would buy a trailer when I knew I was going to be in one spot for a while or knew you were going to at least have space for it wherever you go. My single car stays at the house with the bus and the two car is locked up at the shop. Having all your crap easily accessible is awesome, but having too much to have to pay to go store it somewhere else can be stressful and a pain in the ass.

Mine actually plants the rear of the trailer into the ground when loading (the bed tilts), but on most you can add small leveling jacks on the rear sides of a trailer to help with loading. They can also enable loading without the need for a coupled tow vehicle.

lol at living in a 1-bedroom apartment with 3 cars. Two Miatas and an awesome van...I should probably get a truck or something, right?

This should be a major factor. For me it's the other way around so I have my own. It's too much trouble to travel through town, pick up trailer, drive back, pick up car, etc.

Have you thought about getting a car dolly, or would it not work? Some (like this one) fold up and may even fit in the back of your van/truck. If your still looking for a tow van/truck those smallish Nissan trucks get good mileage and would probably tow your race car well enough.

OR

Forget about van/truck, take DD miata, swap in V8 in and tow with it.

I could also potentially use my Dad's behemoth, 3000lb single car hauler. The problem is the MPG though, it's going to be brutal. We got 8mpg when pulling that trailer with a 6L Chevy gasoline truck. That is a no cost option, and I gave him a Subaru Outback a few years ago.

Well, at your quoted yearly fees, that's ~200ish gallons of gas Hustler.

Will you use 200 extra gallons of gas in using it?

You already renting a garage to house the track car correct? Is it possible the fit the track car on the trailer and fit both in the garage?

If you get 12mpg towing a Penske vs 8mpg towing your dad's (presumably enclosed) flatbed, it's an extra $70 for every 500 miles you tow it. Plus you don't have to worry about whether they have one available, or returning it on time, etc etc etc.

I rented flatbeds for a while before I bought mine. It's such a bad idea.

Slippery slope.....you are on it

This just in:
Stepfather and mother will store small trailer for free. Now I'm on the search for a cheap trailer with brakes, possibly a single axle.

I recently saw one of these trailers that "doesn't need to be hooked" recieve a GT2 withh GT Brembos. I also saw it roll quite a ways. I wouldn't do it.

I bought a used tow dolly from a snowbird for $300 twelve years ago. Profit. I've pulled lots of projects home over the years and it saved me hiring a tow truck a couple of times as well.

And if you are a nancy about towing with drive wheels on the ground you can always put that end on the dolly.

A good trailer is always better, but a dolly is much lighter to tow and is often much cheaper and takes up less space.

Although its a single axle trailer, this thing is BA... I hope the link works-

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fb...type=1&theater

so cool. i want to know how that works. I will build one of those.

I'd kill a man in the street with a claw hammer for that trailer.

http://www.dfwmiata.com/showthread.p...l=1#post246204

The local board thinks I need a 7000 payload trailer to pull a 2200lb Miata. Like I said in my post, if I've pulled a 6000lb Superduty on the trailer, it's too big for a Miata pull. I also think it's funny that they want me to buy a used steel trailer for $2000 when I can get a new, from the factory, aluminum 700lb dual axle trailer with 7000lb payload for $2400 out the door.

Where are you getting an aluminum trailer for that price? All the ones I see are around $4-5000 for a basic one.

You aren't exactly being fair in that comparison, Hustler.

Well, you can read the SCCA calendar to find out where he'll be next. Go get him, Hustle-bunny!

I just texted him, $3100 for that trailer these days.

http://a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._6042986_n.jpg
I don't know how I'll get it a driveway, but I like it.

What about a drop axle with air bags? deflate to load, air up to get out and ride down the road. I've thought about 3000 pound axles with 1000 pound springs and some sort of air ride assist. This would give you electric brakes but still a decent ride. I was also told at school to get an intertube mounted under the car and air it up some to get the weight off the suspension to help keep it from cycling so much. They said the trailer ride to and from the track can be harder then the actual track experience. Not sure on it, and have never put a temp gun or anything on the shocks after hauling anything, so take it as second hand knowledge.