Hiring a trailer is usually a five-minute transaction at a counter and then you are away. That is fine when it goes well. When it does not — a scratch nobody can date, a light that fails on the ring road, a deposit that comes back short — the whole outcome traces back to those five minutes. Here is how to use them.
Before you go
Three things sorted at home make the collection straightforward:
- Know your load. Rough dimensions and a realistic weight. If you are not sure which trailer you need, What Size Trailer Do I Need? works through it by load type.
- Know your vehicle's limits. Maximum towable mass — often given separately for braked and unbraked trailers — maximum combination weight, and nose weight. These are in the handbook and on the vehicle's plate.
- Know what you may tow. Driving entitlements for trailers depend on the combination and on national rules, which differ by country and have changed in recent years. Confirm the current position where you will be driving before you book, especially for anything near a weight threshold.
Then bring what the hire company asks for: your driving licence, a means of payment for the deposit, and — worth asking about specifically — a connector adapter, straps and a spare wheel if they are not included as standard.
The ten-minute check
Do these in order. Most of them are fast, and the ones that fail most often are near the top.
1. Tyres. Tread depth across the whole width, sidewalls for cracking and bulges, and pressures — trailer tyres are usually run harder than car tyres and are frequently soft. Check the spare too, if there is one, and whether it is even the right size.
2. Wheels. Nuts present and tight, no signs of movement or rust streaks around the studs. Give the wheel a shake at the top and bottom to feel for bearing play.
3. Lights. With your own car connected, with a second person watching: sidelights, brake lights, both indicators, hazards, fog light and number plate light. If the connector types do not match, this is where you find out — see 7-Pin vs. 13-Pin Trailer Plugs.
4. Coupling. It seats fully on your towball, the latch closes and locks, and the handle is not worn or stiff. Check that the coupling and your ball are compatible types and sizes.
5. Safety connection. A breakaway cable on a braked trailer, or a safety chain on an unbraked one. Present, undamaged, and correctly attached to a fixed point on the vehicle rather than looped over the ball.
6. Jockey wheel. Winds up and down freely, clamps tight, and stows without fouling anything.
7. Brakes, if it is a braked trailer. Parking brake holds on a slope, reversing does not drag, and a gentle brake test in the yard feels controlled. The mechanism is explained in Braked vs. Unbraked Trailers.
8. Bed, sides and tailgate. Floor solid, no soft or rotten boards, tailgate catches work from both sides, drop-sides latch properly.
9. Securing points. Count the tie-down points and check they are not bent or cracked. Confirm how many straps are included, and that they are in usable condition.
10. The plate. Gross weight, unladen weight and the serial or chassis number. Photograph it — you will want the payload figure when you are loading, and the identity if anything is disputed later.
Take your own photographs
Whatever the hire company records, take your own set. It costs two minutes and it is the single most useful thing you can do.
- All four corners at an angle, so each shot shows two sides.
- Both sides square on.
- The bed from above, empty.
- The tailgate and any ramps.
- Each existing scratch, dent or repair, close up.
- Tyres, including the tread.
- The plate and the serial number.
- The coupling and the jockey wheel.
- The lighting board and the plug.
- One picture with the trailer coupled to your car before you drive off.
Make sure the timestamp is on — most phones record it automatically — and keep them until your deposit is back in your account. Point out anything significant to the person handing it over and ask for it to be written on the condition record. "I photographed it" is good; "it is written on the form we both signed" is better.
Four questions worth asking
1. What is the deposit, how is it taken, and when does it come back? Whether it is charged to a card or held, and how many days the refund takes. Get the answer before you hand over a card.
2. What counts as returned clean? "Swept out" and "steam cleaned" are different standards with different charges. Ask which one applies, especially after soil, rubble or garden waste.
3. What happens if I am late? Ask for the actual rate and the cut-off time. Many yards charge a further full day past a specific hour, and closing time on a Saturday is not the same as the time on your agreement.
4. What do I do if something breaks or a light fails? A phone number that is answered at the weekend, and whether you are authorised to arrange a roadside repair yourself.
Two more that are worth asking if they are not already obvious: whether a cover, straps, spare wheel or lighting board are included or chargeable, and whether the trailer may leave the country if that is your plan.
Loading it properly
The hire ends badly far more often through loading than through mechanical failure.
- Heaviest items over or just ahead of the axle. This gives a slight nose-down bias, which is what you want.
- Do not load to the back. A rearward bias lifts the nose, reduces the load on the towball and can start a sway that is very hard to recover.
- Respect the payload, which is gross weight minus unladen weight — and remember it includes ramps, a cover, straps and anything else already in the trailer.
- Secure everything, every time, including on the short trip home. Loose loads move under braking, and a load that shifts changes the trailer's balance instantly.
- Check the straps after a few kilometres. Loads settle, and straps that were tight in the yard are often loose after the first roundabout.
- Watch the height if you have loaded high or hired a covered trailer — car parks, barriers and low branches account for a remarkable share of damage claims.
Driving away
- Pull forward a few metres and brake gently while still in the yard. Listen and feel for anything odd.
- Check the mirrors. If the trailer is wider than your car, you may need extension mirrors, and in many places that is a requirement.
- Reverse a short distance somewhere safe before you need to do it in traffic. Reversing a trailer is a skill, and the first attempt should not be at a busy junction.
- Allow longer distances, wider turns and gentler braking than you think. Everything takes more room.
The return
The return is where deposits are decided, so treat it with the same care as the collection.
1. Return it as agreed — same time, same condition, same fuel or cleanliness standard. If you will be late, ring first; a call before the deadline is a different conversation from a call afterwards.
2. Clean it to the standard you were told. Sweeping out takes ten minutes and is cheaper than any cleaning charge.
3. Repeat the photographs, from the same angles as at collection.
4. Walk round it with the person receiving it. Get the condition agreed while you are both standing there.
5. Get the deposit position stated before you leave: released, or held for a specific reason with a specific amount and a date.
6. Keep everything — agreement, condition record, photographs — until the deposit is actually back.
If a deduction is proposed later, ask for the same three things any reasonable hire company will have: what the damage is, evidence that it was not there at collection, and how the amount was calculated. Your own dated photographs from collection are what make that conversation short.
Where Flotello fits
Hire companies using Flotello do the handover on a phone in the yard: photographs with timestamps, an accessories checklist and both signatures, with a copy sent to you by email — so at return the two records are compared side by side rather than from memory. Do you run a hire business yourself? There is a seven-day trial without a card.
See how Flotello works for your kind of business: trailer rental software, car rental software, equipment rental software and campervan rental software.