Trailer hire is a natural second line for a business that is already open: a petrol station has long hours and every customer arrives by car, a builders' merchant sells material that will not fit in a boot, a garage has the yard, the tools and the staff. This article covers how to set up the side business so it earns money without getting in the way of what you actually do. Starting trailer hire as a main business is covered in Starting a trailer hire business.
1. Where a side business makes sense
Three things decide it: footfall, someone on site all day, and space.
| Business | Why it works | What to watch |
|---|
---|---|---
| Petrol station | long opening hours, customer arrives by car, impulse weekend hire | staff at the till have no time for long handovers; trailers must not block the pumps |
|---|---|---|
| Builders' merchant, DIY store | customer buys sand, rubble or paving and needs it moved now | tipping trailer with high sides; trailers come back dirty |
| Garage, tyre shop | yard, tools, staff who can judge condition, existing trust | handovers outside workshop hours |
| Garden centre, log supplier | seasonal peaks, bulky loads | no income off season |
| Removal and haulage firms | own trailers that stand idle part of the week | clashes with your own jobs, so you need a calendar |
The common factor: someone is there anyway. A side business does not rest on hiring an extra person. It rests on staff you already pay handling the handover and return in a few minutes.
2. How many trailers, and which
Do not overdo it. Two or three trailers are enough to find out what people in your area actually hire:
- Unbraked trailer up to 750 kg with a cover, the most common hire for moving house, tip runs and furniture.
- Braked tipping trailer (typically 1,300 to 2,000 kg gross) for rubble, sand and soil. At a builders' merchant this is the main earner.
- A third unit by trade: a motorcycle trailer or high-sided covered trailer at a petrol station, a second tipper at a merchant, a car transporter at a garage.
Buy robust rather than light. Customers moving rubble misjudge weight and overload. Which trailer suits which job is covered in What size trailer do I need.
3. What must be ready before the first customer
A side business has no lower paperwork requirements than a full-time hire firm. It only has less patience for paperwork that takes time. Before the first handover you need:
1. A hire agreement as a template where only the customer, trailer and dates are filled in. What belongs in it is covered in Rental agreement clauses that matter.
2. A deposit with a clear rule on who takes it and who returns it, see Security deposits for equipment rental.
3. A condition report with photos. For trailers that come back from a rubble job it is the only way to prove who bent the side panel.
4. A rate card with a minimum hire period and a day rate; the method is in How to price equipment rentals.
5. Insurance: cover for the trailer itself and a clear answer on what your business policy covers once the trailer leaves with a customer.
6. Registration, tax and licensing: whether hiring out trailers falls under your existing business registration, and how it is treated for tax, differs by country and sometimes by region. Check with your accountant and the current rules where you operate.
4. A five-minute handover
This is where the side business lives or dies in its first month. The person on the till cannot spend ten minutes copying a driving licence into a form while the queue for fuel grows.
This process works:
- Online booking in advance. The customer enters their details and pays at home; on site you check ID and hand over the trailer. Setting it up is covered in Online booking for a rental website.
- Agreement from a template, signed with a finger on a tablet or phone. No printer.
- A fixed photo order in the condition report: four sides, bed, drawbar, number plate. One minute.
- Trailers in one place, with a socket nearby to test the lights at handover.
- Train the whole shift, not one person. If only the manager can hand over, the hire business is closed on the manager's day off.
A single A4 sheet at the handover point, listing what to check, what to photograph and where to sign, does more than any training session.
5. When it pays
The numbers depend on location, trailer type and season, so a simple calculation is more useful than a benchmark:
- Add up the annual cost per trailer: purchase spread over its working life, insurance, any inspection and tyres, small repairs, yard space.
- Estimate a realistic utilisation. A side business sees less than a specialist, because nobody is actively selling it. Think in dozens of hire days a year, not hundreds.
- Divide. What does the trailer need to earn per day to pay for itself, and how does that compare with hire prices nearby?
Then add what no spreadsheet shows: the customer who collects a trailer fills up, buys material or books a service. At a builders' merchant the trailer pays for itself partly because without it the customer would buy less, or elsewhere.
6. Three mistakes side businesses repeat
- No calendar. Two trailers, three staff, bookings by phone, and on Saturday morning two customers arrive for the same trailer. Availability has to live in one place the whole shift can see. How to avoid clashes is covered in Preventing double bookings.
- No deposit "because we know him". A side business lives on local regulars, and regulars are exactly who gets let off the deposit. The rule has to apply to everyone, or staff will stop applying it to anyone.
- Nobody maintains the trailers. The main business comes first and the trailer gets fixed "when there is time". Lights, tyres and inspection dates belong in a fleet record with deadlines, not in the manager's memory.
Where Flotello fits
Flotello is built for two trailers beside a main business as much as for a full fleet: a calendar the whole shift can see, bookings from your website with payment in advance, an agreement from a template signed with a finger, and a condition report with photos on a phone. Rate card, deposit and accessory checklist sit on each trailer, and inspection dates are tracked in the fleet record. Taking bookings from your website is explained in the help centre, plans by fleet size are on the pricing page, and you can try it free for seven days after registration, no card required.
For what Flotello does in your line of rental, start here: trailer rental software; also car rental software, equipment rental software and campervan rental software.