A-Frame or Trailer?

[StuartO]

There is a good article about the choice between A-frame or trailer to tow a car behind a motorhome in the new edition of MMM which covers the technical stuff very well. 

 

But their cost estimates seemed far too high by my experience (£2,500 for an A-frame outfit or a trailer?) and there is no discussion of residual  value as a consideration, which could be important for some people.  I go abroad so the A-frame is no longer an option for me but I'm happier with a trailer for the car anyway.  I did have an A-frame once and found hitching it up to the towball on the MH a real pain.

 

And with a trailer you don't have to modify the car and you will get around half to two thirds back from a trailer when you sell it - whereas with an A-frame I doubt you'll get much back at all.  And of course with an A-frame you have to pay again to modify the car if you change it.

 

There's no "right for everyone" solution but I would argue that a standard car transporter trailer is a viable alternative to a specially made smart car trailer which carry a premium price and a longer car transporter trailer is easier to tow and especially to manoeuvre in reverse.

 

 

[takeaflight]

I have towed various trailers over the years, as opposed to an a frame for all the negative reasons mentioned.

 

I have always bought second hand and sold with little or no loss. Having had several I ended with twin axle for stability in the event of a puncture, and an hydraulic tilt bed, I found the ramps hard work, however there are trailers available with the ramps that slide in and out.

 

Also I had a tow bar on the car, which made moving the trailer around on site easy.

 

Final point, for me, in the motorhome we are on holiday, usually Europe, I didn't won't to sweat every time I seen plod, wondering if I was going to get pulled.

 

 

[StuartO]

There are of course disadvantages with trailers compared with A-frames, for example that you need somewhere to store them at home, but I too bought my car transporter second hand (off EBay, cheaply because it was badly listed) but I chose a good make (Ifor Williams) and expect to lose nothing on it when I sell.

 

Mine is a single axle, which can still take the weight of a small car because the tyres are very heavy duty and inflated to 95 psi! A single axles makes it easier to manoeuvre by hand; you can even push it around on level ground with the car loaded.