Truck or Trailer

[Tainan]

I've always used a van & trailer for getting my car to the track and back. I'm thinking of replacing my current open trailer with a covered one so my car (single seater) gets some more protection during transport. The thing is, for the price of a decent covered trailer, I could buy a small truck, which seems a much better option. What are the pitfalls? ie Will the AA help if the thing breaks down?

[Bob Pearson]

We agonise over this issue each winter and always come to the same conclusion, no truck.
We transport two single seaters on open trailers towed by the same cars that we use every day of the week. we have only ever found one advantage to using a truck and that is in an increase in the amount of kit we can take with us.
Trucks usually return about 12mpg while a car towing a trailer is roughly double that. A truck only seats at best three people, so in our case we would still have to take a road car to transport all the people. The truck needs insuring and taxing which is a cost on top of your normal road car. Parking a truck for the periods between events can be a problem. The journey time to and from events would be longer in a truck.
So, it seems to boil down to capacity, do you need to take a truck full of gear or not.
As for the AA etc, I really don't know.

[Slowcoach]

Hi Tainan, my wife had a horsebox and when it was time to replace it we debated lorry or trailer for a long time, finally it came down to one thing, money. If we had pots of the stuff we would have bought a nice big horsebox, with a living area etc...and wouldn't have had to worry about insuring it, taxing it, servicing it, plating it(MOT), storing it! I think that all adds up to a tidy sum every year for a vehicle you probably won't use that much. With a trailer we pay the insurance and wash it regularly.....and thats it. As Bob says you can use a trailer with most cars, and use the car the rest of the time so if money and space are an issue you should go for the trailer. You might even be able to get your trailer (with car on it) in your garage - you wont get a lorry in!

[simon drabble]

I had the same dilema as I am racing two cars this season. I ended up changing my Isuzu trooper for a twin cab and had Brian James make a double trailer. I still reckon that is cheaper than a decent lorry. Take a look at the sub £10 000 lorries and decide how much it will cost to keep them on the road! The twin cab has a serious amt of space in the back and being a long wheel base is great for towing. Only downside is that it is quite large for parking at the station every day!!

[zefarelly]

it'll be a trailer for us . . .we've just bought a suitable towing estate car for the practicality etc . . . .we reckon its got to be the easiest and most economical way of getting started, and storage for those of us without achreage to spare is always an issue

[Andrew Jones]

Lots of good reasons for and against both I have found a truck more useful because it doubles up as a store for the car and all parts between races everything I use for my car is the truck and not under foot in the garage I disagree on the cost of running a truck if you buy a bit of a dog it will cost money to maintain I have had my truck 2 years now and (touch wood) it has only cost me the price of the MOT each year and nothing more the other advantage for me is when I go futher away I can hitch up the caravan to the truck. I find also that traveling times are no more with the truck than a car and trailer and stopping at services etc everything is safe in the truck.
P.S. I am thinking of selling my truck £4000 and it comes with a 16ft square awning.