The Genius Design of U-Haul Car Trailers

I've rented these several times over the years and always been impressed with them. One time I rented one and returned it to a different location and didn't think anything of it. About 5 years later I got a call from U-Haul asking if I'd ever returned it. I wish I'd known it was that easy to keep one

I rented a U-Haul car dolly several years ago, and the guy behind the counter might or might not have made it through high school. At one point he couldn’t figure out what to do next with the computer: Second employee: “Hit the space bar.” Guy behind the counter: “Space bar?” True story. I knew it was going to be a long day.

I used to be a uhaul mechanic. Uhaul trailers are the most durable units. They are designed and manufactured in house. They had 50 year old trailers in service. The galvanized steel was unpainted and survived 20 ontario winters.

I just hauled a narrow front tractor on one a couple weeks ago. I just had to lay down some wood across the center and the trailer towed great. I was surprised when I saw the manufacture date of the trailer was 1999 and it still looked great.

U-Haul really knows their business when it come to trailers... very smart people.

There's also a loop right behind the forward "jackknife" bumpers that is perfect for hooking up to a come along/winch. Much easier than trying to push a disabled car up the ramps.

"Idiot Resistant", yes. There's no such thing as "Idiot Proof", some idiot will always find a way to break it!.🥴

They're motorcycle trailers are also very well designed. Low to the ground nice ramp ,tie down hooks and front wheel chock

I used one of these last year, and noticed a lot of these QOL features as well. One other thing I appreciate is how light they are, it means a wide range of vehicles can use them. U-Haul's website helps with idiot-proofing by forcing you to enter both the tow vehicle and vehicle being towed and tells you if the weight is too great or gives an alert if the weight is approaching the max. If you're towing with a smaller vehicle, they'll let you depending on what you're towing. I was using a 3/4 ton pickup so I didn't have an issue, but I see small SUVs and large crossovers pulling these all the time. As for that speed limit sign on the driver's side fender... Sammy Hagar summed up my thoughts perfectly.😉

The coupler (on this specific trailer - U-Haul has used other designs) is a Demco EZ-Latch. If you leave the release handle up it will release and will not couple; as the Demco manual explains "Handle must be facing FORWARD and DOWN to latch coupler to ball." If the handle is down, when you lower the trailer onto the ball the ball forces the sliding block inside the coupler up (taking the handle up with it but not pivoting the handle back), then a spring snaps it down (taking the handle down with it) to trap the ball in place.

I've said for years that I'd love to buy a U-Haul trailer. They're well thought out. Unfortunately they don't sell them

Most of our trailers in the UK have surge brakes (we call them over-run brakes) The brake shoes have a clever linkage that allows you to reverse with them. I can’t recall ever seeing electric brakes/brake controllers over here, unless it’s a specially imported job. I hired a trailer a while back with another clever feature which was the foot-operated latches for the ramps were combined with stabiliser legs, so you always had the supports down whenever the ramps were out.

The math on these trailers is genius too. U-haul has also designed the trailers with the lowest probability of trailer sway. Impressive considering the various weights, lengths, heights, of cars that will be towed on this trailer.

You didn't mention one of the best features! It's with the trailer jack. If it should happen that the jack isn't all the way up and driving forward it strikes the road surface it likely won't be damaged unlike a classic pillar style one. You see those bent a lot! Also the upturned edges on the inside of the tire decks keeps the car from falling down in between them.

I used one of these to rescue a family member on the side of the road 100 miles from home. Never used a car hauler before but have towed trailers since I learned to drive (still had my learners license when I learned to tow a trailer). I found the U-haul trailer very easy to use.

Cool video. I've always liked those trailers. They make them extra short and with tracked decks to help minimize what all people can put on them.

I bet that trailer jack design is also for in case the driver tries to take off with the jack still down. Since it's hinged where it is, it won't break off, just scrape.

As a equipment rental store owner that rents trailer along with the equipment, I have often lusted after that trailer jack setup because it doesn't dig in and break off the jack when someone invariably drives off with jack down.

Towed their big moving trailer one time and decided to let my mother driver (big mistake it was winter time) anywho we ended up flipping my pickup and sliding some 200 feet or so. The trailer literally had a small dent on the fender from the tip and repairable scratches to the paint. Everything worked perfectly fine and the uhaul we dropped it off at was able to hammer the dent out and it looked like nothing happened. (Apart from the paint scratches ofcourse) dude ended up not charging for the damages. 100% idiot proof.

Biggest issue is that using the tire straps gives you zero ability to balance the load, a big problem with shorter vehicles. I loaded my 2800lb Z4 on one of these and in the default spot I had 900 lbs of tongue weight. Most people aren't going to pay attention to this and will likely vastly exceed the tongue rating of plenty of vehicles that would otherwise perfectly suited to tow the weight.