Enclosed car hauler trailer

chockwald · 04-07-2010, 01:16 PM

As some of you may recall from past conversations, I intend to acquire an enclosed trailer to haul our 2002 T-Bird around the country when we retire in 18 months. In addition to the car we have a lot of bikes....a mountain bike, two road bikes, a tandem, and two tadpole trikes.....that we would like to carry around with us, too. Finally, I would like to have enough room to create a work bench area in the front where I can keep my tools, and work on the bikes. So, I'm looking for a 24-26' trailer which is 8 to 8.5 feet wide.

I am looking at a 26' one on Craigslist in the Phoenix area that I am waiting to hear back on....not sure if it is still for sale. I like this one because it has 2 side entry doors near the front, as well as a 4X4 cargo door about midway back on the drivers side.....lots of access points (http://phoenix.craigslist.org/cph/cto/1675951383.html). Anyway, if any of you come across a similar beast as this in the $4-5,000 range let me know. Obviously, need to have 9,000-11,000GVW capacity.

** 7:30am PST - Update: Just saw the Phoenix Craigslist one on Ebay, so that answers the question "Is it still for sale?"

encantotom · 04-07-2010, 03:26 PM

howdy,

let me know if you want me to go look at it for you.

tom

chockwald · 04-07-2010, 03:42 PM

Thank you for offering.....I may ask. Waiting for pix of interior.

chockwald · 04-09-2010, 02:08 PM

It turned out that Tom's wife, Darlene, was visiting her daughter yesterday, not too far from where the trailer was. She stopped there on the way home and inspected the trailer, and took some pictures of the interior, now that it has been emptied. It turns out the trailer exterior length is really 28', not 26', and then there is the additional 4' feet for the tongue, making the total length 32'. That combined with my 36' Newell would put me at 68' total length.....3' longer than is allowed in many states. And, frankly, really a lot longer than I wanted. What I really need is something between 20' and 24'. When we towed the 'Bird down to Austin a year ago it was on a 24' flatbed trailer (really 29' total with tongue putting us right at 65') and that was right at the edge of what I felt comfortable with, and frankly what would fit in many pull throughs at RV parks on the trip. In fact, in Las Vegas at the CircusCircus KOA they had to move us twice because the first two spots they tried to put us in weren't long enough.

Thank you Tom and Darlene for your help in making this decision. There will be other trailers. One of the features I really liked about this trailer in Phoenix was the side 4' X 4' door on the drivers side of the trailer just above the tandem wheels. I found out later this is called an "escape door"....for getting in/out the vehicle when it is being loaded/unloaded. The second feature I like was the "tilt" feature that allows you to raise the front of the trailer while hitched to level out the loading ramp in back. I need that because the 'Bird has a very low ground clearance making it difficult to get it over the hump. The tilt feature eliminates the hump.

folivier · 04-09-2010, 04:48 PM

Slow day here. Just did a local Craigslist search.
http://neworleans.craigslist.org/for/1645622981.html
http://neworleans.craigslist.org/grd/1662132405.html
Houston has quite a few.
Good luck searching.

encantotom · 04-09-2010, 06:29 PM

enclosed utiliity trailers are different than car haulers. so one of those ads was for a utility trailer.

if we each find one for clarke to go look at then we can have him traveling all over to see us?

tom

Richard and Rhonda · 04-09-2010, 07:08 PM

Nothing is more fun than spending other people's money.

Let me know if you want someone to look at one in Fort Worth :-)

chockwald · 04-09-2010, 07:42 PM

Found this one on the L.A. Craigslist......he only gives an e-mail address, and I am waiting for a response on lenght/width, GVWR, etc. This trailer appears to be around 24-26 feet, has A/C, generator, winch, and work bench for $3200.....it DOES NOT include the Lamborghini!

Forest, thank you for the links. The first one is the type I'm looking for, and it is in the price range.

Richard....sure, if I find something in your vicinity I will certainly give you a call.

By the way, Darlene did a wonderful job of inspecting the trailer in Phoenix yesterday....she has a good discriminating eye.

HoosierDaddy · 04-09-2010, 11:08 PM

Clark reminds me of some of my "daydreaming"!! I've envisioned a large enough trailer to haul my car,bikes, etc. At one point I concluded that since I've always liked the style of the Peterbilt 359 conventional I should get one of those with a 45' low floor trailer (similar to what the race teams are using) then build my living quarters in the front half of the trailer. I even engineered a pass-through from the cab directly to the trailer. However, a quick calculation of available funds and time jerked me back to reality...Luv my Newell, there's no better "bang for the buck"
Clark, If you find something in my area I'll be glad to check it out for you...
Dean

chockwald · 04-10-2010, 12:32 AM

Thank you Dean......I enjoy day dreaming, too....one of my day dreams is that I will be travelling through Indiana in a year and half and will get to meet you! If I come across anything interesting I'll certainly contact you!

folivier · 04-10-2010, 12:43 AM

Hey Clarke, just be careful of spammers. Found that same trailer (at least the Lambo looks the same) in Houston Craigslist
http://houston.craigslist.org/bfs/1683289956.html

chockwald · 04-10-2010, 02:17 AM

I think it was a spammer...it has disappeared from the Los Angeles Craiglist

chockwald · 04-12-2010, 02:41 PM

Hi Forest....here is the e-mail reply I received in response to my inquiry about the trailer in the Los Angeles Craigslist:

"Hello, I'm the owner of Haulmark Enclosed Car Trailer Elite II on which you've recently shown interest. The trailer is in perfect working condition with a clean title. The price is 3,200 $ , shipping and handling are included in the price. Why is the price so low ? Because I am in a divorce dispute with my husband.The Trailer was bought for him and I no longer need it. I am located in Augusta, ME now and it will be shipped from here. Shipping will be done via Cargo Auto Shippers and it will take no more than 3-5 days (depending on your exact location).The transaction will be made through eBay Solutions for our own protection. If you like what you see,email me back with your exact location so I can calculate shipping costs and to discuss shipping and payment details and also other things regarding my trailer. If you are interested please email me back for the next step.

Sincerely,

Alpina McBride"

First of all, this trailer, used and without A/C, winch, generator, & workbench is worth between $6 and $8,000, so this LOW price is too good to be true. Then to imply that the $3,200 price includes shipping and handling is an even bigger red flag. I recently shipped my mother's car from Ann Arbor, Michigan to Spokane, WA. The cost was $1,000, and that was the low bid by 1/2. I can only imagine what the cost from Augusta, Maine to Ontario, CA would be....probably closer to $2,000, or more. There is no way this "lady" would settle for a net profit of $1,200 (or less) on this trailer, unless she just wanted to stick it to her "ex". The third red flag is she wants to use somehting called "eBay Solutions" to complete the transaction. I have been using Ebay for 6 years with over 500 transactions, and I have never heard of eBay Solutions. The fourth red flag is I can find no information on an outfit called "Cargo Auto Shippers". Finally, in my initial e-mail to her I asked several specific questions, and in her reply she answered none of them.

Am I just being paranoid? I think not!

If any of you reading this post has heard of eBay Solutions, or Cargo Auto Shippers let me know.

folivier · 04-12-2010, 04:02 PM

When I was looking for my jeep I found a few "too good to be true, but I'll ship it" deals. I played around with one supposedly in Georgia for a few emails. Told her (she was also divorced and bought it for her hubby) I had a nephew that worked for the shipping company and he'd open the container for me to see and I'd be up there that week. Never heard from her again!
The truly sad thing is not only are a (hopefully) few people getting scammed but that the honest people are losing sales because of this crap!

zcasa · 04-12-2010, 05:06 PM

Clarke, same experience as Forest when my daughter wanted to rent a place in LA for a bargain price a block from the ocean. Outta state, blah blah blah.

Good intelligence. Better part of valor is to hang on to the wallet at all times. Wouldn't want Elaine to have to extend her work time for another year. lol.

jwe648 · 04-12-2010, 05:08 PM

These type of AD's are a scam that seems to happen a lot on Craigs List.. Contact eBay they will fill you in on what they don't do... My son fortuantly found out... Just before he sent the money on a To Good to be True Honda Accura..

chockwald · 04-12-2010, 05:51 PM

Sent her an e-mail advising I would be in Bangor, ME later this week, and to advise me a good time and day to view the trailer in person. I don't expect a reply...haha!

chockwald · 04-12-2010, 05:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zcasa

Clarke, same experience as Forest when my daughter wanted to rent a place in LA for a bargain price a block from the ocean. Outta state, blah blah blah.

Good intelligence. Better part of valor is to hang on to the wallet at all times. Wouldn't want Elaine to have to extend her work time for another year. lol.

Yep......would not want to have that happen!

chockwald · 04-15-2010, 12:57 AM

That Haulmark trailer is now on Ebay, but it has a Buy It Now price of $9,000 and the seller has a 100% rating with over 200 transactions. My theory is someone saw this trailer advertised somewhere back east, copied the pictures and ran the fraudulent ad on Craigslist all over the country trying to scam people. This auction appears legit. Here's the link:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Haulm...orsQ5fTrailers

I wrote about this on my blog and had a guy send a comment that he had almost sent money to the scammer, but Googled the ad's seller name and it took him to my blog. My blog seems to have saved him some embarassment.

Brad Townsend · 04-19-2010, 09:18 PM

Hi Clarke.
Last year after much searching I found a nice enclosed car hauler 25 ft with a 5 ft full V nose. i learned much before buying which made the find difficult because of what was recommended for many reasons. Some things are the suspension I went with torsion bar instead of leaf and glad of it. 10K gvw instead of 7K. Side frame 16 on ctr not 24. not a flat roof, slightly rounded with cast alum corners. I made my work bench in the front V which works out great. I haul my 90 cherokee and with it inside I still have gobs of room to work.
But when we are stationary the trailer becomes a multi purpose room which is quite large.
Another thing to consider, i asked around about the flat fronts verses the v nose pertaining to a mileage difference and those with a flat nose lost about 1 mpg and another with the v nose said he didn't notice a difference. I noticed an increase of almost 1 mpg. Its all about the aero dynamics i guess but when you get in the low 5's and now in the 6's the trailer is paying for itself. Plus you won't have to wash you vehicle when you arrive at your destination. Plus you can back up with it. But it does make for a long train we are at 65 ft and one must be extra careful when pulling in to places.
Hope this helps.
Brad