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| Ok, here is a
story on why trying to save a few dollars can cost you a lot of time
and aggravation. It became obvious to me that I needed a second
trailer to store another car (we have seven vehicles and only six
spots to store them).
The justifications went something like
this.
I rent outside storage for my trailer and I can put a car in it and
there is no increase in the cost.
The trailer can be resold at a later date to recoup most of the
cost.
I wanted a longer trailer for hauling vehicles.
So..........
I watched E-bay for a long time. It turns out that a good (name
brand, nice condition) 24 foot 10,000 pound GVW trailer goes for
around $7,000
I did not want to spend that money on another trailer.
I found a 24 foot 7,000 pound GVW trailer on e-bay located in NC.
This trailer was a one year old trade in with what appeared to be
some slight damage to the right rear corner. I had some pictures
sent and agreed on a price and went down to pick it up. See the
pictures below |
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So I got down there
and upon examination it was found that where the trailer had been
"grounded" on the right rear corner (kind of a normal occurrence for
these trailers as they are very low to the ground).
The cross member was actually bent and the weld was broken.
The dealer was taking delivery of two brand new trailers from an
off-brand manufacturer. There was both a 7,000 and 10,000 pound
trailer. I chose to purchase the 10,000 pound trailer as the price
was right.
I got it home (after driving 1,400 miles) and it was found that once
loaded with only a 3,600 pound car the tires were hitting the fender
wellsSee the pictures below. |
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| I placed a call to
the dealer; he placed a call to the manufacturer who blamed the
problem on the axle manufacturer. Dexter
sent me new springs and a higher pivot point. These were taken to
Brad's Trailer and installed.
The original springs were sent back to
Dexter for testing. Dexter's determination was that the springs were
NOT Soft.
The trailer did sit a little higher
but with the car loaded (3,600 pounds) and additional 1,000 pounds
of gravel in bags loaded on the trailer the tires still touched the
fender wells.
The owner of Freedom Trailers said he
thought that was enough clearance. Don't buy a trailer from Freedom
Trailers, they do not stand behind their warranty
http://www.freedomtrailerllc.com/
they look good but ........
The dealership handled it well in that they
agreed to take the trailer back and sell me a name brand trailer.
This process took two months.
A deal was struck, a new trailer was
ordered. After seven weeks it was delivered to the dealer.
I drove back to North Carolina the evening
of 12/7/2008 through a snow storm in Erie, PA and temperatures of 10
degrees. See below the cleanliness of the trailer upon arrival in NC |
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| But not a scratch
on it, oh but I might be giving something away.
You guessed it the new replacement trailer had
been damaged between the manufacturer and the dealer. The dealer had
notified me of the problem before I left home, but upon examination
the damage was more then what I had thought.
The pictures do not really show all the
scratches, but the top two feet of the right side of the trailer was
heavily scratched. A lot of it could have been rubbed out, but it
was supposed to be a new trailer. |
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| Ok, so now I am
into my second trip to NC (2,800 miles), traveled through a snow
storm, and have attempted to purchase two different trailers.
Pretty bad huh? And I have left a lot
out just to make this a shorter story that it really is.
Sitting next to this new trailer is a used
trailer. See below. |
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| This is a two year
old trade in but in my opinion was in better condition the new
trailer. It was not without scratches. |
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| But they were over
a much smaller area and this trailer had many more features, some
which include the 60" extended tongue, the Eliminator exterior
package, the Eliminator interior package, Aluminum tandem axle
package, 110 volt racer package, braced and wired for A/C, "L"
shaped base W/straight overhead cabinet combination, and seal
enclosed generator compartment. So I had the dealer sharpen his
pencil and the below shot tells the story. (Sorry I did not take any
shots of the inside but will soon and add them here. |
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| The final chapter
to this story is that the trip back was a challenge! I ran into
freezing rain in Pa. I was following a tractor trailer and two cars
were following me. The road flashed to ice, the tractor trailer when
in the ditch in front of me on the right, the two cars in back of me
split, one went in the ditch on the right and the other went in the
ditch on the left. I slid down 95 sideways and came to rest not
having touched anything. When I got to Rochester it was snowing.
So, the summary is: I left for
NC Sunday night at 10:30 PM and was back home in Rochester with this
trailer (not the one I went down for) Tuesday morning at 2:30 AM.. |
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| This story has
been shortened and many details have been left out. One detail that
I do not want to leave out is the dealer
http://www.hickoryenclosed.com/ has
been helpful and supportive through this whole mess. If you are ever
in the mood for a good deal and are not afraid to travel, talk to
them |
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