There are general purpose trailers as well as trailers specific for one or two purposes. The following are the main types of trailers you will encounter on roads around NZ.

Garden trailers

Also known as: handy man trailer, cage trailer, tipper, 6x4, 8x4, 8x5, 7x5

Garden trailers are one of the most common types of trailer you are likely to see on the road. These are generally able to be hired from petrol stations, hire companies, and stores like The Warehouse. They have a flat deck with low sides and sometimes have high cage sides or ‘H’ frames. The rear of the trailer usually has a gate that folds down and/or a gate and cage that opens to one side. They may also be a tipper trailer where the back tips downwards to aid with unloading materials.

Box trailers

Also known as: box body trailer, toy hauler, enclosed trailer, furniture trailer.

They are covered trailers which are enclosed and have a lockable door or gate at the back of the trailer. While they’re often used for moving furniture and smaller loads such as boxes, they can also be used by motorsport enthusiasts to transport vehicles, bikes & karts, and for tradespeople to transport equipment.

Caravans, camping trailers and pop-up campers

Also known as: camping trailers, pop-up campers, weekenders, beach trailer.

A caravan is the largest of the trailer types listed here, being a full-sized trailer. What's the difference between a caravan, a camping trailer and a pop up caravan? A caravan is a fixed size unit, while camping trailers and pop-up caravans are compacted versions which expand as you need them and are therefore smaller and easier to tow. They also offer less wind resistance when being towed.

Food Trailer

Also known as: kitchen trailer, catering trailer, See also: Box trailers

These are a kitchen on wheels. These can be set up to simply serve candy floss at a gala day, or set up to serve café-style hot meals at a concert function. The flashest kitchen trailer we have seen was worth nearly $100,000 and could serve hundreds of meals a day!

Horse float

This is a custom sized trailer designed to carry one or two horses. They usually have a clear window on the front of the float to enable the horses inside to see where they are going, and a ramp which doubles as the back door at the rear to allow the horses to enter and exit the float.

Vehicle trailers

Also known as: car trailers, See also: Box Trailers

These come in several types which may allow you to carry two- or four-wheel vehicles. Car trailers will have two ramps and often some tipping ability; motorbike trailers may have one or two ramps and could have special fixtures to allow bikes to stay upright. Both are likely to have specific areas to tie down the vehicles to stop them moving on the trailer. They can be open top or fully enclosed. Some of the expensive racing car trailers have kitchen, sleeping, spare parts and workshop facilities in the front part of the trailer. Racing car and buggy trailers usually have an electric winch to pull the vehicle in.

Low loader

Also known as: squatting trailer, airbagged trailer, kneeling trailer, tilting trailer.

These are a premium vehicle trailer which has a series of mechanisms – either hydraulic, mechanical or airbags – to allow the trailer to squat low to enable minimal entry angle. Great for lowered racing cars. This removes the need for ramps and obtains a much smoother loading procedure. These can be open top or enclosed.

Boat trailers

A boat trailer usually has a central V in the chassis and axle to accommodate the boat’s hull, and a winch at the front to wind the boat in and onto the trailer. Boat trailers can also be built to allow the transport of one or more jet skis. The V will usually be padded to avoid damage to the hull. The most common way to do this is through the use of hard rubber rollers, which will not mark or damage the hull while making loading of the boat easier as opposed to sliding the hull over a non-rotating surface). These trailers are manufactured from galvanised components to resist rust and corrosion caused by exposure to salt water. 

Agricultural trailers

Also known as: farm trailer, fert trailer, tractor trailer.

These are suited to rough and off-road terrain, usually with very heavy duty hubs and wheels. They are normally used for carrying large loads in bins, or flatdeck for carrying equipment and silage bales.

Specialised trailers

Trailers that serve one or more specific purposes for an industry, e.g. a cherry picker, scissors lift, sheet glass, signage, billboards. They are not much use for anything other than what they were designed for. 

Fuel tank trailer

These trailers are popular with farmers, contractors, loggers and builders. They are a fuel tank on wheels. Capacities range from 200L to over 1500L. They allow the user to fill up the tank at the station they use the electric or mechanical bowser pump to fill the machinery on site.

Motorbike trailer

These can be fully enclosed box trailers, or simply a skeletal trailer with custom tracks for the wheels of the bike(s). They often have a rack and storage box at the front for spare parts, wheels, helmets and clothing.

Shuttle / Luggage trailer

These trailers are the ones you see at the airport behind shuttle vans. They are a small enclosed trailer usually with a side entry for easy access to your luggage

Towing dolly

Towing dolly trailers are specialist to various users. They normally do not have suspension and are just an axle with a drawbar and frame to accommodate the item they are carrying. Our biggest job we have supplied so far is 50 dolly trailers, all coupled together, to carry one very large pipe into position at a job site!

Tradies trailer

Tradies all have their own requirements of what they need. With the increase of trademen using utes rather than vans, they will then tow a heavy duty trailer with a utility style tool-box on the front of the trailer and an ‘H’ frame at the rear giving storage, deck space and overhead racks for lengths of material.

Skeletal

Boat trailers and Towing dollies usually are skeletal trailers. They are the bare minimum of framing to do the job. They do not have a deck or panels, just the ‘skeleton’ of the trailer, hence the name.

Flatdeck

Flatdeck trailers are popular with tradesmen, bee keepers, roofers, machine deliveries. The advantages are they can be loaded from all sides with a forklift, as the entire deck is above the wheels – there are no wheel arches to get in the way. This also offers a wider deck as the entire deck can be up to 2500mm wide rather than a standard trailer needs to fit the desk between the wheel arches which can lose up to 600mm of width.

Tipping Trailer

Tipper trailers are useful for people wanting to unload stuff, fast. Some of the trailers at the local service station are manual tippers which makes unloading fill and rubbish much easier. Some larger trailers have mechanical or electrical hydraulic rams to tip the deck. Firewood trailers, landscapers, grave-diggers.

Jetski trailer

These can be a pretty flash boat trailer skeletal trailer. They are popular with the younger generation and often get upgraded to stainless steel parts and bling alloy wheels to complete the look.