Which Car Trailer - Ecotrailer

Which Car Trailer - Ecotrailer

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Discussion

cowboyengineer

Original Poster:

1,411 posts

114 months

Monday 4th July 2016
quotequote all
I'm starting a new business moving cars and require an enclosed car trailer.

Obviously this will be used every day (hopefully) and therefore quality is a priority, so is ease of use.

One of my clients also require large cars moving and therefore this limits my choices.

I've narrowed it down to two trailers:

A Brian James Race Transporter 6
A Eco Trailer Titan

Does anyone have any experience of Eco trailers - They seem to have good quality trailers, with sound running gear they have all the features that I would like. Its approximately 2/3rds of the price of the Brian James like for like spec.

What worries me about the Ecotrailer is the internal length is only 5.5m though I've read that 95% of cars are shorter then 5m (I have no idea if its true) all the cars I know I'll be moving are shorter then 5m apart from my GT3 which is slightly over, but I've not found one which is longer then 5.5m

Obviously with the Brian James, the quality is known, and it's the all singing all dancing model, so there are no questions. the problem is you pay £6000 more for a name and perceived quality.

The reason why I think Eco Trailer are cheaper, is not due to quality but they deal directly with the customer, where as Brian James has a distribution netwrok, so there is someone else taking a cut, and that Brian James have more overheads.

Basically has anyone used Eco Trailers, are they good? Do you think the overall length of 5.5m internal, is going to restrict anything?

Just starting up £6000 cheaper is not insignificant......


djone101

943 posts

284 months

Monday 4th July 2016
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We went for the PRG Prosporter XW to move Ford GTs (which are very wide at the mirrors and won't fit in most enclosed trailers) - the choice was this or Brian James RT6 and this won on value. Pleased so far with no major issues to speak of.

iguana

7,041 posts

260 months

Monday 4th July 2016
quotequote all
5.5m is fine, I've run the older BJT Motorshuttle http://www.trailertek.net/trailers.cfm/p/42/brian-... for a long while & 99% of stuff fits fine, even long old stuff like Rolls Silver Shadows/ Corniches tight but fit, & if really tight use wood planks under front wheels as risers & lifts spoilers above winch & can gain a vital few inches, but with the modern super & hyper cars its the width rather than length that's more of an issue so some are tight- La Ferrari & Lambo Aventador especially, but Porsche 918, Carrera GT, Ferrari 458, Mclaren 12c & 650s, F40, F50 etc are fine, although they are all a pain to load due to lack of anywhere at all to winch in backwards & other than Porsche you can't get to even a lower wishbone etc as carbon undertrays.

The eco titan & the PRG XW are wider then the old shuttles so great on paper as more room inside, the tradeoff is they are just so wide on the road its a right pain.

Not sure on eco build quaility nowadays, the early ones were poor, doors flying open & not water tight etc, I've not seen the new titan one tho. I'm not sure which route I'd go to replace my shuttle I couldn't justify a new BJT RT6 at retail & the RT4/5 are cheaper & in 5.5m same sizes as older motorshuttle inside, so most stuff will fit, but just such a pain wheels on the outside, on Channel tunnel particularly is v awkward. My pal in same boat as me went to PRG & had custom build a bit lower height, is no need for quite such internal heights, yes can fit Discoveries etc at full height in, but then you are so far illegally over weight its a tad daft to do that.

Is Woodford also to consider, or a great looking & useful trailer range I see around in Europe is by Moetefindt in Germany, http://moetefindt.de/produkte/bedarfskategorien/fa... but i've not priced one or go the pvc cover & frame on trailer of your choice, is a far cheaper route that many are happy with & I've gone that way before, although no UK manufacturer seems to do as decent aerodynamic designs as some eu manufacturers do.

Max5476

984 posts

114 months

Monday 4th July 2016
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out of interest why a trailer rather than an enclosed truck?

MDMA .

8,895 posts

101 months

Monday 4th July 2016
quotequote all
Max5476 said:
out of interest why a trailer rather than an enclosed truck?
Would that need an operators licence ?

cowboyengineer

Original Poster:

1,411 posts

114 months

Friday 29th July 2016
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Just to update this thread. I went for the BrianJames RT6 and it arrives in September!

iguana, will send you an email, or call when I know what I need to ask

R0G

4,986 posts

155 months

Saturday 30th July 2016
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Did you have to get an O licence and fit a tacho ?

I assume you have B+E on your licence ?

cowboyengineer

Original Poster:

1,411 posts

114 months

Saturday 30th July 2016
quotequote all
So, my b+e license is next month. So let's hope I pass. And yes a tahco will be needed.

However, in my haste I must have mis read the o license requirements and I thought I didn't need one because my vehicle was below 3.5t. But I didn't read the next paragraph which siac if you're towing a trailer and the vehicle and the trailer are over 3.5t gross then I will need one.

So now I've got to get one of those in place. Which is a pain. Luckily I can employ a transport manager from the company I work for so that's that headache out of the way. And I have enough funds in my business account for the financial requirements for a couple of vehicles. I was just going to run it from my house because I have enough room on my drive. However now il need a business address and I don't want to use my home address for the operators license so now have to find a lock up!

Witchfinder

6,250 posts

252 months

Sunday 31st July 2016
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cowboyengineer said:
I was just going to run it from my house because I have enough room on my drive. However now il need a business address and I don't want to use my home address for the operators license so now have to find a lock up!
Most accountants will let you use their office address as your business' registered address. I do all my work from home, and pay my accountant a nominal fee for having their address on my letterheads. All my bank correspondence and suchlike comes to my house, but anything from the tax man goes there.