U-HAUL HAS A NEW CAR TRAILER AND IT'S MADE FOR TRACK DAYS

The U-Haul car trailer is a staple of the automotive community. For those who don't own their own hauler, these affordable rental units are vital for shuffling about project cars or dedicated track machines alike. And there's good news on the U-Haul trailer front for 2025: the company's rental lineup is set to expand to include a larger, all-new unit called the Toy Hauler, tailored specifically for, well, all sorts of wheeled toys.

The addition of this new towable was largely driven by the changing automotive market. As vehicle weights and sizes creep up, U-Haul’s existing trailer lineup no longer meets the weight demands of typical full-size SUV or truck owners. The brand has also had an influx of customers looking for a trailer option for items like side-by-sides and tractors, which also don’t easily or safely fit on the current offering.

After recognizing a hole in the market, U-Haul began work on developing the new unit. The Toy Hauler measures in at just over 23 feet long and 8.5 feet wide, providing the trailer with a usable deck of 16 feet. (Drive-over fenders help make the most of the trailer's span, as well.) The 6800-pound load capacity — up from the 5290-lb rating for the standard automotive trailer — should cover most users' needs, while three individual eight-foot ramps at the rear (designed to accommodate three-wheeled motorcycles) make loading straightforward with any vehicle.

“The U-Haul Toy Hauler (or “TH”) is designed to complement the existing offerings rather than replace them,” Jasmine Spencer, manager of the towing program at U-Haul headquarters, told Road & Track. “By adding this higher capacity option, the rental fleet can better serve a wider range of customer needs, ensuring that there are suitable trailers available for both smaller and larger vehicles, as well as a wide variety of cargo options.”

Additionally, Spencer said that U-Haul will not be selling off a portion of its existing trailer fleet as the new units come into service. Most of the brand’s trailers were built within the last decade, and U-Haul expects them to remain in service for plenty of years to come. While that is a bummer for anyone hoping to score a cheap new car trailer, it does mean there shouldn’t be any change to current availability.

Given the size of the trailer and the numerous tie-down slots built into the deck, it wouldn’t be that hard to fit a whole weekend's worth of tires and spares alongside a typical track-oriented vehicle. Being able to rent such a trailer helps eliminate some of the complexity of diving into proper motorsport in ways U-Haul's current offering doesn't — and any lowering of the barrier to entry deserves to be celebrated.

“Reviewing our customers’ demands, we recognized that many need to haul a race car,” said Jeff Korman, director of the U-Haul Technical Center. “This trailer can address all areas of what this type of customer needs.”

Toy Hauler production is set to kick off in early 2025 at the U-Haul Technical Center in Tempe, Arizona. No pricing information is available at this time, but Spencer noted that the trailers will be competitive in the space. (The brand's current Auto Transport trailer offering currently carries a base rate of $54.95 per day; we expect the Toy Hauler to be a bit pricier than that.) U-Haul plans to have availability across its network in the United States and Canada, with no regional restrictions.

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2024-12-03T15:52:56Z