Collecting and Returning a Rental Trailer: What to Expect
Trailers on Trailer To Go are currently self-collect. Here is what to bring, how the handover works, the checks to do before you drive away, and how returning it works.
At the moment every trailer on Trailer To Go is self-collect: you fetch it from the owner and bring it back yourself. Delivery and collection by approved drivers is coming soon. Here is how collection and return work, so there are no surprises.
Before collection day
- Check your booking in your account or the app: the collection time, the return time and the owner’s area.
- Make sure your car is ready: the tow bar fitted, the tow ball the right size for the trailer’s coupling (check the listing or ask the owner), and a working electrical socket.
- Bring your driving licence. The trailer’s listing shows the licence category it needs.
- Charge your phone — you take the handover photos in the app.
At collection
1. Take the handover photos
Walk around the trailer with the owner and take the photos the app asks for: every side, the tyres, the coupling and anything already scratched, dented or broken. These photos are the record of the trailer’s condition when you received it, and they protect both of you.
2. Hitch up properly
- Lower the coupling onto the tow ball until it locks, and check it cannot lift off.
- Attach the safety chain.
- Plug in the lights and test the tail lights, brake lights and both indicators.
- Wind the jockey wheel all the way up and lock it.
- Check the tyres look properly inflated.
3. Ask before you leave
If anything is unclear — how a lid locks, how the ramps work, whether there is a spare wheel — ask the owner now. It is much easier than phoning from the side of the road.
During the rental
Use the trailer only for what you booked it for, stay within its maximum load, and keep it secure when you park. If something goes wrong — a flat tyre, a fault, a bump — tell the owner straight away and use Report a problem on the booking so it is on record.
Returning the trailer
- Return it on time. The rental is charged per started 24 hours, so being late can add a full day.
- Return it empty and clean — sweep out sand, refuse and packing material.
- Take the return photos in the app, the same way as at collection.
- The owner checks it and confirms the return in their app. Then you can rate each other.
What about delivery?
Delivery and collection by approved drivers is coming soon. When it launches, you will be able to choose it on the booking screen where it is available, and we will update this guide.
Ready to book? Find a trailer near you, or read How to Rent a Trailer in South Africa.
