Well, I didn't insure mine and I'm pretty sure that's not required. You do need to get plates for it. (Mine was used so I had to get it weighed first and then get the plates.) The plates are less expensive than for a car. Somewhere around $25 I think.Nokoni said:
I paid $525 for a nicer-than-average 5x8 trailer. (i.e. it came with a mounted spare tire and a nice wood floor and looked to be a little better built name brand trailer rather than an el cheapo model). I'm guessing it would have cost about $1000 new and by the looks of it it's probably a couple years old. At Home Depot or Lowes they have 4x6 and 5x10 trailers for $600 and $1000 respectively. But the smaller one doesn't come with a wood floor and I wouldn't buy one with just a wire mesh floor (unless you're going to put a wood floor on top of it). Mine has a wood floor except for a 1' strip in the center (which is wire mesh) and the center gets kind of beat up. I'm not sure it would hold up alone. Also, I would get one with a ramp on the back end. It's been a lot easier loading and unloading those big pieces by rolling them into the trailer since there's no way I could lift some of them. Heck, a few of them have been hard to roll on with two people.
Around here I looked at Home Depot, Lowes, Tractor Supply and couldn't find what I wanted for the money so I stopped by that Smith's Trailer place and got lucky. (BTW, they are in the Sharonville area on Rt 42, not Tri-County.) Given that I was a total novice about towing, I felt better about going there b/c trailers are their only business and you get an expert, so you don't have to worry about picking out the right hitch or ball or getting it at the right level -- they know what to do and have it in stock. Also, the price they charged for the extra things I needed like the ball and electrical adapter seemed very reasonable. Finally (if I haven't praised them enough), they would give you an honest opinion about whether you can and should tow with your car/Subaru. I first went up there hoping to get a trailer large enough to tow a tractor out to my farm -- and when they saw my Liberty (I told you I was a novice) they nicely laughed at me and said 'no way.' Since then I've gotten smart enough to realize how right they were. A big box store probably would have sold me the trailer and I'd have ended up on the news as the guy who flipped his Liberty off the highway towing a farm tractor. Finally, to bring this story full circle, I bought a second tractor for my farm and ended up having it towed out with a truck and heavy duty trailer by . . . one of my neighbors who owed my a favor b/c I cut down his fallen trees for firewood and saved him big $$$. <insert Paul Harvey> And now you know, the rest of the story . . . .
