New 5′x8′ Carry-On Utility Trailer
Saturday, March 28th, 2009I knew this was going to happen sooner than later. I just knew it.
If you remember back when I purchased this latest vehicle, I told you that I had a nice, heavy duty trailer hitch installed. I even took a picture of it for display on this blog. Well, that trailer hitch has been looking at me all winter. The only problem is, I never got a trailer to go along with the hitch. Because it was winter, I really didn’t need a trailer. I mean, I could have saved a few bucks by picking up the snowblower, instead of having it delivered, but that was it.
Last week, I got a little ticked off at the high price of delivery for the mulch I purchased. $8 per yard just for delivery is ridiculous. I started thinking about all the things I have delivered and thought that I should bite the bullet and go get myself a little utility trailer.
We have a trailer dealer here that’s located fairly closeby. I figured I would try to throw them some business. You know, shop local and all that. Their name is Connecticut Trailers and they are located in Bolton, CT.
Last night, I browsed their website to see what kind of inventory they had. Their dealership looked like a really nice place that was full of trailers and I even picked out the one I wanted. The only thing that kind of threw me, was the price. The trailer I was interested in was a 4′x8′ Big Tex 15LT and it was priced at $1,218. Since the price on their website said “MSRP” next to it, I knew there was some wiggle room. After I looked at a bunch of other dealership websites that offered the same exact trailer, I discovered that the going rate was $850. I decided to visit the dealer this morning armed with this little price discrepancy knowledge.
I walked in the dealership around 11AM and was greeted by a nice sales guy. He took me for a ride on a golf cart to go look at the trailer I was interested in. I asked what the price was and he told me $1,218. I informed him that I was aware of the “real” $850 price that was being offered everywhere else on earth. He said he would check with his sales manager to see if he could get the price adjusted.
When we went back inside, we were visited by the sales guy’s sales manager, who was a very nice lady. We chatted for a while and she let me know that they couldn’t lower the price off of $1,218 because their price includes assembly, delivery and registration. I was kind of thrown for a loop because I would assume that if I visited another trailer dealer and they had a big “$850″ sticker sitting on the trailer, the trailer would be, 1) assembled, and 2) delivered (meaning sitting there in front of me).
Needless to say, I was really confused. I was the only customer sitting in this large dealership full of very nice sales people. I wondered why they weren’t willing to give me a little break, just to show that they are willing to work with a customer, especially since there aren’t trailers really flying off the shelves these days. She was even kind enough to suggest that Home Depot or Lowes might be able to help me if this dealership’s prices were too high for my budget. I though that was nice. You know, I did kind of feel myself shrink down in the chair a little bit after she said that. I wonder if she knew I liked to write on a blog to broadcast everything that happens to me.
I walked out kind of bewildered. Honestly, I still am.
Just for your own personal knowledge, I am the kind of person who runs off the “volume” philosophy, instead of the “get as much as you can for this sale” philosophy. If you think about it, if they gave me $200 off of the trailer, I would have been a happy customer and would be writing this blog post right now showing you pictures of the trailer I got from them, instead of telling you the story this way. My way is…give a nice discount, get the product out the door, let the customer tell their friends and acquire a new customer for service, parts, etc…Make sense?
After that, I did a little research and found a trailer place called The Trailer Depot in Northford, CT. I called them up and they told me they had a 4′x8′ Carry-On utility trailer for $825. I told the guy I was hopping in the car to come get it.
From what I can gather, the Carry-On trailers that I was looking at are a little more light weight than the Big Tex trailers. That’s why there is a price difference. I didn’t care too much about the weight issue because I wasn’t planning on towing anything really heavy. I just need a trailer for mulch, furniture, pellets, etc…
On the way to the dealership, I got to thinking and decided that I would purchase the 5′x8′ model instead. It was a little bigger and only $50 more than the other one.
When I arrived at the dealership, I looked around for a while with the lady who runs the joint and I told her all about the strange stuff that happened that morning. She was a little perplexed as well. I asked her to look up the price for that exact same Big Tex trailer, just to see if I was being told stories or if everything was cool. We went back inside where she did some looking on the computer. She glanced over at me and held up a piece of paper that read, “$975.” She said, that’s how much I can sell you the Big Tex trailer for.
Hold on. $1,218 minus $975 equals $243. How can that be? This place had the trailer in stock and it was assembled. Strange. I asked her about what was concerning me. I said, “How much time does it take to assemble these trailers?” She replied, “What do you mean, put the wheels on? That’s all the assembly that’s required.” At that point, I knew what had happened this morning. I forgot to take the big “IDIOT” sign off my forehead after I woke up. Silly me.
Okay, on a more positive note, I did get that 5′x8′ Carry-On utility trailer this afternoon. The dealer even traded ball hitches with me. I had a 2″ ball and they gave me the required 1 7/8″ ball at no charge. We just traded. They didn’t make me buy it. Amazing.
We registered the trailer with DMV right there and hooked everything up. Everything worked perfectly. As I was leaving, I said, “So I can take this thing on the highway?” The fella replied, “Oh yeah, these are highway rated tires.” I asked, “How fast can I go?” He said, “65, 70.” Good enough for me.
The trailer rides very smoothly. I can basically drive as fast as I want and don’t even know it’s there. Now, I can go get my own mulch, furniture and pellets, without having to pay people to drive the stuff to me. That makes me happy.
Here are a few photos for you.
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- Carry-On utility trailer – left side view
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- Carry-On utility trailer – right side view
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- Trailer hookup on back of car
Oh, by the way, I am going to put short plywood walls on this trailer, so the mulch doesn’t fall out.
