Types of trailer: what each one is built to carry

What this page says about a maker's range comes from that maker's own pages as they stood on 10 October 2026. Each statement names the maker. The pages are listed at the foot. How adverts are filed is this site's own rule. This is general information. The rules on what you may tow are outside this guide, so check official guidance before you buy.

How three makers divide their ranges

• Indespension lists plant, goods, flatbed, tilting flatbed, car and vehicle transporter, tipper, livestock, marine and boat, box, camping and leisure, and motorcycle trailers (Indespension: Trailers).
• Nugent Engineering lists lowloader, box, livestock, general purpose, tiltbed, flatbed, plant, tipper, utility, beavertail and quad trailers, among others (Nugent Engineering: Trailers).
• Woodford builds trailers for vehicles, and lists open car trailers, covered car trailers, flatbed, lightweight, motorsport, motorbike and plant trailers (Woodford: Car Trailers and Professional Vehicle Transportation).

The sections on this site follow the same lines. The rest of this page takes them one at a time.

Flatbed and tilting flatbed trailers

A flatbed is an open, flat deck. The flatbed section here takes them with or without drop sides, a headboard or a mesh kit.

A tilting flatbed has a deck that tips towards the ground for loading. Indespension describes its own as bringing together "the convenience of a low-loading tilt deck with the generous capacity of a flatbed", and says it suits heavy machinery (Indespension: Tilting Flatbed).

Car transporters

Indespension sells two kinds of vehicle transporter: "our tilt deck trailers and two fixed bed trailers" (Indespension: Car and Vehicle Transporters). Woodford keeps open and covered car trailers as separate ranges. On this site all three are in the car transporter section, and the advert says which it is.

Plant trailers

A plant trailer carries a machine that is driven on up a ramp. Indespension says its plant trailers have galvanised chassis, a spring-assisted loading ramp and lashing rings, that one of its ranges clamps an excavator in place without tools or straps, and that its lightest has aluminium decks and ramps (Indespension: Plant Trailers).

Tipper trailers

The bed of a tipper tips to unload. Indespension offers its tippers with "manual or electric hydraulic lifts" and "removable drop sides", on what it calls "a reinforced box chassis" (Indespension: Tipper Trailers). An advert for a tipper should say which lift it has.

Box trailers

A box trailer has an enclosed body. Indespension says its box range offers "secure, enclosed transport", and describes two builds (Indespension: Tow-A-Van Box Trailers):

• one with aluminium corners at the sides and roof, and side panels it calls "aluminium coated"
• a box van with "an aerodynamic nose cone" and white GRP side panels, which it says "are perfect for sign writing", in bodies it lists from 3.92 to 15.47 cubic metres

On this site a box trailer fitted out to serve food goes under catering trailers, and one built to carry a car goes under car transporters.

Boat trailers

Indespension's marine page separates two ways of holding a hull (Indespension: Marine and Boat Trailers):

• Roller trailers carry the hull on rollers alone. Indespension says its roller models have "swinging beams to maintain maximum roller to hull contact during launch and recovery".
• Bunk trailers are for a hull that does not suit rollers. Indespension's have carpeted bunks and keel rollers and adjust, it says, for hulls "from 4.5 - 9m".

The range starts with a trailer for a jet ski. The section here takes boat, dinghy and jet ski trailers that are sold without the craft.

Livestock and horse trailers

Indespension and Nugent each list livestock trailers as a range of their own. This site keeps two sections: livestock trailers for sheep, cattle and pigs, and horse trailers for one, two or three horses. A horsebox you drive is built on a van or lorry chassis. It is not a trailer and is not listed here.

Motorbike trailers

Indespension lists four motorcycle trailers, and Woodford lists motorbike trailers beside its car trailers. The section here takes trailers built for one, two or three motorbikes, whether open, folding or enclosed.

Sections this guide has no maker's page for

Three sections are described here in this site's own words only, because no maker's page was read for them:

• Utility and camping trailers: small general purpose trailers, including garden, luggage and camping trailers.
• Catering trailers: trailers fitted out to prepare or serve food and drink.
• Trailer tents: a tent that folds out of its own trailer, and folding campers. Touring and static caravans are not listed.