If you are towing a trailer behind you, make sure to not make the following mistakes!
Not being mindful of the trailer’s limits – every car trailers for sale or van trailer or truck trailer you come across will have some detailed specifications of what it can carry and in what amounts. The specifications will be about its maximum gross weight, the combination weight and what weight the axle can bear. These specifications exist for a reason – and if you overload your trailer, you are asking for trouble. Always be mindful of the weight specifications and never go over them (even if it is a little!).
Forgetting regulations – when it comes to trailers, legal compliances can vary largely from country to country, state to state. This is a good enough reason to do your homework before you embark on a cross-country or cross-state journey while towing a trailer. Some states are lenient – they only have speed limits and ask for proper linking of the trailer to the vehicle. Other states can be strict – this is why you can find custom made trailers with extra sets of brakes or mirrors. Make sure that your trailer and vehicle meet the legal requirements of the locality you will be visiting.
An imbalanced trailer – one of the worst towing mistakes you can make, beyond going over the proper load, is not positioning the load correctly. Since the trailer is pulled along, if your cargo is loaded in a way that the trailer is imbalanced (i.e. the centre of gravity is not in the middle of the trailer), you can potentially cause the trailer to skid over or tumble (on in the worst case, disconnect itself from the vehicle). Always make sure that the cargo is properly balanced when loaded onto the trailer.
Forgetting the actual trailer – for most people, driving whilst towing a trailer behind them is not a common experience, and forgetting the fact that you can have a trailer can actually happen. However, just because this can happen, it is not something that you can laugh about. If you forget that you have a trailer behind you, and swerve too much, accelerate too much or do any similar thing, the trailer can disconnect itself from the vehicle. You can potentially cause an accident, so always be mindful of the trailer you are towing.
Driving with under-inflated tyres – to conclude, never ever drive with tyres below the ideal tyre pressure. You can cause blowouts or other serious accidents. If you haven’t taken your trailer out in a while, chances are that you will probably need to re-inflate the tyres.