[Swordsmith]

I bought a lightweight folding trailer from Harbor Freight last January, and had UHaul install a hitch on my little Sonic.

Turns out you have to go through a number of hoops here in PA to register a trailer; you need a certified letter from the manufacturer, you need the receipt, you need to go somewhere to have it weighed, and then you need to have it inspected by specialty trailer inspection people.

In the horrid weather last winter, I made repeated stabs at getting it put together (didn't take a lot of work really) and getting the lights working (That on the other hand was a mess) and then realized that I'd misplaced the receipt. Busy season came up and well here I am 11 months later with a non registered trailer hanging on my wall.

BUT several times now I have had to move a large load, and I've just run back to UHaul and rented a trailer.

First time, I rented a pickup. Nominal cost $19.99 but real cost was over $60 with insurance, gas, and the various special fees they charge, including mileage... and I only put 10 miles on the thing round trip.

Little trailer, on the other hand, cost $14.99 plus tax... less than $17. Miles don't matter, it's just a daily fee, I put over 200 miles on one of the rentals.

Another great thing about renting is that you don't have to haul an empty trailer around much; you can drive hundreds of miles to a destination with a full trailer and return it to a uhaul near the destination. You can drive hundreds of miles, then rent a trailer near your destination to haul supplies from a local store, return the trailer and drive home.

On the other hand, I'll still fix my own trailer up eventually since I already own the thing... there's nothing -requiring- me to use it on trips where that one way feature makes more sense, but it would be handy to have around for local journies.

The Sonic is not rated to tow in the US, however the exact same car is rated to tow 2000lbs in europe, so it's not about the car's capacity it's about the beauracracy in the US. Uhaul had a Sonic-specific hitch and rated me to rent up to 2000lb trailers so I guess they agree.

(add note) I got no noticeable difference in MPG before and after hitch... same trip at roughly same time of year got same MPG within less than 1mpg. So the fact that I'm constantly carrying around an extra 30 lbs or so worth of hitch doesn't seem to matter.