Should You Rent a Tow Dolly or Car Trailer for Your Move?

Renting a moving truck solves the problem of getting your furniture across the country, but it leaves a second question hanging: what happens to your car? Plenty of movers don’t want to make the drive twice or pay a separate company to ship the vehicle, so they tow it behind the truck themselves. If that’s the plan you’re weighing, the choice usually comes down to two pieces of rental equipment. A tow dolly lifts the front of your car off the road and lets the back tires roll along. A car trailer (often called an auto transport) carries the whole vehicle off the ground. They are not interchangeable, and picking the wrong one can mean a damaged transmission, a scary sway on the highway, or a car that simply won’t fit.

This guide walks through when towing your own car makes sense, how the two options differ, what each one requires, and how to load and drive safely. It stays on the do-it-yourself towing decision. Handing your car to a professional auto transport service is a different process with its own trade-offs, so see our guide on shipping a car to another state (post 233) for that route. Choosing and renting the truck itself is also covered separately in our moving-truck rental guide (post 035).

When You’d Tow a Car Behind a Moving Truck

Towing your own vehicle tends to make sense in a specific set of circumstances rather than as a default. The clearest case is a one-vehicle household relocating long distance, where one person drives the loaded truck and there’s no second driver to follow in the car. Rather than make two trips or coordinate two drivers, you hitch the car to the back and move everything in a single haul.

It also appeals when budget matters more than convenience. Because a dolly or trailer is rented alongside the truck from the same company, you avoid the cost of a separate shipping booking. You keep your car within arm’s reach the entire trip, so there’s no waiting on a carrier’s pickup window or worrying about where the vehicle is.

There are real reasons it might not be for you, though. Towing adds length, weight, and stopping distance to a rig you may not be used to driving. You’ll need to plan fuel stops, parking, and turns around the extra load. If your car is heavy, all-wheel drive, or mechanically fragile, the requirements get more involved (more on that below). And if the idea of backing a truck-and-trailer combination into a motel parking lot makes you uneasy, that’s worth taking seriously before you commit. For movers who’d rather not tow at all, shipping the car is the alternative covered later in this guide.

Tow Dolly vs. Car Trailer

The mechanical difference is the heart of the decision. A tow dolly is a small two-wheel device. You drive the front wheels of your car up onto it and strap them down; the car’s rear wheels stay on the pavement and roll as you drive. A car trailer is a full four-wheel trailer with a ramp. You drive the entire car onto the deck and strap it down, so all four of its wheels are off the ground and nothing on the car is rotating during the trip.

That single distinction drives almost everything else:

Drivetrain compatibility. A tow dolly is built around front-wheel-drive cars, because loading the front (drive) wheels onto the dolly lifts them clear of the road. With a rear-wheel-drive, all-wheel-drive, or four-wheel-drive vehicle, the drive wheels would be left spinning on the pavement, which can damage the transmission. U-Haul’s instructions are explicit that on a dolly such a vehicle requires the driveshaft to be disconnected and secured, and that simply putting the car in neutral is not enough. A car trailer sidesteps this entirely. With every wheel off the ground, the trailer doesn’t care whether your car is front-, rear-, or all-wheel drive, and no driveshaft work is needed.
Tire and drivetrain wear. On a dolly, your car’s rear tires are rolling the whole way, so a cross-country tow puts those miles on the back tires. On a trailer, the car is just cargo; its tires and drivetrain see no wear from the trip.
Size and weight. A dolly is far lighter and shorter than a trailer, which makes it easier to hitch and a bit less of a handful behind the truck. A car trailer is heavier and longer but accommodates bigger, heavier vehicles.
Backing up. Reversing is awkward to impossible with a dolly, which is part of why the equipment instructions tell you to avoid situations that require backing up. A car trailer can generally be backed, though it still takes practice.

In short, a dolly is the lighter, cheaper, simpler option that fits smaller front-wheel-drive cars; a trailer is the heavier, more capable option that handles any drivetrain and a wider range of vehicles without special prep.

What Each Costs and Requires

Rental prices change constantly by location, season, and trip distance, so the most reliable way to see your actual cost is to run a quote on the rental company’s own site for your specific dates and route. As a general rule, a tow dolly rents for noticeably less than a full car trailer because it’s smaller and simpler equipment, but treat any flat figure you see elsewhere with caution until you’ve priced your own move.

What’s far more concrete than price is whether your car is even eligible, and here the published equipment specifications matter. Using U-Haul’s nationally available equipment as a reference point:

Tow dolly limits. U-Haul lists a maximum load of 3,450 lbs when towing a front-wheel-drive vehicle and 3,900 lbs for a rear-wheel-drive vehicle, with the empty dolly weighing about 750 lbs. The dolly is designed for the front wheels of the towed car to sit on the dolly facing forward. A rear-, all-, or four-wheel-drive vehicle requires disconnecting the driveshaft and taping the universal-joint bearing caps so the bearings aren’t lost.
Car trailer (auto transport) limits. U-Haul’s auto transport is rated for a maximum load of 5,290 lbs, with an empty weight around 2,210 lbs and a gross vehicle weight of 7,500 lbs. The company sets a maximum recommended towing speed of 55 mph for it, requires a 2-inch hitch ball rated to at least 5,000 lbs, external mirrors on both sides of the tow vehicle, and a hitch-ball height that does not exceed 25 inches.

Beyond the equipment’s own ratings, your tow vehicle has to be up to the job. Its braking power must be enough to stop the combined weight of the truck plus the car and trailer, a point the California DMV stresses for any towing setup. Trailer brake and equipment rules are also set by law and vary by state.

Under federal motor carrier regulations, trailers above roughly 3,000 lbs gross weight are generally required to have their own brakes, and many states set their own (often lower) brake thresholds, along with rules for safety chains, lighting, and breakaway devices. Because these thresholds differ from state to state and you must follow the law of whatever state you’re driving through, this is general information rather than legal advice; confirm the current requirements for your route with the relevant state DMV or DOT and the rental company before you tow.

How to Load and Tow Safely

Loading is where most avoidable problems start, so it pays to go slowly and follow the equipment instructions to the letter rather than improvising.

A few fundamentals apply to both dolly and trailer:

Check tire pressure on both vehicles before you load. Soft tires change how the load sits and rides.
Load the car facing forward. On a tow dolly, the front wheels go on the dolly and the car points in the direction of travel. U-Haul warns that loading a vehicle backward can cause the truck-and-dolly combination to begin whipping, a violent and uncontrollable sway. Forward-facing loading is not a preference; it’s a safety requirement.
Strap it down properly and re-check. Secure the tires with the provided straps, then recheck and retighten them after you’ve driven a short distance and again at stops, since straps settle as the car shifts.
Do the driveshaft step if it applies. If you’re towing a rear-, all-, or four-wheel-drive car on a dolly, disconnect and secure the driveshaft and tape the U-joint caps before you move. Skipping this to “just go a few miles in neutral” risks real transmission damage.
Confirm the connection. Make sure the coupler is seated on the ball and locked, the safety chains are attached and crossed under the tongue, and the lights and signals work before you pull out. Safety chains and a working light connection are standard towing requirements.

On the road, drive like you’re hauling something that can push you around, because you are. Leave much more following distance than usual, brake earlier and more gently, take corners wide, and keep your speed down, staying at or below the equipment’s recommended maximum. Avoid any maneuver that forces you to back up with a dolly. Plan stops where you can pull straight through rather than reverse, and walk around the rig at fuel stops to re-check straps and the hitch.

When Shipping the Car Makes More Sense

Towing your own car isn’t always the smart move, and recognizing that is part of choosing well. If your vehicle is heavier than the dolly or trailer can carry, the rental equipment simply isn’t an option. If it’s all-wheel or four-wheel drive and you’d rather not deal with disconnecting a driveshaft, a trailer or a shipping service avoids the hassle. The same goes if you’re nervous about driving a long combination, if your route is mostly tight mountain roads or dense cities, or if you’d value not adding hundreds of towing miles and wear to your own car.

In those situations, handing the car to a professional auto transport company can be the better call. You don’t drive the longer rig, the vehicle rides on a carrier’s truck, and you pick it up at the other end. That route has its own costs, timing, and vetting steps, which are covered in our guide on shipping your car to another state (see post 233). Weigh the convenience and reduced stress against the price, and against how comfortable you actually feel behind the wheel of a loaded truck with a car in tow.

There’s no universally correct answer. A light front-wheel-drive commuter and a confident driver point toward a dolly. A heavier or all-wheel-drive car, an anxious driver, or a punishing route point toward a trailer or professional shipping. Match the equipment to your specific car, your route, and your comfort level, and verify the weight ratings and your state’s towing rules before you book.

This guide is general information to help you compare options, not legal, mechanical, or professional advice. Equipment ratings, fees, and towing laws change and vary by company and by state. Confirm current specifications and requirements with the rental company and the appropriate state DMV or DOT before you tow.

Sources

U-Haul, Equipment specifications: Tow Dolly, https://www.uhaul.com/Trailers/Tow-Dolly-Rental/TD/
U-Haul, Tow Dolly User Instructions, https://www.uhaul.com/Tips/Towing/Tow-Dolly-User-Instructions-120/
U-Haul, Equipment specifications: Auto Transport, https://www.uhaul.com/Trailers/Auto-Transport-Rental/AT/
U-Haul, Towing My Vehicle: Tow Dolly, Auto Transport, or Toy Hauler?, https://www.uhaul.com/Tips/Towing/Towing-My-Vehicle-Tow-Dolly-Auto-Transport-OR-Toy-Hauler-26828/
FMCSA, § 393.42, Brakes required on all wheels (trailer gross weight threshold), https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/safety/ss-39342b3-fmcsrs-states-any-full-trailer-any-semitrailer-or-any-pole-trailer-having-gross
California DMV, Recreational Vehicles and Trailers Handbook (DL 648): Towing Your Trailer Safely, https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/dmv/detail/pubs/dl648/dl648pt12