Shipping A Home Trailer Or Tiny Home

Shipping A Home Trailer Or Tiny Home | A-1 Auto Transport

Though it may seem simple on the surface, there is plenty to contemplate when shipping a tiny home. The first question you need to ask yourself is if you prefer to haul your portable home on your own or hire a company to do it for you. If you’re never shipped a tiny home before, you may be surprised to find that there’s more to weigh than it appears at first glance. In this blog post, we’ll cover some of the most important things to evaluate, and the cases in which it may be a good idea to hire a professional.

Though this post is specifically about moving tiny homes—the kind on wheels that are easily portable—much of the information here also applies to other types of portables homes, such as the following:

• Shipping container homes
• Tiny houses
• Converted vehicle homes
• Trailer homes
• Mobile homes
• Travel trailers
• Fifth wheels

Why Not Tow?

One of the primary advantages of owning a tiny home is its portability. Most tiny homes and home trailers can be easily towed by a truck with the proper capacity, which makes some owners wonder why anyone would consider shipping one in the first place. There’s a couple reasons and they definitely influence how much the trip will cost.

Renting A Towing Truck

The first is that you will need to rent a truck to use for towing if you don’t have one that is suitable. Since there is a wide variance in the weight of tiny homes, it’s essential that you understand the towing capacity required and that whichever truck you use has more than enough horsepower to get the job done. If you do need to rent a truck, that’s an additional cost to factor in.

Appropriate Tires

Tiny homes comes equipped with tires, as to be expected, but they’re not always suitable for long distance or cross country trips. What this means, of course, is that you’ll have to buy new tires in most cases if your hauling a tiny house over any sort of decent mileage. The cost of new tires can easily run $500 or more in addition the cost of renting a truck—or simply paying for gas if you do have a truck available.

Weather & Wind

If you’ve never towed anything or driven an RV, you may be surprised by how much the weather can affect the vehicle you’re driving. While wind, rain, snow are not fun to deal with when driving a car, they can become especially dangerous when towing something with as much surface area as a tiny home or mobile home, especially wind. It’s not uncommon for trailers to sway quite a bit in some windy areas, which can be understandably unnerving for some drivers.

Hiring A Shipper

Hiring a shipper can address all the issues mentioned above, which is why people end up doing it. The cost of renting a truck, getting new tires, and paying for gas alone can exceed the cost of most shipments in the U.S. As for tires, they won’t even be used in most cases since shippers use special trailers to haul tiny homes. Naturally, you won’t have to worry about the time or safety of driving if you hire a professional and there’s the added bonus of additional insurance coverage that’s included with transport costs.

Are you shipping a tiny house or home trailer? Call us today at the number at the top of the page to find out how we can help! We provide safe, affordable options for shipping a tiny home anywhere in the U.S. and overseas. All price quotes are FREE of charge for all interested parties—no strings attached!

Tiny Home & Home Trailer Resources

Tiny House Blog - The Tiny House Blog is a good general resource for tiny home living, off the grid living, or living in a cabin. This is a good place to start if you’re new to tiny house living or are considering the different options available on the market.

Tine House Zoning Laws - From the American Tiny House Association, a listing of tiny home regulations separated by state. Each link has additional information about specific cities, regions, and statewide laws that apply to Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs).