Questions to ask before you pay anyone to tow your trailer

Published 10 October 2026. Every figure was checked at its source that day.

The short version

Ask who will tow it: the firm you are talking to, or someone it passes the job to.
Ask for the goods vehicle operator's licence number and look it up on GOV.UK.
Ask for the goods in transit certificate. Read the amount and what it leaves out.
Get the full price, what you pay before the day and what is refunded in writing.

These questions apply to any towing firm, and to any driver you find through a quote website. Ask them before you pay anything. This page names no company.

Who will actually tow it?

Ask whether the firm you are talking to will do the job itself or pass it to someone else. If you found the driver through a quote website, ask who your agreement is with: the website or the driver.

A good answer names the firm and the person who will turn up. Every other answer on this page should then come from them.

What is the firm's operator's licence number?

GOV.UK says a goods vehicle operator's licence is needed to carry other people's goods for hire or reward when the vehicle and trailer are plated above 3,500kg in total. The towing vehicle's own plated weight counts towards the 3,500kg, so add it to the trailer's before you accept that a firm does not need one.

Ask which type it is. GOV.UK says a restricted licence "allows you to carry your own goods, but not other people's goods". This site treats a customer's trailer, moved for payment, as other people's goods, so a firm above that weight needs a standard licence.

A good answer is a licence number. You can look it up on the government's Find lorry and bus operators service. What the operator's licence is and who needs it.

How much is the goods in transit cover?

Goods in transit cover is insurance for a customer's property while a firm moves it. Ask for the amount in pounds, and compare it with what your trailer is worth.

Ask what the policy leaves out, and whether it covers a trailer towed on its own wheels as well as goods carried on a vehicle. A good answer comes with the certificate. Check the name on it is the firm's and the end date has not passed.

What is the full price?

Ask for one figure for the whole job, in writing. Ask whether it includes the drive to the collection point, and anything else that could be added on the day.

A good answer is a price that changes only if the job does. For comparison, what Trailer Delivery plans to charge.

How much do you pay before the day?

Ask how much is taken when you book and when the rest is due. Ask what is refunded if you cancel, and what is refunded if the firm cancels or does not turn up.

A good answer is written down before you pay anything.

What happens if it arrives damaged?

Ask whether photos are taken at collection and again at delivery, and whether you get copies. Ask who you claim from: the firm, its insurer, or a driver it passed the job to.

Take your own photos before the trailer leaves, so there is a record of its condition whatever the answer.

What must the trailer have to be towed?

Ask what the firm needs from the trailer before it will tow it: tyres, lights, a number plate, a breakaway cable, and keys for any lock. A good answer is a list, given before the day and not at the gate.

GOV.UK lists checks to make before towing any trailer. The safety checks. Getting a trailer or caravan ready to be collected.

What Trailer Delivery would answer

Trailer Delivery is not open yet. It has no tow vehicle, no operator's licence and no insurance in place, so it cannot give its own answers to these questions today. It will publish them on this site before it takes a booking.