Renting a Flatbed or Enclosed Trailer to Move Pallets and Freight

A pallet of product shows up, or a customer wants a bulk order delivered, or you need to move inventory to a second location, and you're reminded that your shop doesn't own anything that moves freight. A car won't do it. A box truck is a big commitment for something you do a few times a quarter.

There's a middle option a lot of small businesses miss: rent a flatbed or enclosed trailer, hook it to the truck or SUV you already have, and you've got freight capability for exactly as long as the job takes. It's a short-term freight solution that doesn't require owning a delivery vehicle you'd use a handful of times a year.

The Short-Term Freight Problem

A freight need without freight equipment

Plenty of small businesses need to move palletized goods only now and then: a delivery, a pickup from a supplier or a freight terminal, a move between locations, a seasonal surge. That's not enough use to justify buying or leasing a box truck, with the cost, insurance, maintenance, parking and, for the bigger ones, a driver who can handle it.

Rent the capability for the job

A rented trailer plus the vehicle you already own gives you freight capacity sized to the job and paid for only while you're using it. Scale up for a busy stretch like holiday shipping, then hand it back when the rush ends.

Two trailers, two freight jobs

A flatbed suits palletized, oversized and bulky freight you can load from the side. An enclosed trailer suits freight that has to stay dry, secure and out of sight. Which one you want comes down to what you're moving and how you'll load it, and you can compare both in trailer rentals.

Flatbed Trailers: Palletized and Oversized Freight

Load from any side

A flatbed's open, obstruction-free deck lets a forklift set pallets on from either side or the rear, which is the fastest way to load palletized freight. There's no door to thread a load through, and you can place pallets anywhere on the deck to get the weight distribution right.

Oversized and bulky freight

Long, wide or awkward freight that would never fit through an enclosed trailer's door rides fine on an open deck. For full-width loads, a deckover trailer runs the deck above the wheels, giving a wider usable surface than a between-the-fenders deck.

The tradeoffs

Open means exposed, so the freight has to tolerate weather and road grime or be wrapped and covered. And with no walls, everything depends on your securing, so palletized freight has to be strapped and blocked properly. A flatbed trailer is the pick when the freight is heavy, wide or forklift-loaded.

Enclosed Trailers: Secure and Weather-Sensitive Freight

It stays dry and out of sight

Retail inventory, finished goods, electronics, packaged product and anything that can't get wet rides protected from weather and road spray. Enclosed also means out of sight, which matters when the freight is valuable or it's a customer's order you're responsible for.

It locks

Freight staged overnight, or a load sitting on the trailer between stops, stays behind a locked door instead of exposed in a lot. An enclosed trailer gives you that security without a second thought.

Loading through a door

A ramp door lets you wheel pallets in with a pallet jack, but you're loading through an opening rather than from any side, so the interior width and door height decide what fits. Size for your pallet footprint plus room to maneuver a pallet jack around it. Read more about enclosed trailer sizes to match one to your freight.

The Part That Actually Decides the Job: Loading and Unloading

This is the piece that catches shops out, so it's worth planning before anything else.

A trailer has no liftgate

Unlike a box truck, a rental trailer has no powered liftgate. You can't roll a pallet up onto a lift and let the truck do the work. You need a way to get freight on and off at each end, and that's the single most important thing to sort out before you book.

Plan both ends

Loading and unloading each need one of three things: a forklift, a loading dock at deck height, or a ramp plus a pallet jack for pallets light enough to move that way. The freight terminal or supplier probably has a forklift, but your shop or the delivery destination may not, so confirm what's available at every stop, not just the one you're standing in.

Deck height and docks

A trailer deck sits at a height that may or may not line up with a dock, so if you're using a dock, know the deck height against it. A ramp gate or ramp door handles a pallet jack or hand truck for lighter pallets, but a heavy pallet really wants a forklift.

The honest bottom line

If neither end has a forklift or a dock and the pallets are heavy, a trailer by itself won't move them. Sort out the lifting before the trailer shows up, and the day goes smoothly.

Weight, Pallets and Securing the Load

Know the weight, not just the count

A standard pallet footprint is roughly 48 by 40 inches, but the weight on it varies enormously with what it's carrying, so plan by actual freight weight. The trailer's payload, which is its gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) minus its own weight, caps what you can carry, and dense freight hits that limit before the deck looks full. Read more about GVWR for how the ratings work.

Match it to your tow vehicle

The loaded trailer has to stay within your truck or SUV's tow rating, so confirm that against the loaded weight rather than the empty trailer.

Secure palletized freight

Pallets shift, so strap them down, use load bars or blocking to stop them sliding, and shrink-wrap loose product to the pallet before it moves. Keep the weight over the axles and balanced side to side, and recheck your straps after the first few miles once the load has settled. Read more about how to load a trailer.

What about insurance and damage protection?

Before towing a rented trailer, contact your auto insurance provider to ask whether your policy covers liability and towing-related damage claims.

Eligible rentals booked through Big Rentals also include Basic Rental Protection at checkout. This added protection can help limit your financial responsibility for certain damage or theft events during the rental period.

For full details on how Basic Rental Protection works, including deductibles, exclusions, and renter responsibilities, review our FAQ and platform terms.

The Short Version

• A rented flatbed or enclosed trailer turns a truck or SUV you already own into short-term freight capability, without buying a delivery vehicle you'd use a few times a year
• A flatbed suits palletized, oversized and bulky freight you load from the side with a forklift, and a deckover gives a full-width deck for wide loads
• An enclosed trailer suits freight that has to stay dry, secure and out of sight, loaded through a ramp door with a pallet jack
• Plan this first: a trailer has no liftgate, so you need a forklift, a dock or a ramp and pallet jack at both ends
• Confirm what lifting equipment each stop has before you book, since a heavy pallet with no forklift isn't going anywhere
• Load by weight, not pallet count, keep it within your tow rating, and strap and block palletized freight so it can't shift

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