A/T for personal use and as a Rental???

[cnynrat]

I might give an alternative option.

Find a good friend/collegue who might be interested as well (it can be a neigbour also) and buy trailer together. In this case you share the price and as you knowing each other it help to keep it maintain well. We use the same idea in Canada. I have bought some stuff together with my next door neighbour for our front and backyard, when he moved out and took the equipment with him, he just gave me his half of the money we paid. With my other friend we have some shop equipment bought together and we using it when each one needs it. knowing that you own portion of it and it relyies on your care, you maintain it in a similar way you do for your own stuff.

Just an idea which might work....

One of the potential pitfalls of jointly purchasing a trailer with a good friend is that those are the people I'd want to be travelling with, so it seems it would build in a higher probability of conflict over who got to use the trailer at any given time. OTH, you are right that those are precisely the people I'd trust to take care of it. That's the crux of the dilema.