In other parts of the world normal driving schools also do towing. Here towing more than 500kg requires a separate licence. There is a test and everything. The test is done by the same people that do the normal test.
Some pointers:
if your trailer is wider than your car, get mirrors mounted wider than the trailer.
make sure the weight on the hitch is around 50kg (use a normal scale), less will make the trailer unstable, more will make the car lose traction/steering. Try to get the most weight as low and close to the axle as possible. Fix your load in place.
find out how much your car can tow. If you are unsure about your trailers weight find a weighing bridge (whatever that is in English:)).
Most trailers corner closer to the kerb than your car. Keep an eye on that in the beginning.
Thanks everyone for all the tips! Yesterday I pointed out to him that we don’t have anywhere to store the trailer when not in use, so buying one is likely not going to happen. We could still rent one for those two or three times a year when we need it.
We could also do what my husband seems to prefer: load up my gear in his Prius V and the dog and our personal luggage in my standard-sized Prius and take both cars to the event. I kind of don’t like doing that (old California economy ideals driven into me still lingers - aka - wasting gas taking two vehicles to the same place) but setting my habits aside, it’s not really a bad option.
I was once travelling downhill on a moderately steep and fairly busy interstate when I got passed by an SUV and trailer combo doing about 90mph in the right lane and waggling like the trailers in the video. I was convinced I’d get to the bottom of the hill and see the truck and trailer scattered across the highway but I never did. I have no idea how the driver recovered it.
This seems perfectly reasonable. Building a trailer consumes resources. Renting a trailer requires driving around to pick it up and drop it off, which also consumes gas. The aerodynamic drag from the trailer will kill your fuel economy anyway. You have a couple of fuel efficient cars. It probably won’t cost that much more to drive them both to the event than to drive one while towing a trailer.
Depends on the trailer. My 2400 pound tent trailer costs me 1 mpg, which is only about 5%, whereas two cars is 100%. I don’t think the OP is talking about a massive travel trailer, which would be significantly worse than my popup.
Lots of great advice. I also have a fair bit of trailering experience, mostly self taught or sometimes by other driver screaming suggestions at me.
I wasn’t going to add anything to the advice other than just go to an empty parking lot and practice practice practice. However, since you’re not getting a trailer, my suggestion is to consider a trailer hitch carrier. It can give you lots of additional capacity for luggage etc. We have one and use it frequently for trips to our cottage when our car is maxed out.
Our’s is especially useful for squared things like coolers and hard sided luggage that don’t fit smoothly into the cars curved interior.
Here’s and example of one from Home Depot, but they and others have lots of options: