Are You Paying Too Much To Tow Your Trailer?

Elecbrakes is all about the freedom to tow.

In Australia we don’t like rules and we don’t like limitations. The beauty of the Lucky Country lies in doing your thing, your way, and bugger all those who try to stop you.

That’s the guiding principle behind a product like Elecbrakes. Let’s face it, most trailers (think trade trailers, horse floats, even private use caravans) aren’t meant to be used in conjunction with a single tow vehicle for the length of their whole working life. There’s a reason why trailers are, by definition, detachable—or we’d only have trucks, buses and the like—and compatible with a high number of vehicles. That reason is called flexibility. So when you require flexibility in choosing which vehicles tow your trailer, sometimes it happens that a traditional, vehicle-installed electric brake controller may end up costing way more in practice than initially thought. With Elecbrakes you get the flexibility you require, end of costs, end of story.

With the braking controller unit installed on your trailer, you’re 100% flexible and only an app away from being able to tow with any driver, any vehicle, without further modifications required to the latter. That’s what the freedom to tow is about.

Not quite convinced? Then let’s have a look at the numbers together.

Case Study A: Multiple Vehicle Operators

Many common trailer applications in the business world require tow vehicle flexibility. Trade trailers and horse floats are great examples of trailers that get consistently towed by different drivers and, well, vehicles too. Naturally, if opting for an in-car brake control solution, each of these vehicles would have a brake controller fitted. On top of the electric controller cost, the average cost of an in car install is upwards of $500.

Let’s make some (average) estimates and do some number crunching for a 5 vehicle, 3 trailer-strong fleet:

Cheapest is not always best, and this cost can increase over time, too. Trailers do, in fact, tend to have a longer lifespan than towing vehicles, which cope up more wear and tear in comparison, and might therefore need to be switched out to a newer model sooner. When trading in your old tow vehicle, you should be able to salvage some of the installed after-market parts, such as the brake controller main unit—but will need to go through the installation process on the new vehicle all over again. So over time, you might be forced to keep on investing in more in-car brake controllers than you had initially planned.

Case Study B: Private Use Caravans

The caravan world is one that often has only one tow vehicle fitted to take off on the adventure of a lifetime. However, a caravan is a long term investment and tends to remain in the possession of its owner for a longer period of time. Reasons for an eventual change out or trade in include it being dated, exceeding (or, to the contrary, not meeting) the needs of the operators, or the wish for an upgrade. The average period a caravan spends with a particular household is about 8 years.

The tow vehicle, on the other hand, is a different story. The need for a switch out is in main part determined by km’s travelled, as well as the wear and tear based on usage. The average turn around time on vehicles is 3 years. It ensues that, over the life of a caravan, you may end up switching the car you use for towing 2-3 times.

Due to the switching out of tow vehicles, cheaper in-car brake controllers may come at a higher price than initially anticipated.

Case Study C: Hire Businesses

The hire world is probably the application where a trailer-mounted electric brake controller such as Elecbrakes can deliver the most value. Situations where the prospective hirer turns up without an electric brake controller installed on his vehicle are all too common, and the pain and lost income give reason for a brake control solution that ensures that every potential customer drives away happy and with the desired trailer in tow.

Let’s make some estimates with pencil and paper in hand. As example, let’s take an average of expected hire revenue for an Australian caravan. According to the caravan-sharing website Camplify, a reasonably new, 2-year-old caravan that sleeps up to 4 people can generate you anywhere between $595 and $855 in rent income… per week. This means that the one-off cost of purchasing and installing an Elecbrakes electric brake controller on your caravan for hire can be covered within its first week of being hired!

Similar numbers apply to other types of trailers, too, not just caravans. Lost hires driven by the lack of an in-car electric brake controller can easily be overcome by installing an Elecbrakes trailer-mounted unit instead: the profitability of never losing a hire again far exceeds the initial fitting investment. Top that with the competitive advantage over other businesses that may still require their prospective customers to install an electric brake controller at their own time and cost, and you’ve got yourself a great recipe for growing your business.

Continuous Tech Improvement: Why Purchase-To-Upgrade Should Be A Thing Of The Past

Elecbrakes is the latest in electric brake controller technology. The use of a smartphone app allows Elecbrakes to seamlessly provide upgrades and improvements not to dissimilar to that of other smartphone software. How many times do we get a notification that an app that we use is due for an update? These regular upgrades ensure the best possible, safest product for the user. And as much as they can sometimes be an inconvenience, these updates come through wirelessly, without requiring you to visit a specialty store or make any changes to your hardware. Best of all, any updates to an app, even one you may have paid for initially, are free.

Elecbrakes is no different. We constantly look at how our system is operating so that we can continue on improving the unit’s performance and implement any user feedback in the Elecbrakes app. A simple update over the Wi-Fi or your carrier’s network is all it takes for Elecbrakes to provide you with an even superior product.

Traditional hardwired brake controllers do not have this connect-and-update capability. If a new version of your existing in-car controller is released, the only way to upgrade is to purchase, remove the old electric brake controller and fit the new one: an inconvenient and potentially costly way of benefiting from new tech improvements.

With Elecbrakes, any future upgrades to the system are included, with the guarantee that your towing solution always benefits from the most up-to-date, safest and performing Elecbrakes technology.

We hope that by giving perspective on the picture as a whole we’ve helped you gain clarity over the financial implications of your choice of electric brake controller. Which is the smarter investment for you?