If you regularly use or travel with any kind of trailer, including car trailers, boat trailers and utility trailers, your trailer and its cargo may be susceptible to being stolen. High-priced items such as boats, four-wheelers, tools and lawn equipment are often stored in trailers to make transporting them easier. If your trailer isn't properly protected, it may attract thieves who believe they can sell or pawn these items for a profit. You can make modifications to protect your trailer's hitch assembly, which will make it difficult or impossible for thieves to steal your trailer.
Install a hitch lock and use it. You can purchase locks that fit onto the hitch receiver of your trailer and prevent anyone without the combination or key from removing it. You can't hook up a vehicle to the trailer with the lock on because it blocks the hitch receiver. You may want to purchase a tongue lock so that the chains of your trailer can be included in the lock --- thieves have been known to drag trailers away by the chains.
Park the trailer so that the hitch is against a large, heavy or immovable (for thieves) object. The easiest way to do this is to unhook your trailer, then park your truck or other vehicle nose-first against your hitch assembly. The truck will have to be moved to hook a vehicle up to the trailer, and most thieves will move on rather than try to manually turn a heavy trailer.
Chain your trailer to an immovable post or wall. Run a locking chain through or around the hitch assembly and lock it onto something sturdy, such as a power pole.
