[Tom Line]

Don't tow with a minivan if you can avoid it. You need a truck and the trailer needs brakes, especially in Michigan.

Some other things. Longer than 14 feet and it won't fit in a parking spot by itself, or fit in two parking spots attached to your vehicle. I am partial to dual axles, because I've had the spring on an axle snap on a single-axle job and ended up stuck in Lima Ohio for 5 days. With dual axles set up correctly, you can still limp to somewhere that can fix it.

Get a spare tire. A lot of bare-bones trailers don't come with one. Check to see if the tailgate / liftgate of your tow vehicle can open when attached to the trailer. You WILL put a huge dent it in if it can't because students aren't always the most careful folks. This is mainly a function of how far the trailer lift post is from the hitch ball.

Get a side door and a ramp. The side door is nice so that you don't have to lower the ramp to grab odds and ends, and the ramp will pay huge dividends loading and unloading.

Get extra tie town loops, and get them on the walls too.

Check to see how the trailer manufacturer does the wiring. Nicer trailers will run a power and ground to each light. Cheaper ones save money by grounding to the chassis or sheet metal. That style ground will galvanically rot the sheet metal around the light screws in about 5 years.

The biggest visual issue with trailers is that the tongue and undercarraige rust. Some places will do a spray coating to forestall that. It's easy when the trailer is being made. I've heard of some people taking the trailer to a place that sprays on bed liner for trucks.

Get axles and hubs that allow greasing without disassembly. It's not that you won't enjoy repacking bearings, but you probably won't enjoy repacking bearings.

Hinges on the ramp should also have grease zircs installed if they are quality hinges.