Not every haul is a row of identical new sedans headed to a dealer lot. The auto transport world has gotten more complicated, and, for us, a lot more interesting. Today, operators are regularly asked to move lifted trucks, lowered exotics, oversized SUVs, high-end classics, and vehicles with unusual dimensions that don't cooperate with a standard loading configuration. The question operators increasingly ask is: can a trailer be modified to handle this kind of variety?

The short answer is: Yes! The longer answer is: Yes, but that yes involves more than most people realize. What a trailer can haul depends entirely on who's doing the work and what expertise they bring to the table. 

Sun Country Trailers is no stranger to custom vehicle hauling. We cut our teeth selling trailers for the Arizona auction vehicle transport business, which means being able to handle whatever shows up on the block. Today, our legacy of custom modification continues, helping car haulers handle various types of vehicles. To do this, we offer customization for our car trailers to accommodate specialty hauling businesses as well as offering modification services for standard haulers who want the flexibility of being able to take non-standard loads.

Why Non-Standard Vehicles Create Real Challenges

Standard car trailer configurations are engineered around a fairly predictable range of vehicle sizes — average ground clearance, average length, average width. When you move outside that range, problems emerge.

A vehicle that sits too low will scrape on standard ramp angles. A vehicle that's too long won't fit in a standard deck slot without overhanging dangerously. A vehicle that's unusually tall may not clear upper deck configurations. Classic cars and exotics often require extra care around tie-down placement to avoid contact with body panels or undercarriage components that weren't designed with hauling in mind.

None of these are insurmountable problems. But they require either a purpose-built configuration from the factory or skilled modification work after the fact, and not every service shop has the tools, experience, or fabrication capability to do it right.

What Modifications Are Actually Possible?

This is where having access to a manufacturer-level service department pays dividends. A shop that builds trailers from raw steel has fundamentally different capabilities than a general repair facility. Here's a look at the kinds of modifications that experienced operators pursue, modifications which Sun Country Trailers' manufacturing and service departments are equipped to handle:

• Extensions: Extended decks can be built to accommodate vehicles that run long, such as certain full-size trucks, limousines, or specialty vehicles that exceed standard slot lengths. Getting this right requires precision fabrication, not improvisation on the fly.
• Additional Flooring: Modified or supplemental flooring can address traction needs for unusual vehicle types or protect sensitive undercarriages. Sometimes, a deck surface can be adapted for loads that differ from the trailer's original specification.
• Handles and Assist Hardware: Loading non-standard vehicles often requires additional hand-holds, guides, or positioning hardware to safely maneuver a vehicle onto the deck without risking contact with surrounding structure.
• Running Gear Modifications: Brakes, ABS systems, and air lines can all be designed or reconfigured as part of a broader modification project, ensuring the trailer's mechanical systems are properly matched to any changes in load capacity or configuration.
• Hydraulic System Upgrades: Cylinder rebuilds and hydraulic system modifications can adjust the range of motion and load-handling capability of ramps and decks, capabilities that become relevant when you're loading vehicles with clearance profiles that differ significantly from the original factory design.
• Fifth Wheel Hitch Installation: For operators changing their tow setup or adapting a trailer to a different class of truck, fifth wheel hitch installation is a modification that requires precision alignment and structural awareness that goes beyond basic mechanical work.
• CNC Plasma-Cut Custom Parts: Perhaps most significantly, Sun Country's service facility operates a CNC plasma cutting table, meaning that custom parts can be fabricated in-house from scratch, not ordered from a catalog in the hope that it will fit or can be kludged in. This is the kind of capability that separates a true manufacturing facility from a general service shop, and it opens the door to modifications that would simply be impossible elsewhere.

Steel and Aluminum: Both Covered

Non-standard custom work sometimes involves needing to mix materials, particularly when adding components to a standard trailer that is built with one material or when weight savings matter for a specialized application. Sun Country's service department employs experienced welders working in both steel and aluminum, which means they're not limited to one material profile when fabricating or fitting custom components.

This matters more than it might seem. Welding aluminum requires a different technique, different equipment, and different expertise than steel. A shop with welders capable of both gives operators genuine flexibility in how custom builds or modifications are designed and executed.

The Importance of In-House Expertise

Custom work on a commercial car hauler isn't something to hand off casually. A trailer carrying multiple vehicles at highway speeds is a safety-critical piece of equipment, and any modification to a standard configuration that has the potential to affect structural integrity, load distribution, or braking performance needs to be done by people who understand trailers from the inside out.

Sun Country Trailers has been building commercial car haulers since 1986. The team that handles modifications and repairs brings 30+ years of hands-on knowledge to every job — not just knowledge of trailers in general, but specifically of how these trailers are engineered, where their load paths run, and how changes to one system interact with others.

That institutional knowledge is hard to replicate and impossible to fake. When an operator needs a custom build or a modification, our team isn't consulting a generic manual. We're drawing on decades of experience building equipment from scratch.

Possible Same-Day Service

One detail worth noting for operators running on tight schedules: if you are in need of a special modification right away, Sun Country's service department offers possible same-day service. In a business where a trailer sitting in a shop is a trailer not earning, that kind of responsiveness matters. Add in competitive labor rates and our ability to work on any trailer (not just Sun Country units) and our service becomes a resource for the broader operator community.

What To Do If You Have a Non-Standard Hauling Need: Ask Sun Country Trailers

We know that trailer modifications might run the gamut from how to haul the mildly unusual to how to transport the insanely exotic, and we don’t claim we can do everything. So if you have a special request, our best answer is: call us and describe your situation. We’re in the business of building quality, and modification feasibility depends on the specifics: the vehicle type involved, your current trailer configuration, the nature of the challenge, and what you ultimately need to accomplish. 

The Sun Country team has seen a wide range of unusual requests over nearly four decades in the business, and we’re well-positioned to tell you what's practical, what's possible with some fabrication work, and what your realistic options are. We won’t promise what we can’t deliver. At the same time, don't assume a non-standard vehicle means a non-starter conversation. The right shop with precision fabrication capability, experienced designers and welders, and deep knowledge of how commercial haulers are actually built, can solve problems that would leave a general service facility shrugging.

If you have a special modification request, contact Sun Country Trailers. Tell us what you're working with and, chances are, we’ve seen it before and we’ll be ready to help you haul it.