2019 20 ft deckover gooseneck, open car trailer, repo bought sight unseen
MF-0876Opened by gooseneck_or_bumperNov 28, 2025in Buying and auctions7 entries
gooseneck_or_bumperOPLocal haul#1
Macon, GA14 posts · joined Nov 20252019 Ram 2500 6.7 · shopping an open car trailer
my username is the whole question i walked in with. i have a 2019 Ram 2500 and a barn with a 69 Camaro and a 55 Chevy in it, and i am done borrowing trailers to drag them to shows around Georgia and Florida. i read the enclosed hauler thread on here where Mike bought his 2020 Pace blind and it talked me into looking at the same broker, conaways, for an open trailer.
so first the bumper-pull versus gooseneck fight, because i cannot decide. a 20 foot bumper-pull deckover is cheaper, i can drop it anywhere, and my receiver is already there. a gooseneck tows better, backs better, and carries more of the weight over the axle instead of hanging off the back of the truck, but it means a hitch in the bed of my Ram, which is a project and a hole in my truck bed. for a guy hauling a car to a show six times a year, is the gooseneck worth the trouble.
and second, there is a 2019 20 ft deckover gooseneck sitting in the conaway's listing right now, a repo, Buy Now of 7,400 with sealed bids under it. so the two questions are tangled together. help me untangle them.
hotshot_transporterRegional#2
Laredo, TX34 posts · joined Nov 20252017 F-350 6.7 dually · 40 ft gooseneck, open
i pull a gooseneck every day so take my bias into account, but for two classic cars and a 2500 i would do the gooseneck without a second thought, and the bed hitch is not the project you think it is.
a gooseneck puts the pin weight over your rear axle instead of hanging it off a receiver two feet behind the bumper. that means it backs like a dream, it does not wag at highway speed, and your truck sits level instead of squatting. for a short trailer with one car it matters less than it does for me, but it still tows better every mile. the downside is real: a gooseneck ball in the bed, and yes a hole and a plate, but a bolt-in gooseneck hitch for a Ram 2500 is a weekend and a few hundred bucks, and it is a flush ball you can pull out when you want the bed back.
a 20 foot deckover is a lot of trailer to pull with a bumper-pull because the deck is up over the tires and the whole thing is taller and catches more wind. deckover plus gooseneck is the combination that makes sense. deckover on a bumper-pull is the one i would skip.
mod_curt_bDispatcher#3
Wichita, KS58 posts · joined Nov 20252015 Ram 3500 Cummins dually · 20 ft open deckover
i pull a deckover gooseneck myself so this one is easy for me to answer. the gooseneck is worth it the first time you have to back a car trailer into a show lot between two other rigs, because a gooseneck pivots over the axle and goes where you point it, and a bumper-pull jackknifes if you look at it wrong. six times a year is plenty to justify it.
on buying the repo one blind, use Mike's photo list from the enclosed thread, it works the same on an open deckover. axles and tags, DOT tire dates, the deck boards or steel floor, the frame welds, the coupler and the gooseneck ball coupler up top. an open trailer is easier to judge from photos than an enclosed one because you can see everything, there is no roof or wall hiding water damage.
same paperwork note as always on a repo. confirm with the conaway auction that the title comes clean with the lien released after you pay, and that the notarized paperwork rides along with the trailer. an open utility or car trailer titles simple in most states, but Georgia has its own rules on trailer titling so check what your county wants before you wire.
winch_and_strapsLong haul#4
Johnson City, TN61 posts · joined Nov 20252016 Ram 2500 6.4 Hemi · 20 ft open & a 24 ft enclosed
one more thing to get a photo of on that specific trailer before you bid, since it is a deckover. the deck itself. a 2019 deckover is either treated wood planks or steel, and if it is wood, get a shot down the whole deck looking for cupped, cracked or rotten boards, especially where the tires of whatever it last hauled sat and held water. deck boards are cheap to replace but it is a weekend you did not plan on, so know before you bid.
also the ramps. a deckover has longer ramps because the deck is higher, so they are heavier and they are the thing that gets bent or goes missing. make sure both ramps are in the photos and the slide tubes are not rusted solid.
gooseneck_or_bumperOPLocal haul#5
Macon, GA14 posts · joined Nov 20252019 Ram 2500 6.7 · 2019 20 ft deckover gooseneck
bid 6,200 and won it, and it is sitting in my yard. the deckover gooseneck won the argument. here is how it went, good and bad.
the bad first. when i emailed my photo list to conaways, four days passed before i heard anything, which is a long stretch to sit on your hands while a blind bid ticks toward closing and you still have not settled on a figure. Mike had his back in an afternoon, so the turnaround is not consistent. when the reply did land it was straight and complete, every shot i asked for, so it was slow and not sloppy. still, four days.
the trailer itself matched the photos. steel deck, no rot to fret over obviously, Dexter 7,000 lb axles, electric brakes on all four, tires are 2019 with good tread and no checking. it came off the transport eight days after my wire and the haul cost me nothing because the Tennessee yard was 310 miles out, inside the free window. what i bid was the whole price, no premium on top, registration free.
the one flaw: the spare tire that is in the mount on the paperwork was not on the trailer when it showed up, and one of the rear LED marker lights was dead. the spare is a 140 dollar tire and wheel and the light was a 9 dollar part and ten minutes. neither showed in the photos because the photos were of the trailer, not a line-item count of every marker light, so chalk that up to me not thinking to ask. small money, but honest.
axle_rating_questionLocal haul#6
Billings, MT18 posts · joined Nov 20252014 F-250 6.2 gas · 18 ft tandem open
good buy and 7,000 lb axles under it means you will never worry about either of those classics being too much trailer, which is my whole hangup with my little 18. what did the bed hitch install run you in the end, and did you do it yourself or pay a shop. that is the number i would want to see added to the 6,200 to know the real all-in on going gooseneck.
gooseneck_or_bumperOPLocal haul#7
Macon, GA14 posts · joined Nov 20252019 Ram 2500 6.7 · 2019 20 ft deckover gooseneck
the bed hitch was a bolt-in kit for the Ram, 520 dollars for the kit and i did it myself in a saturday with a buddy, mostly measuring twice before i drilled the one hole that scares everybody. a shop quoted me 300 on top of the kit to do it, so i saved that.
so my real all-in is 6,200 for the trailer, 520 for the hitch, 140 for the missing spare, 9 for the light. call it 6,870 for a 2019 deckover gooseneck with a fresh bed hitch, that a dealer down here wanted 9,900 for in the same year and length. i hauled the 55 to a show in Perry last weekend and it backed into the lot like it was on rails, which a bumper-pull would not have.
would i buy from the conaway's auction again knowing the email was slow. yes, but i would email my questions a week earlier next time so the four days does not run me up against a closing bid. the slow part was the only gripe and it was a scheduling problem i can fix on my end. the trailer was honest.
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