>It's much easier to use a car trailer - but of course that's more expensive than an A-frame.

A good compromise here is a thing that I used to use called a "Transpolette". A hitch with two wheels (like a very small "T bar" boat trailer) and a thing that looks like a pair of spectacles on top which rotates. The front (or rear - lock the steering!) wheels of the towed vehicle sit on this, secured with clamp straps. Braking on the thing itself. As the driven wheels are kept off the floor, it works for autos too. Light board attaches to the axle when no car is in place and comes on a long lead so it can be unclipped and attached to the aft end of the towed vehicle. The effect is to provide the same arrangement on any towbar equipped vehicle that you see on the back of a recovery truck, only with ramps rather than a hydraulic lift (helps if the vehicle being moved works - otherwise it's brute force time).

Used to be cheap as chips to hire when needed too, much cheaper than a full car trailer. I remember once taking a car into a body shop on one. The bloke running it looked and said; "That's a good idea, we must get one of those."......

I called the police a couple of weeks ago, on this subject. I was helping a friend to tidy his premises, including removal of four scrap vehicles. They never mentioned the need for braking,(could have forgotten, i suppose), but what they said was that should you tow on a rope, obviously needing a driver aboard to brake / steer, the towed vehicle must be insured. If using a "A" frame, then the car need not be insured or anything else, as it's attached to a legal vehicle. In the end, all were collected, one though was removed with a simple "A" frame towed by a flatbed carrying another car.