IANAL! But here's some info to get you started:
In the cover letter of my trust, the lawyer writes, "assuming your trust is fully funded and no more than $184,500 of your assets are outside of the trust...your heirs should be able to avoid probate altogether."
So that $184K number is pretty low. Not sure if a state* limit of some kind? But if there's more than that, it implies that the estate needs to be probated.
I *think* the difference between a POD and a trust is that even with the POD, if the estate is over the limit, it goes through probate (read: red tape and public record). Again, IANAL, this is my layperson impression. The cover letter also says that probate is costly. Something to look into.
Trust contains real estate & other assets. Non-trust assets are insurance and retirement accounts, which name the trust as primary (insurance) or secondary (retirement) beneficiary.
I will say, when Dad died, his insurance paid out to Sis & I fairly promptly, and we didn't do anything through the courts, aside from obtaining a copy of the death certificate.
EDIT: the lawyer said not to put the car in the trust. It is considered personal property. Lawyer set up a "pour-over will" which gives the "residue" of my estate, including personal property**, to the trust/trustee to distribute.
*California, for anyone reading who may not know
** "such as jewelry, clothing, household furniture and furnishings, automobiles, books, objects of art [etc]"