Well I like to categorise these weights into three divisions which are satisfactory, average and critical. Now if a person is a newbie to caravanning then I would recommend the first and if you are experience then I would go as far as average but to go to the critical level I would avoid which is what I would suggest this is. If however the payload was reduced to the absolute minimum then there is a possibility that that the average catagory could be achieved but you would have to tow with caution. Like TonyC stated in his post that regarding the insurance is quite true and if ever a claim was made that could indeed invalidate the insurance. So to answer your question, I would say in legal terms the answer is no.
Quote: Originally posted by SebastianB on 10/2/2012
A colleague of mine has just bought a caravan with a unladen weight of 1110kg and laden weight 1344kg.
His car has a maximum towing weight of 1300kg, is he legally allowed to to the caravan?
Regards.
The simple answer is that with that information nobody can tell you. We need more information, first when did he take his test, the important date when things changed is 01/1/1997 after which extra restrictionsly, then we need to know what the kerbweight of the car is this can be ound on the v5,and also what the maximum train weigh and maximum gross weights of the car are both can be found on the cars vin plate. Once we know this we can tell you, the cars maximum owingnweigh hat you find in he handbook is a bit of a red herring in legal terms as it is an advisary that the manufacturers can impose in any guarantee work, though he would be unwise to exceed it.
------------- Bill
For a licence dated 1997 or later you must add together the plated max weight of the caravan and trailer, if the total is 3500 or less you can tow it. You may even tow a caravan with a MAM greater than the cars unladen mass the restriction was removed in 2013
What you need to be looking at (for legal purposes) is the gross train weight and deduct from that the Gross vehicle weight. The resultant figure is the maximum that the car can legally tow. If that is 1300 then he cannot tow the caravan. Sometimes manufacturers give a max towing weight as an advisory figure relating to the car's ability to move off uphill. The towing figure can be different from the gross train weight less the gross vehicle weight.
It is then the actual weight that you pull rather than what the MTPLM could be for these purposes.
If your friend's Licence was obtained after Jan 1997 he may have other issues anyway and that is a whole new range of answers!!!!
Apart from what the law says, he really shouldn't be towing with those facts in his knowledge and should be looking for a new tow car.
Phil
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Not so, with a b+e licence you can legally tow any combination providing that you do not exceed the mtplm of the caravan, the mam of the car and the max groos train weight for th car as plated on the vehicles. If we are being very specific the absolute aximumtowing weight for the car is the maximum gross trin weight minus the unladn mass of the car, this weight then recuces in line with whatever weight you put in the car.
------------- Bill
For a licence dated 1997 or later you must add together the plated max weight of the caravan and trailer, if the total is 3500 or less you can tow it. You may even tow a caravan with a MAM greater than the cars unladen mass the restriction was removed in 2013
if you have to do your sums to such an extent to decide whether to tow a van or not you have the wrong combination do you know the max allowed by the manufacturer if you are over this you don't tow if there is an accident and the police do their sums and you are on the wrong side not only do they get you but the insurance may well be nullified keep on the safe side otherwise you risk far too much
Max permitted trailer weight should never exceed the vehicles tow capacity so irrespective of the licence holders categories this combo is unlawful on the public road.
If you think about it overloading arguments at the roadside would go in the direction of "you see officer ive only got half a tank of fuel and a litre of petrol weighs about .7 kg so im not overladen because.............."
If your friend can keep the load in the caravan down to a minimum he could possibly get in down rated by the manufacturers by 50kg . They usually charge about £50 for a new rating plate - check with a main dealer for the brand.
I see where you're coming from littlejack but is that really a viable option? what I'm thinking is that user loading margins are normally slim anyway and they'll probably remain very close to the 100%.
Quote: Originally posted by Dogruff on 07/3/2012
Max permitted trailer weight should never exceed the vehicles tow capacity so irrespective of the licence holders categories this combo is unlawful on the public road.
If you think about it overloading arguments at the roadside would go in the direction of "you see officer ive only got half a tank of fuel and a litre of petrol weighs about .7 kg so im not overladen because.............."
Not a chance. its what the plates say.
Incorrect it is what the eeighbridge says that matters.
------------- Bill
For a licence dated 1997 or later you must add together the plated max weight of the caravan and trailer, if the total is 3500 or less you can tow it. You may even tow a caravan with a MAM greater than the cars unladen mass the restriction was removed in 2013
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Topic: Towing Weights
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