hi everyone im looking to tow my van this coming year rather than leaving it permanently sited.
can someone help with the weights etc
this is the max weight on the van
Maximum Technical Permissible Laden Mass (Kg) - 1595
am i correct in thinking my vehicle towing capacity will need to be this weight upwards ie 1600kg
Yes that's correct providing you have towed before and consider your self experienced, and that not only you car weighs at least the mtplm the manufacturer also gives that amount as a towing limit some cars limits will be less than the kerb weight,if you have little or no experience then 85% weight to car is recommended so you will need a car around 1900kg. However if you passed your driving test after 1997 (I think)then you may need to take an additional test to be legal.
If your caravan has been sited for a while I would advice to have it serviced before taking to the road and check the tyres if they are over 6 years old have them changed
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The car should have a kerbweight of around 1875kg so that the caravan is around 85% of the cars kerbweight, this is the safe guideline for people that don't have a lot of towing experience. If the car has a lower towing limit then that must apply.
That is not a good matching site to be looking at as they do not use the kerbweights and use foreign spec cars for their information, there are plenty more websites that will give the correct information.
Legally, kerb weight is irrelevant. There are 2 things you need to consider:
1. Your driving licence entitlements. If you obtained your full licence pre-1997 then you'll be fine, but if not, you may only tow a braked trailer (and all caravans are braked) if the maximum permissible weight (note: not the actual weight) of the car and trailer combined is not more than 3500kg.
Given that your caravan has an MTPLM of 1595kg, it's inevitable that any suitably-sized car will have a maximum gross weight of more than 2000kg, which means that you'll need to take an extra test to get 'Category B+E' entitlement.
2. The manufacturer's towing limit of the car (which should be on either the V5 or the VIN plate in the engine bay). It's illegal to tow more than this.
For many cars, especially larger ones with powerful diesel engines, the towing limit is well in excess of the weight of the car itself, but it does NOT automatically follow that it's safe to tow up to that limit, any more than it's always safe to drive at 60mph if the road has a national speed limit. As I understand it, the towing limit is determined by the weight that the car can move from a standing start on repeated hill starts. It therefore has no bearing on how it would handle a caravan (which, as trailers go, is of a particularly awkward shape) at motorway speeds.
Hence the advice to keep the weight of your caravan to less than the kerb weight of the towing vehicle, and to somewhere in the region of 85% if you're new to towing. It may not be a legal requirement, but it's sensible. That said, it's also worth saying that this recommendation should be treated with the crudity it deserves - it's certainly not the case that you're definitely safe at 84% and will definitely have stability problems at 86%.
You also need to consider what engine the car has and how it will cope with an extra 1.6-tonne box behind the car. Basically, you'll be best off with the most powerful diesel engine you can reasonably afford.
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Topic: towing weights
