Hi all, We have not had our caravan very long and only just realised it has not got a weight plate on it. When we purchased the caravan we were asked the usual questions what car we had ect, and i was ok to tow the van with our car,all good, MY question is does the caravan legally need the plate, or can i carry on towing it without it.
i think the law requires you have a plate.. personally i wouldn't worry overly much but that is just me.. in over thirty years of towing all sorts of stuff i have never had anybody want to look at one..
My caravan doesn't have a weight plate either, and neither did our last one. I would imagine that during their very long lives the plates have simply fallen off. Nobody has ever wanted to look at the plates on any of the 4 caravans that we have had over the years. I would think that the only time anyone would want to see them is if you were towing the caravan with a car that was clearly far too small for the job.
The only time it will be checked is if you are involved in an accident or are pulled on one of the police roadside checks. Then you may have a problem as legally it needs to be plated. In 50 years of caravanning I have been checked once, which was on a motorway service area parking.
Sometimes the weight plate is required as I had to take a photo of the one on our caravan for the purpose of an insurance claim in June 2022 for a replacement damaged front window. They required it mainly for evidence of the CRIS number etched on it as my caravan insurance claims department stated that they no longer send out a person to assess the damage due to the costs involved.
Quote: Originally posted by tango55 on 26/6/2023
Sometimes the weight plate is required as I had to take a photo of the one on our caravan for the purpose of an insurance claim in June 2022 for a replacement damaged front window. They required it mainly for evidence of the CRIS number etched on it as my caravan insurance claims department stated that they no longer send out a person to assess the damage due to the costs involved.
What is anyone supposed to do if they own an older caravan where the weight plate has long since disappeared? The one I have now didn't have a plate on it when I bought it.
If I needed to send evidence of my CRIS number I would send a picture of a couple of my windows where the number is etched. I doubt whether it was ever etched on the weight-plate even when it was new.
Thanks to everyone who replied, I decided to call the place where we purchased the caravan from but as usual we get no reply so I may have to get in touch with Swift for more information
Tim
A weight plate on a caravan was not mandatory and still isn't. Even new caravans only have a sticker on them. However the axle will have a maximum rating on it.
If the manufacturers weight plate is obscured or missing, the authorities (Police or DVSA) will revert to tyre load ratings for maximum permissable weight.
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Topic: Weight plate
via mobile 26/6/2023 at 11:53am
