Not sure where your getting your info from Tentz but it's totally wrong where our car insurance is concerned too, checked earlier as was a bit worried from your comments as our trailer is not a mass manufactured trailer and was told we're covered too, pretty much as saxo1 was told.
Hi folks,
So what people are saying is a homemade trailer is illegal to use?
I built a small 1m square box trailer about 3 or 4 years ago for the ever expanding camping gear so being an engineer with access to steel and machinery made a trailer that I recon will outlast me and the kids and a nuclear war. It was built with new shop brought moving parts and would win the pepsi challenge with most "manufactured" trailers. I am either looking in the wrong places or there currently is no law to say that homemade trailers are illegal as the insurance is void.
Why would shops sell trailer parts if you can't use them ?
The old bill would be hoovering up homemade trailer owners as the insurance would be void..........I'm confused?
At this point in time it isn't. But it soon will be. Here is the UK page covering type approval requirement for trailers. This covers chassis only and completed trailers. It has been applied in several EU states for a while. The UK has been very lax with trailer approval and testing. In many EU countries, trailers have to be separately registered (own number plates) and they have to pass a type of MOT.
As these regulations come into force you can see what insurance companies will require.......
"in order to gain EC whole vehicle approval, a vehicle will have to be tested/assessed for things such as brakes, lights, tyres, etc."
Don't think I need to worry, all above in working order!
No relevance to trailers being home made or not, 'IF' it does come into effect, all you'd need to worry about is whether the trailer was in a roadworthy condition or not, which any trailer should be anyway.
If it does come in it will be yet more unnecessary beaurocracy adding cost to the already overburdened motorist. We already have a very low rate of road traffic deaths not just in europe by worldwide despite the fact that we don't yet register & "mot" trailers.
The incidence of trailers causing the accident are so minimal that google doesn't seem to be aware of any statistics.
It's not about what is behind the rear bumper. Its much more about what is behind the steering wheel.
If we want to improve road safety still further - edukashun is the way forward.
There are no dangerous cars,trailers,roads etc. only dangerous folk behind the wheel.
I followed one today. His nearside was running on the grass verge much of the time and narrowly missed trees he passed. I am sure he/she was pi**ed. It was about 2pm. No amount of legislation is going to make him/her safer. It was a mitsubishi pickup so presumably a bloke.
All interesting comments but the fact remains construction and use regulations already apply to all new design trailers now, and require type approval. All existing designs will also require type approval by end 2012.
I don't agree with the bureaucracy, I have built and owned two kit cars. The law is changing, sorry if you want to build trailers, you will have to go through approval loops.
As is usual with UK regulations, it does seem there will be no retrospective action, it will come down to what insurance companies decide
Built my trailor in 1980 (app), indispension units with mini hubs and wheels, still got it.
yes you do see some dogs on the road but some of us know what we are doing
Quote: Originally posted by saxo1 on 07/2/2011
"any caravan or trailer that has been built to be towed by your car when attatched by a 50mm ball coupling"
I rang to seek clarification whether a home built trailer would invalidate my insurance and the answer was "if it is built to an acceptable standard then there would be no problem".
Mine says 'should comply with construction & use regs 1986' which I take to mean it needs to be a reasonably modern shop bought trailer to comply, otherwise its a grey area that might be decided at the time by an assessor after an accident. ie he decides whether its built to an acceptable standard.
Anybody with mechanical knowledge can decide whether a trailer is safe & compliant with regs, but the general advice to anybody without mechanical knowledge when buying a secondhand trailer would be to buy a reasonably modern commercially made one, then you know for certain.
Type approval covers the following parts on O1 trailers / caravans (unbraked)
Fuel tand and rear under run (Where applicable)
Number plate
Statory plates
Lighting and Instaliation
Heater (if fitted)
Class (if fitted)
Tyres
Masses and dimensions
Couplings
and for O2 braked trailers and caravans upto 3500kg all above + Brakes
all the mentioned parts will need to be 'E' marked and mounted in the correct places.
if you do have Type approval the the insurance companys will not have a problem.
please note the above list does not include anything to do with the strucure that I think is mad, although most people that manufacture their own trailers do tend to over engineer as most people have said in the previous posts.
I have not been building trailers for the last few years but I am trying to keep up with the laws tobuild in the near future.
any trailer parts brought the shop that sells it should be able to provide all the relavant paper work needed for type approval.
for people building their own trailer there is such a thing as an IVA (Individual Vehicle Approval) this is the same as a kit car has to do previously known as an SVA I dont have current costs but you should be able to find out more from your local Vosa station.
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Topic: trailer safety
