Hope you don’t mind me picking your brains on a motorhome / trailer question?
My motorhome has a maximum permitted weight of 6700kg and gross train weight of 10000kg.
Going to buy a car transporter trailer to go with it, my dilemma is:
Can I legally use a trailer plated at 3500kg, provided it’s only loaded to < 3300kg, or should I get a trailer plated at say 3000kg to be sure it’s legit both here an in the EU?
Only looking to tow a 1700kg car + trailer unladen weight of 500-750kg, but there’s a better chance of getting a deal on a 3500kg trailer as they’re far more common than the 2600-3000kg alternatives that are still big enough for the job.
Thanks for the quick reply.
I will get it weighed shortly - hoping it’ll be more like 5200kg, it’s pretty much as it left the factory on an Iveco 65C17 chassis with 6700kg upgrade, (rear semi-air suspension). Spec claims 1660 kg payload.
I was fairly confident the whole outfit as I intend to use it would not exceed max load or train weight, but wondered if having the two plated weights > 10000kg was technically breaking the rules regardless of actual weight.
Its the plated weight that counts, not how much it weighs. You can always get the trailer downrated. If its for towing a car I’ve seen many people just use A frame towbars to tow the car on its own wheels. Some use rear light bars, others have wiring of car rear lights connected to a suzi socket at the front.
Can’t see any problems in what the OP suggests. So long as no plated weight, (truck, trailer, or train) is actually exceeded, then there is no issue.
No need to have plated weights of unit and trailer adding up exactly to train weight.
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Towing a car, on it’s own wheels needs lights, and also a braking system (unless it’s under 500kg), I’m pretty sure.
I know a colleague tows a Panda (Fiat, don’t call the RSPCA) behind his motorhome. He has an arrangement whereby on the over-run the tow hitch pulls on a cable, that goes through car bulkhead and actuates car brakes. It’s a commercial system he bought, not a Heath-Robinson set up. Daresay some run without brakes on a towed car, but…lots of folks do lots of things.
Conor:
Its the plated weight that counts, not how much it weighs. You can always get the trailer downrated. If its for towing a car I’ve seen many people just use A frame towbars to tow the car on its own wheels. Some use rear light bars, others have wiring of car rear lights connected to a suzi socket at the front.
Your wrong there Conor , if the towing vehicle weighs less than 6500 kg irregardles of the plated gw then the trailer can be loaded up to 3500kg if needed .
Conor:
Its the plated weight that counts, not how much it weighs. You can always get the trailer downrated. If its for towing a car I’ve seen many people just use A frame towbars to tow the car on its own wheels. Some use rear light bars, others have wiring of car rear lights connected to a suzi socket at the front.
Your wrong there Conor , if the towing vehicle weighs less than 6500 kg irregardles of the plated gw then the trailer can be loaded up to 3500kg if needed .
Conor:
Its the plated weight that counts, not how much it weighs. You can always get the trailer downrated. If its for towing a car I’ve seen many people just use A frame towbars to tow the car on its own wheels. Some use rear light bars, others have wiring of car rear lights connected to a suzi socket at the front.
Your wrong there Conor , if the towing vehicle weighs less than 6500 kg irregardles of the plated gw then the trailer can be loaded up to 3500kg if needed .
Absolutely correct Daniel
Yes, we tow a trailer that is plated at 22t with a tractor unit that is only 25t gross train. Even checked it out with VOSA, as they were then, when we first got it. No problem as long as neither axle weights or individual plated weights are exceeded.
I think conor might be thinking of licence categories where the plated weights do count, assuming same rules apply to motorhomes ? If crossroads is a C&E man then he is overqualified anyway
Conor:
Its the plated weight that counts, not how much it weighs. You can always get the trailer downrated. If its for towing a car I’ve seen many people just use A frame towbars to tow the car on its own wheels. Some use rear light bars, others have wiring of car rear lights connected to a suzi socket at the front.
You can get away with that in the UK but many other countries in Europe are clamping down on it, really needs to be on a trailer if going further a field. It’s classed as a trailer if it’s on a A Frame, European countries have laws that prohibit a motor vehicle towing another motor vehicle unless it’s specifically designed to do it.
Thanks for all the helpful replies, great to have confirmation a 3500kg plated trailer is OK.
Agree trailer is necessary in France so sticking our everyday car on one works best for us - my wife has limited mobility, I have C+E.
Rules are the same for motorhomes, other than being allowed to do 70 on a motorway if not towing.
I’m just looking into this myself, I have 6’ x 4’ trailer (not braked) that I use quite often to take stuff to the tip, the thing is my neighbour got pulled by PC Plod outside the recycling centre and told he needs a vin plate weight plate on it!!! Same sort of trailer as mine, If I get a blank vin plate off ebay ebay.co.uk/itm/TRAILER-WEIG … 550557aff6
I believe the weights have to be punched in with a letter/number punch kit ebay.co.uk/itm/Metal-Letter … 3110532595 All this faff just to take mostly garden waste to the tip
lancpudn:
I’m just looking into this myself, I have 6’ x 4’ trailer (not braked) that I use quite often to take stuff to the tip, the thing is my neighbour got pulled by PC Plod outside the recycling centre and told he needs a vin plate weight plate on it!!! Same sort of trailer as mine, If I get a blank vin plate off ebay ebay.co.uk/itm/TRAILER-WEIG … 550557aff6
I believe the weights have to be punched in with a letter/number punch kit ebay.co.uk/itm/Metal-Letter … 3110532595 All this faff just to take mostly garden waste to the tip
i had similar to this with an old car transporter trailer that had lost it’s weight plate, after much investigation I also was told to make my own plate as Ian has done. the restrictions on what your trailer can carry are mainly the tyres and the tow hitch, both have max limits, it’s usually the tyres that will decide, so maximum load of tyres, minus empty weight of trailer, = maximum load available.
The plated weight of the trailer is only relevant to how much the trailer can be loaded to weigh, oblivious you’d then need to be within spec of the tow vehicle
And for licensing when you don’t have an E on your license
A car that has a towing limit of 1t, could tow a trailer plated at 3.5t that actually weighs 1t
I’ve just been round to my neighbours who got pulled by PC plod over no VIN plate on his trailer. He got one of those VIN plates off ebay and made up one with a 750kg GVW it’s almost identical to mine so I’ll be making one up the same & the beauty about it is He’s got the letter/number punch kit
I made my trailer over twenty years ago with angle iron & ford Granada hubs, just re-boarded it with 3/4" marine ply.
I could very well be mistaken but I was always told that towing a car behind a vehicle caused damage to the towed vehicles gearbox on account of the wheels are turning the gearbox as opposed to the other way round. I was told this when on recovery hence suspended tow or prop/halfshaft off/out.
