What can my car tow?

[flatcat]

Hi all.

I'm thinking of buying a small car trailer, and I wondered what the maximum weight my car can tow (I can't seem to find this information anywhere)

My car is a 1.2 (70bhp) Fabia estate

I'm more concerened about the engine size, rather than the car itself

Thanks

Damon

[mdk1]

Hi all.

I'm thinking of buying a small car trailer,

Is that a small trailer? or a small trailer to carry a car?

If it;s a small box one from say Halfords, you can tow up to 750kg with no trailer brakes, above that the trailer needs to be braked.

Is your Fabia a mk1 or mk2?

which ever it's probably limited to 1000kg. but best to look on the plated weights on your car

[mdk1]

Taken from the Jan - March 2009 brochures

Unbraked weight is 450kg

Braked weight is 800kg

Noseweight is 50kg

[flatcat]

Thank you for the advice

Sorry, I meant a small trailer to tow behind a car

My car is a Mk2

I shall check the plates on the car

[mdk1]

Thank you for the advice

Sorry, I meant a small trailer to tow behind a car

My car is a Mk2

I shall check the plates on the car

See above post. posted at the same time.

[Llanigraham]

As has been posted:

Unbraked capacity is 450kg

Braked capacity is 800kg

Be very careful as it is the plated max capacity (Maximum Allowed Mass) of the trailer that is important.

You have got to find either an unbraked trailer that is plated to 450kg or a braked one at 800kg, and I suspect that you are going to have a very difficult job in doing that. Most small trailers are unbraked with a MAM of 750kg.

[flatcat]

Thanks for the data, Mike

Funny none of it is in the user manual (unless im being blind)

I've found a trailer that looks suitable. Surely though I only need to be aware of the weight my car will tow? I can just load the trailer sensibly, knowing roughly how much it weighs empty. The trailer I have found is on the heavier side, so I know just to put lightish things in it like say a cement mixer rather than a dozen sacks of sand

Damon

[Llanigraham]

That used to be the case, Damon, but the Law changed a couple of years ago and now it is the MAM of the trailer that counts. Don't forget that the MAM includes the weight of the trailer plus the load, not just the load. At 450kg max that gives you very little capacity.

If the trailer is not plated with a MAM then they go on the combined sum of the suspension units maximum weights. I have never seen any with a 225kg limit. Most are well in excess of that.

If you got caught then you risk not only getting done for exceeding the limits of your car, but also potentially for no insurance, and in a worst case scenario having the car and trailer scrapped.

[flatcat]

Oh goodness I am totally lost now

Its just some old trailer I found on ebay thats looks like it will do the job. Probably just knocked up in someones shed.

So can I not just hitch up any old trailer knowing that the combined trailer/load weighs no more than 800kg?

The only law I know is that the totally gross weight of car and trailer combined cannot exceed 3.5 tonnes for me

Damon

[Ootohere]

It is a minefield that luckily people that look older and act sensibly get away with towing trailers.

Mostly that is.

I take it that you have Grandad rights on your licence to tow a braked trailer over 750kg by you saying you can tow up to 3500kg?

(when using a suitable vehicle)

Its all complicated, but in truth a small trailer fitted with the correct lights and number plate might never get you stopped.

(if you are stopped or are in an accident then you better hope you have it right)

If you are stopped then you will need to be legal.

If someone was only holding a licence to tow an un-braked trailer up to 750kg.

(ie did not have the correct licence or if they passed their driving test after 1997 and had not passed the trailer test)

But were stopped towing an empty trailer plated to 3500kk, 200kg, even 800kg, but empty with no load on it, that is still illegal.

It the plated weight that matters even when empty.

When loaded, then it can not exceed the plated weight,

Someone that can quote chapter and verse and the correct info will be along soon with the correct story hopefully.

george

[flatcat]

Hi George

I come under the 1997 rule, and I heard that it can only be unbraked (which is insane) but I heard that as a rumour, and it has no mention on the official websites. I checked my liscence and it was car and trailer not over 3.5 tonnes.

I might as well not bloomin bother. a trailer was my last option as nI cannot afford to insure a van.

I mean who makes these complicated silly rules. It's just a joke

Next they'll be making us youngsters pass a wheelbarrow test

[Ootohere]

Looks like it is all going to change again.

I put my young lad through his trailer test and it cost me over £600, and he has never towed a trailer since. lol not.

http://www.direct.go...cles/DG_4022564

http://www.direct.go...nsing/DG_201202

Edited 21 April, 2012 by sk4gw

[Llanigraham]

Damon,

As George says, it is a minefield, because you have to work through two sets of Legislation.

Firstly, there is what you PERSONALLY are allowed to tow. As you passed your test after 97 then you can tow, with a suitable vehicle, an unbraked trailer with a MAM of 750kg, or a braked trailer when the total TRAIN weight does not exceed 3500kg, and that the trailer MAM is not greater than the weight of the towing vehicle (Simplified explanation)

Secondly, there is what your vehicle is allowed to tow, and as you've found out with your car that is very low. This is further complicated because now it isn't the actual weight of the trailer that is important but the MAM of the trailer.

As George says, are you likely to be stopped? I know that around here the Police and VOSA have quite regular "stings", often on market day, when they will stop anything that is towing, from the farmer with his Land Rover and sheep box, to Uncle Fred and his caravan, and weights are one of the first things checked. I also know that North Wales Police and Devon & Cornwall Police were stopping stuff last summer. I have also seen Police checking stuff at Council Recycling yards, so it goes to prove they do check. There were certainly reports in the caravan press last year of people being made to either leave trailers behind or to remove stuff to get weights down.

Why are these limits there? They were brought in to bring us in line with European Legislation, and because there had been a growing concern that accidents were happening because overloading was becoming more common.

Sorry, but I think you are either going to have to rethink what you are going to do; either a van or a different car.

[flatcat]

So am I right in saying if I get caught with an unbraked trailer with a MAM of 750kg (which they all seem to be) and I know my car can only pull 450 unbraked, regardless of anything in it, then that is wrong?

There is no problem with my liescence, its going to be the car, as you say, that is the sticking point

[Llanigraham]

Yes. The MAM of the trailer cannot exceed the stated weights for your vehicle, which in your case is 450kg.

EDIT:

I've just found this:

http://www.towsure.com/product/Caddy_430_Galvanised_Trailer_4x3039_200kg

Important details:

• Un-braked single axle independent suspension supplying a carrying capacity of 200kg
  
• Gross weight 250kg.
  

That seems to imply the MAM is 450kg!!

[flatcat]

But this is crazy though

So what they're saying then is that I cannot be trusted to load a trailer with the correct weight suitable for the car?

I pressume then anyone who has stopped me will have access to my vehicle's towing data, and they would then check the MAM of the trailer.

But what if its one of those old shed built wooden trailers with no data plates? Do they then just go for an overall weight, or have they got a system for them as well?

My step dad refuses to believe any of this, but I can't find anything anywhere to show him

Damon

[Llanigraham]

Correct, the implication is Joe Public cannot be trusted to load a trailer to the correct weight, and actually I agree with that. Very few people actually know the weight of things, so guestimate, normally incorrectly. You have said that you want to carry a cement mixer; do you know exactly how much that weighs? I see cars coming from the gravel pits by my signal box with those 750kg trailers FULL of sand and gravel that I know are overweight, and I have friends at VOSA who tell me of the numbers of "pulls" they get of overweight private vans and cars.

Because it has been perceived as a problem, then a solution had to be found and the simplest method was to set the limits as they now are. Any official stopping you doesn't need to know the limits for each car, because all modern cars have that detail on the VIN plate. On my Yeti it is at the bottom of the driver door pillar. Likewise all new trailers have to have an identification plate with the limits on it. Older trailers are exempt from the "plating" but if you are stopped with such a trailer it then is your responsibility to PROVE that it's limits. You can be taken to a weighbridge for it to be checked, but many VOSA stings have portable weighbridge plates with them.

http://www.dft.gov.uk/vosa/repository/Quick%20guide%20to%20towing%20small%20trailers.pdf

http://www.yourroadrisk.co.uk/2009/01/30/towing-trailers-with-vehicles-and-the-law/

http://www.wrighthassall.co.uk/resources/articles/art_vosa_rules_horseboxes_and_trailers.aspx

[simonsheil]

You can have the trailer down plated by the manufacture, just need to phone and check they can do it.

[Babs]

It depends. If she's conscious, the movement is gonna increase the stress on the car, but if you've used a good dose of chloroform, then the above listed weights are fine mate

[DaKKs_152]

I tried to remove the tow bar on my Fabia today, but the damn thing is stuck. Its a complete and utter waste since you can't actually tow anything with it. Hell, I couldn't even tow a bloody motorbike cause the trailer+bike weight was over 800kg. And the damn thing wouldn't fit on those small buggers.

IMHO, these cars have been grossly underestimated. I did an emergency tow on a Ford motorhome this weekend. I'm pretty sure it was close to, if not over, 3 tons. I'm not going to say it didn't struggle, because it did, but it worked. I have the 68bhp 1.4 MPI btw.

EDIT: Before anyone points it out, over here, emergency situations allows the towing weight to be disregarded temporarily. So towing your mates car from where it broke down to the 'shop is fine, but trailers are not.

Edited 23 April, 2012 by DaKKs_152

[simonsheil]

Having had a read I do not believe there is any legislation that states (with B&E) the MAM must be less than the vehicle towing limit.

Ifor Williams on there FAQ state:

My vehicle has a maximum towing weight of 1500kg and my trailer has a maximum gross weight of 2000kg. Can I still tow this trailer?

Yes, as long as the unladen weight of the trailer you are towing combined with the trailer load does not exceed 1500kg, then you can tow this trailer with your vehicle.

There is no legal requirement to downrate the plate on your trailer.

Drivers must also possess the appropriate driving licence with B+E category for towing this particular trailer combination as well as adhering to tachograph rules, if applicable

Linked to the letter from VOSA available at follwoing link:

http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/arb-trucks/39906-good-news-vosa.html

[ROG.]

If a manufacturer has set a braked trailer limit of 800 kgs then that refers to actual weight and not MAM weight

That means it could be a braked trailer with a 1200 MAM and weighed 400 empty with a 400 load on it

Another interesting fact is that there is no law which has a sanction for exceeding that manufacturers towing limit HOWEVER there are laws which can be used if the towing combination is deemed unsafe/unstable

[ROG.]

EDIT: Before anyone points it out, over here, emergency situations allows the towing weight to be disregarded temporarily. So towing your mates car from where it broke down to the 'shop is fine, but trailers are not.

It is allowed in an emergency to be towed to the nearest safe place - no further

[Baba]

Can someone please put my mind at rest here, I'm fed up with suggestions on the Swift Talk webby that my Ocky and caravan outfit maybe illegal.

 

I have an octy  2008 hatch VRS 2.0 TDI 170 DPF and my caravan is a Swift 2013 Challenger GTS 554 .

 

Prior to upgrading my old van for this new one it was matched at the caravan dealership and with The Caravan Club , I had an experience with snaking and discovered that my nose weight was too light at 60 kgs , I have now made the adjustments and have no further issues, I dunno if this person thinks a VRS is some lightweight car, as far as I can tell it's pretty heavy and solid.

[Llanigraham]

I've finally found this site:

 

http://www.towcar.info/index.php

 

and put what I think is right for your set-up.

 

Seems to imply that it is legal as the c'van is 95% of the cars KW, but not ideal. Getting the nose weight right is a great help.

 

The "Swiftalk" forum doesn't have a very good reputation amongst some people, so I wouldn't worry too much.