5 hours ago, Mee said:

Might sound like a stupid question but, does my trailer need to be insured?

See Money Supermarket where it says 

Quote

Most comprehensive car insurance policies cover trailers, but usually only for third party liability. In other words, you would be covered for any injury to another person or damage to their property. However, your policy would not pay out if your own trailer or caravan was damaged in an accident that was your fault. Third party cover also excludes theft and fire damage.

 

Edited 31 July, 20196 yr by PetrolDave

Another potentially stupid question, our driveway is a quite steep 40-45°,  would we still be able to tow off it and in turn reverse back into it with a trailer attached? Or do you recommend taking the trailer into the road for coupling?

Also do I need to stick / screw down the base piece of wood in the trailer? This is not part of the make up of the trailer, just something that I’m going to be putting in to help protect the trailer floor 

 

Towing up the drive will not be an issue. The closer the trailer axle is to the car the harder it is to reverse, it's all down to skill and the visibility of the trailer.  Reversing a large caravan is easier than a little rubbish trailer. For many with a little light trailer it's easier to take it off rather than reverse it.

 

If you are putting a wood floor in then yes I would screw it down due to the bounce with an empty trailer but I've never found it necessary to install a wood floor.

Edited 1 August, 20196 yr by logiclee

On 31/07/2019 at 03:53, Mee said:

Me again,

 

 

Might sound like a stupid question but, does my trailer need to be insured?

 

 

Against what?

5 hours ago, FlyingGecko said:

 

 

Against what?

 

Against if someone decides to drive into it, or such like iykwim, I’d dread to imagine ME coming off worse for it being uninsured 

 

 

edit: 

thinking about it, should I get a rear facing camera too?

Edited 2 August, 20196 yr by Mee

33 minutes ago, Mee said:

 

Against if someone decides to drive into it, or such like iykwim, I’d dread to imagine ME coming off worse for it being uninsured 

 

 

edit: 

thinking about it, should I get a rear facing camera too?

 

Yeah, a rear view camera on the trailer would be an epic mod 😁

3 minutes ago, pist0nbr0ke said:

 

Yeah, a rear view camera on the trailer would be an epic mod 😁

Lol! 😂

I meant a rear view camera in the car for the road behind and around the trailer,

but no your idea sounds the dogs doodahs 👍 😂

 

 

...I can picture it now...

Edited 2 August, 20196 yr by Mee

2 hours ago, Mee said:

 

Against if someone decides to drive into it, or such like iykwim, I’d dread to imagine ME coming off worse for it being uninsured 

 

 

edit: 

thinking about it, should I get a rear facing camera too?

 

 

As others have said your car insurance will nearly always cover the trailer for third party risks. So if you hit another car or pedestrian with the trailer they will pay out for the damage to the other party. Always best to check your current policy though. If your  trailer is damaged by another driver then you clam off them.

 

To cover the trailer you can buy trailer insurance but for small camping and rubbish trailers that get minimal use and are relatively cheap it's not worth it.

 

I have a caravan and a car transporter which are insured separately but with my 7x5 trailer they are £1200 new but £600 used on ebay and that's it's real value for the insurers. Take off £100 excess and I'd really be insuring £500. It's not worth doing.

Edited 2 August, 20196 yr by logiclee

I appreciate the topic has moved on since my question above. My point was what risks were you considering - damage to, damage by, GAP, etc. but you've answered that. I'd presumed if you were wondering whether it was a LEGAL requirement then you'd have asked your insurance company. 

 

As for the comments "your car insurance will nearly always cover the trailer for 3rd party...", well, again, your own insurance company will be the place to get the definitive answer. I wouldn't rely on an online forum saying "will nearly always".

For MY peace of mind I'd seriously consider 3rd party cover if my existing insurance didn't include it, but wouldn't bother with cover for the trailer itself unless the premium was a few ££.  I'm with logiclee on these points.

 

Cameras? A brief trawl on Briskoda (never mind the wider internet) will produce dozens of separate threads all on the same topic, so good luck with wading through all that. Front screen, yes/no? Rear screen, yes/no? Internal recording, yes/no? It's down to one's need for greater or lesser peace of mind, and how much one's willing/able to spend. Me, I've got two, forward and rear facing. The latter mainly to record what happens should my bike rack fall off, so I could put it on Youtube.

4 hours ago, Mee said:

 

Against if someone decides to drive into it, or such like iykwim, I’d dread to imagine ME coming off worse for it being uninsured 

 

 

edit: 

thinking about it, should I get a rear facing camera too?

 

38 minutes ago, FlyingGecko said:

 

 

As for the comments "your car insurance will nearly always cover the trailer for 3rd party...", well, again, your own insurance company will be the place to get the definitive answer. I wouldn't rely on an online forum saying "will nearly always".

 

 

That was me but if you had quoted my full post it did read.

 

",,,,,nearly always cover the trailer for third party risks. So if you hit another car or pedestrian with the trailer they will pay out for the damage to the other party. Always best to check your current policy though"

 

The only policies I've seen that do not include third party cover for trailers are specialist policies for young or especially high risk drivers.

 

It is a legal requirement to have third party cover for trailers.

 

 

 

Many thanks for the replies 

 

i was asking as I was unsure if it’s a legal requirement or not, I’ve read pc plod can prosecute for a number of trailer misdemeanours, I don’t want to fall foul of any of them

I was also concerned as to what was covered, I over think things, it’s my job lol

 

ive got another camera, a fish eyed lenses ball that communicates with my (had to get a replacement) new front camera...getting another stand alone would’ve been too bulky imo

 

turning into a expensive exercise this trailer malarkey lol

 

anyone wanna buy a used nextbase 512g with box, cables, CD, et all?

nowt wrong with it, I’m just the new owner of a 522gw 😂

Hi logiclee, I did say I was agreeing with you.

When you said camera I thought you meant reversing camera and these are very helpful anyway and great with the trailer. Can he had cheaply from AliExpress and we’ll worth the money

On a sidenote if you have only passed your test in the past 6 years you need to now do a test to tow trailers.

A  lad in work got a shock when towing his friends car to garage🤨 

1 hour ago, DEL80Y said:

On a sidenote if you have only passed your test in the past 6 years you need to now do a test to tow trailers.

A  lad in work got a shock when towing his friends car to garage🤨 

 

That's not correct.

 

If you passed your test before 1st Jan 1997 you will have B+E on your licences which allows you to tow a trailer up to a plated gross train weight (Car+trailer) of 8250kg.

 

If you passed after 1st Jan 1997 you only get B entitlement.  This limits the trailer weight to 750kg if the Maximum Allowable Mass (MAM) of the car and trailer exceeds 3500kg. You can tow any trailer as long as the MAM of the car and trailer does not exceed 3500kg.  These are plated weights and not actual weights.

 

There was another restriction that on a B licence the trailer MAM could not exceed 100% of the cars kerbweight but this was removed a few years ago.

 

Anyone passing their test after 1st Jan 1997 will need to take a B+E test to exceed the above limits.

 

For example my XF is 2360kg GVM and my caravan in 1460kg MTPLM so the MAM for the outfit is 3820kg so requires a B+E.

For the  Octavia 1.2TSi 1780kg GVW and our 7x5 trailer 750kg MTPLM so the MAM for the outfit is 2530kg so is OK on a B license. (But with that trailer you could tow it with anything that can be driven on a B

 

Lee

Edited 3 August, 20196 yr by logiclee

1 hour ago, logiclee said:

 

That's not correct.

 

There was another restriction that on a B licence the trailer MAM could not exceed 100% of the cars kerbweight but this was removed a few years ago.

 

 

Lee

It was the Traffic that stopped him towing a customers car round the corner to the back of the garage

Let of with a warning

 

I think this might be where he got into trouble as he was using an Astravan to tow in a Pajero

Towing cars / vans with their wheels on the road a whole different thing, rope or bar, both vehicles needing to be road legal, same with drivers.

Towing to or from MOT stations makes no difference because it is supposed to be 'towing to the nearest place of safety.

Then the whole 'A Bar' or Dolly thing is another can of worms.

 

Edited 3 August, 20196 yr by Roottootemoot

45 minutes ago, DEL80Y said:

It was the Traffic that stopped him towing a customers car round the corner to the back of the garage

Let of with a warning

 

I think this might be where he got into trouble as he was using an Astravan to tow in a Pajero

 

 

As we are talking trailers if the Pajero was on a trailer there would be several violations.

 

He would have exceeded 3500kg MAM so would be outside his license restrictions

 

He would have exceeded the Astra's plated GTW figure.

 

And the police can prosecute if driving a car and trailer outfit that is a danger to other road users.

Flipping heck. Truly a can of worms!

On 01/08/2019 at 09:05, Mee said:

Another potentially stupid question, our driveway is a quite steep 40-45°

I doubt it. 40° is about an 84% gradient or 1:1.2. You'd never get the car up there, let alone a trailer!

Edited 4 August, 20196 yr by Rodge

On 02/08/2019 at 23:41, logiclee said:

 

It is a legal requirement to have third party cover for trailers.

 

 

 

Must be true, I read it on a forum.

On 04/08/2019 at 22:54, Rodge said:

I doubt it. 40° is about an 84% gradient or 1:1.2. You'd never get the car up there, let alone a trailer!

 Ok maybe I exaggerated lol 

its still a fairly steep gradient though 

 

took the trailer out for the first time the other day, have to admit rolling it down the drive way was a tad scary! 

Rolling it back up took two of us, one pulling, one to stop it rolling back down lol

 

even then taking the trailer down the driveway for the maiden drive was stop start to check car connections were still in the green 

 

neither of us were brave enough to attempt reversing just yet lol

On a steep drive you might want to consider a hand winch. Seen this type been used before on a steep drive where an anchor point as set up so the winch could be added or removed easily when not in use.

https://www.machinemart.co.uk/p/tw600-hand-operated-winch/

@Mee @Rodge - Well, a grade of X% is worked out by taking an old "1 in N" figure and converting that to a percentage as ,say, 1 in 10 = 1/10 = 0.1 and convert to a percentage by muliplaying by 100, for 10% in the example. There are a few "33%" pitches in Cumbria.