Am I Legal?

[Lovo]

Good evening all. Just a quick update. We took delivery of the insignia today. 1st thing that I did as you can imagine was check the vehicle weight plate. Fantastic the figure is 2120kg, the same as stated on the V5. Combining the new caravan MTPLW of 1377kg I have literally avoided the cat BE test by 3kg.

A very happy caravan ear indeed.

Thanks again for all your advice. Just hope it's a good enough tow car now!

Tony

 

[WoodlandsCamper]

Enjoy your Insignia like we enjoy ours. Good compromise as a tow car if you don't get to do as much towing as you would want to. 🙁

 

[ProfJohnL]

Good Luck and have fun

 

[Woodentop]

Thanks all for your replies. I ended up getting a towsure quote which confirmed that the outfit was over at 3516kg.

I spent the night fretting. In the morning contacted the car dealership and asked them to send me a copy of the actual V5 doc for the car so that I could double check the weights. To my delight the maximum permissible mass was 20kg lighter than the towsure quote. So I'm presuming that the weights stated on the V5 are legally the ones I should use? If this is the case the outfit comes in 3kg below the maximum limit for my licence.

1.6cdti insignia SRI - Max Permissible Mass 2120kg .taken from the V5.

Bailey Persiit 530/4 MTPLW 1377KG

TOTAL 3497KG

Just scraped it I thinks.

Cheers Tony

Hello Tony,

I must advise caution. Regardless of whats printed on the V5c ( which should in theory be accurate,) if you are stopped the authorities will look at the weight plate attached to the car. The Top figure is the GVW which is the same as the MAM. You need to stipulate to your car dealer that if the GVW on the plate is different to that printed on the V5 such that it takes you over your 3500kg limit then you will not accept the car as it is not as described , and is not fit for the purpose you have clearly advised them.

I don't think that is necessarily the case. I would guess that the DVLA use a generic weight for the vehicle whereas the plate usually at the bottom of the B pillar (the pillar between the front and back doors) on the UK nearside should be the actual weight for the vehicle with the selection of bells and whistles for that model and version.

There is only one certain way to find out - ring the DVLA who IME are very helpful. Have all the plate figures and caravan figures to hand and you will get a definitive answer. Note that the caravan weight will be on a plate on the outside of the body (not on a removable piece of faring.) Bailey put them near the door. If there is a difference between that label and the handbook check with the manufacturer - they have been known to get them wrong.

The bit about your wife diving all the way to the south of France does startle the imagination somewhat.....

 

[ProfJohnL]

See next posting.

 

[ProfJohnL]

Thanks all for your replies. I ended up getting a towsure quote which confirmed that the outfit was over at 3516kg.

I spent the night fretting. In the morning contacted the car dealership and asked them to send me a copy of the actual V5 doc for the car so that I could double check the weights. To my delight the maximum permissible mass was 20kg lighter than the towsure quote. So I'm presuming that the weights stated on the V5 are legally the ones I should use? If this is the case the outfit comes in 3kg below the maximum limit for my licence.

1.6cdti insignia SRI - Max Permissible Mass 2120kg .taken from the V5.

Bailey Persiit 530/4 MTPLW 1377KG

TOTAL 3497KG

Just scraped it I thinks.

Cheers Tony

Hello Tony,

I must advise caution. Regardless of whats printed on the V5c ( which should in theory be accurate,) if you are stopped the authorities will look at the weight plate attached to the car. The Top figure is the GVW which is the same as the MAM. You need to stipulate to your car dealer that if the GVW on the plate is different to that printed on the V5 such that it takes you over your 3500kg limit then you will not accept the car as it is not as described , and is not fit for the purpose you have clearly advised them.

I don't think that is necessarily the case. I would guess that the DVLA use a generic weight for the vehicle whereas the plate usually at the bottom of the B pillar (the pillar between the front and back doors) on the UK nearside should be the actual weight for the vehicle with the selection of bells and whistles for that model and version.

There is only one certain way to find out - ring the DVLA who IME are very helpful. Have all the plate figures and caravan figures to hand and you will get a definitive answer. Note that the caravan weight will be on a plate on the outside of the body (not on a removable piece of faring.) Bailey put them near the door. If there is a difference between that label and the handbook check with the manufacturer - they have been known to get them wrong.

The bit about your wife diving all the way to the south of France does startle the imagination somewhat.....

Hello Woodentop.

You have made a fundamental error. The plate does not represent the weight of the vehicle, it specifies the MAX limits, and as such it does not need to take into account "bells and whistles" which in fact have to be accommodated within the cars max limits.

Added by edit:-
It is up to the car manufacturer to ensure the dataplate is correct for the vehicle. For example the same body and running gear may be fitted to two versions of the same model, the difference being the engines power output. The least powerful version may have a lower GTW figure, compared to the most powerful version, even though the GVW are the same

The weight plate also carries the VIN number, which makes it unique to the vehicle to which it is attached. It was done this way to enable roadside checks to be carried out without having to refer to 'head office' > bear in mind this scheme was in force well before the boom in mobile communications and fully computerised records.

As the plate is fixed to the vehicle this forms the basis of any official action.

The DVLA may very helpful, but they try to deal in facts not suppositions. therefore they would not use 'generic' information but specific information about the vehicle associated to its registered numbers.