Thanks Lutz , just as I thought but both the caravan Club and Towsure have told him it is illegal.
Do you know if the maximum braked trailer weight changes if restrited to 60mph as hinted in the handbook.
Think I've read renaults doing this somewhere.
Hello Brian,
Have the CC and Towsure both actually stated the outfit is illegal, or 'not recommend'? There is an important difference.
Many years ago cars were built and there were no details given by the manufactures as to what they could tow. In an effort to help reduce towing problems, the caravan industry decided that a towing ratio of no more than 85% caravan to car was a reasonable compromise. This probably took into account the much lower power outputs from engines in those days as much as the braking efficiency and controllability.
This figure has not been revised in line with technical advances in cars, and the CC (and other UK based caravanning organisations) continue to only recommend outfit matches of 85% or less.
This is unique to the UK, and it has no legal basis on its own. What is required is that and outfit must be operating within its legal limits and not represent a hazard. Note that an outfit that is within its limits may still represent a hazard if mechanically or loaded unsafely or driven badly.
It is now the fact that all new cars sold in the EU have to be type approved, and this process requires car manufacture to establish by tests, what their cars can actually tow. This has led to all cars being rated. Some are not approved to tow anything, and others are rated to tow well beyond 100% These new limits are now accepted by the authorities as the basis for determining load limits. Despite this evidence based testing, the UK caravan industry still buries its head in the sand and ignores this evidence and continues to recommend only up to 85%. (Where it is within the cars stated capability).
Now it does make sense to keep the trailer weight as low as possible compared to the tow vehicle, this should be the goal of every driver but the rigidity of the 85% guideline makes little sense when there is good evidence to the contrary.
Good towing is not simply down to weight ratios, it is affected by the way an outfit is loaded, its mechanical condition, road conditions, and probably the biggest influence is the driving style.
Whilst I argue against the rigidity of the 85% figure, it's intention of keeping trailer weights low is a sensible approach. But don't feel hemmed in by it. The only legal limit is what the car manufacture allows.
The only other limits that can apply is the driver licence categories. If you only have cat B, (not B+E) you are limited to a trailer that cannot weigh more than the kerbweight of the tow car, and a combined outfit weight of less than 3500Kg
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