Fear of towing

[jallin]

Hi All
Help! please! I have a real fear of towing our caravan which is totally in opposition to my personality. I am a confident female middle aged driver! I have driven abroad many times even when on my own with 2 little children on small winding roads. Now we are thinking of taking our caravan to France next year, I think I need to be able to tow to share the load but I have never towed and have developed an imaginary fear of doing so. Has anyone got any tales or advice to share to help to allay my fears. Thanks.

 

[Dustydog]

Hi Jallin
Well done for posting your fear :cheer:
No problem. Both the Clubs offer first class hands on towing courses.
My wife did one e at Evesham many years ago and now tows with no trouble.
The course she did was 1 1/2 days on a weekend.
It was relaxed and enjoyable.
The package and guides they gave her even taught me a few new tricks
You will not regret the course. Nor will you be embarrassed by any hiccups.
The tutors are first class professionals and dry patient and understanding .
Go for it.

 

[Martin24]

Thank you and well done on the post.

My wife luckily learned (if that's the right term) to tow when I was fit and healthy as now she does nearly all of the towing as I can only drive for about an hour at a time.

I recommended she do a course with one of the two main clubs but she refused and wanted me to teach her. I would recommend the club courses to anyone as the best way forward but she insisted she wanted to do things the same way as I do them.

The very best of luck with your towing adventure, you won't regret it.

 

[Parksy]

Apart. from the good advice already offered, if you are going to the Caravan and Motorhome Show at the NEC in a couple of weeks time you can have a go at towing a caravan in a car owned by one of the clubs with an instructor supervising free of charge.
This will give you a chance to boost your confidence under controlled conditions and you'll then be able to decide that if towing isn't as scary as you imagined (and it isn't) you can book a towing course as Dustydog described.

 

[Hutch]

Jallin, same as the others, my wife done the, very nice short course, 20 to 30 minutes, at the NEC a few years ago. And loved it , I was told by the lovely female instructor to sit in the back and "be quiet". It was very good and helped my wife a lot. But get there early, and its free.
Go for it. Also towing in France is not really a problem.
Hutch.

 

[otherclive]

I understand your apprehension and applaud your willingness to make changes. My wife has never towed our caravan and has steadfastly refused to take any tuition etc. But that's fine and it hasn't been a limitation to where we go or what we do. But since selling our Kia Sorento she will not drive any subsequent cars (Volvo XC70, Subaru Forester and Skoda Superb) saying they are too large. This from someone whose own cars have included Saab 9000, Mondeos, and Disco 2. She tells me that she will drive the Superb in an emergency. My comment is "would you really want the co-piot with no experience to take over from the Captain if he/she has a heart attack at 30000Ft"

Go for it and good luck.

 

[LizziePope]

Hi jallin and, like many others have said, bravo for admitting that it's a worry and for adopting such a brilliant attitude. As other users have said, there is plenty of training out there, so take advantage of that.

With a little time, patience and training, you'll be able to develop the skills and the confidence to do this. Maybe take your first few trips, post-training, close to home, so you can gradually get used to it and gain real world experience without straying too far.

All the very best with it!

 

[jallin]

Thanks everyone for your replies - I think I may and try to get to the NEC if not I will save for one of their courses. I think once I have tried it I will settle and feel better because I am usually not one to worry about driving - even abroad.

 

[Raywood]

Like the others I would go on a club towing course alrthough if you can try the sampler at the NEC this should help.
Basically I would not start with anything too big and move up as you get confidence. Frankly once you try it you do realise that it is not that difficult and your confidence will grow pretty rapidly.
The one thing you do have to be careful with at first is that the caravan like all trailers will cut in on slow corners and you do have to learn to take them a bit wider. Watch the inside in the wing mirror and you will soon get the hang of it.

 

[SamandRose]

Great attitude Jallin and thanks for sharing.

The first thing to say is there must be plenty of people like you - or at the very least nervous if not afraid - because if this was not the case there wouldn't be any market for towing courses. However, you might be able to help yourself as well.

Can I ask whether there's any particular part of towing that really has you worried? Such as manoeuvring / getting stuck in spaces / being unable to reverse? Or 'what it' something goes wrong when you're on the motorway and have your kids in the car?

For low speed practice, the advice I'd give to anyone is to get yourself to a supermarket car park or an industrial estate on a Sunday afternoon and just get used to towing round corners or into spaces. You can have a go at reversing as well.

If you live suitably close to a motorway or fast dual carriageway, that's probably a good next step. Don't forget that (a) all the other traffic is moving in the same direction as you and (b) if it's busier you'll be travelling more slowly.

My own story is that we bought our first caravan in a private sale in Surrey and had to tow it home to our home in south Staffordshire. I took some confidence from the previous owners saying that they'd taken it in turns towing to the south of France - thinking "well if they can do it, I can" - but Rose will testify that once I had it on the back of my car and was on the way home, I was, well, somewhat tense. However, a slow moving M25 between Leatherhead and Heathrow gave me plenty of time to get used to having it on the back and by the time we were half way up the M40 I was hardly thinking about it any more. Less than 9 months later I'd towed it to Switzerland. Towing aside, you sound like an experienced and confident driver so I'd be surprised if something similar didn't happen for you.

Go for it and let us know how you get on

 

[RayS]

Hope you are encouraged by previous replies. A few years ago my eyesight started to fail and potentially this was the end of nearly 50 years of touring. But my wife decided to take up towing and has done so ever since.
She is American and thus not used to roundabouts and narrow country lanes so still a bit wary in these situations. But she has completed 3 round trips to southern Spain and two to France doing the whole trip including ferries.
The Club courses are undoubtedly good but concentrate on manouvering and theory rather than on the road experience. We found a local instructor who teaches people to take trailer tests and she had an afternoon with him in our car but towing his trailer. We discussed the programme in advance and he concentrated on traffic and roundabout situation. The afternoon cost around £90 money very well spent.
We plan ahead and make things as easy as possible by using the French autoroutes and having a tag. We go to sites we know if possible and look at others on Google Earth before the trip" The tow down to Spain is around 1300 miles covered in overnight ferry to northern France plus two overnight stops before reacing destination on the 4th night.
Our combined ages come to approaching 155 with me being just a little older if not wiser.

Plan ahead, don't get too ambitios first time, consider some on the road training, and give it a go. Have a great time and next year you wonnder why you were concerned

 

[jallin]

Hi Thanks for all the encouragement. Everything me and my husband do is a team effort - whoever is home from work first cooks etc etc but recently he has had a bad back. It got me thinking about towing and how it would be sensible to have 2 of us who could tow just in case we needed it - or even just to share the load.....I will do this but just need that bit of training/coaxing ha