Insurance and the 85% rule

[ProfAlGoogle]

See Cris you just can't let it go, must have the last word and no doubt this attitude is carried over when you drive, I'm right and your wrong get out of my way, and if any one dares to pull in front of you, case of headlights full on, horn blaring...........and we all know the rest,.patience is a virtue. And I just love this bit

"I still have a clean accident blame free road and track record with any vehicle and still as always carry full no claims bonus!And that's after over 35 years on the road! And a lot more than average mileage."

You know what they say about self praise........LOL.

 

[Lutz]

Bearing in mind that Bailey did not appear to mention any conditions or precautions attached to towing at 81mph, I find their statement rather courageous, to say the least.

 

[cris_408518]

Well with your continued rudeness what do you expect Allan quite frankly.

If anyone can't leave it you have proven that is you!

Pull the complete thread Mod !

 

[ProfAlGoogle]

Pull the complete thread Mod !

Dummy out the pram!!!

 

[trucker]

If you 2 children dont stop bickering then the whole thread will be pulled by the mods. That would be a great shame as there is some good debate on this one.

Grow up.

Kevin H

 

[ProfAlGoogle]

Agreed.

Allan.

 

[Berty3]

I always tow at around 55 / 58ish on a Motorway, it feels a lot safer and far more relaxing and not to mention the saving in fuel, mine seems far more economical below 60mph. and like it says in the highway code : Adapt your driving to the appropriate type and condition of road you are on. In particular do not treat speed limits as a target. It is often not appropriate or safe to drive at the maximum speed limit.

To which I fully agree, with the exception that if I am on a single carriageway road I will drive up to and slightly over the maximum allowed 50mph in order to help maintain traffic flow, as overtaking opportunities can some times be very limited and at times dangerous, but a Motorway is a different matter altogether with a lot of other vehicles travelling a lot slower than my 55ish, and to my knowledge I have never caused a hold up on motorways, even at that speed I overtake a lot of other vehicles, mainly lorries. In my opinion it does not make a jot of difference if you are travelling at 55 or 60mph.

Berty.

 

[Brian_374247999]

Hello Ray,

I agree with a lot of what you say, but the 85% figure is potentially very misleading. As you concede it is not a rule, it is only a suggested guideline. We are unique in the UK in having this low suggestion, and whilst I agree it is sensible target ratio, I have seen several outfits in trouble that I have little doubt were equal or better than 85%. There is a lot more to towing than just a simple weight ratio.

We must not forget that there are legal limits which relate to the tow vehicles specification produced by the manufacturer, and of course the permitted MGW for outfits on standard driving licences.

If a legal ratio limit were to be set why choose 85%? This figure was suggested by the caravan industry, for caravans, But there are many other types of trailers, some are far more stable than caravans and some less, so perhaps the limit should be different limits for each type, Then the problem is defining which group your trailer fits and overseeing it would be come another opportunity for Government to charge us even more tax to administer the process.

As for braking distances, there has been some evidence that suggests that a well set up car and caravan can stop in a shorter distance than the solo car. This is a rather academic test because it only applies in a straight line. As you rightly say, under turning conditions, the outfit does behave very differently, and making allowances for that does mean increasing stopping distances.

With regard to the number of caravan incidents, the travel reports we get are very very biased. You often hear of road closures because of some unfortunate event, but if a caravan is involved the reporters seem to make a meal out of it. Disproportionate weight is given to incidents involving caravans, but in reality it is probably less than 1% of all road closure incidents.

I have no problem if you wish to keep your outfit entirely within the 85% figure, but that does not make others wrong or less safe if they exceed it provided the vehicle manufacturers specification allows it, and they drive sensibly.

Regarding the stopping distances with the van on the back,reminded me of an incident whilst towing my Abbey 217 with the old fourtrack that I bought just for towing. Coming up the A1 just past Berwick on the way home, I noticed that a big 'Artic'was a little too close for comfort. Before I had time to consider any action,a car pulled out of a roadside 'cafe' right in front of me. Bang went on the brakes very hard, I stopped no bother with the fourtrack and the caravan. Not so lucky for the 'Artic' driver, he new he couldn't stop,and to avoid coming into the back of me,went to the opposite side of the road passing me with the smoke coming of his tyres!! After he recovered and I proceeded on our way. He made sure he stayed a good way back after that! I think he probably had to change his trousers shortly afterwards!

 

[David_374296080]

Lutz, in respect to the insurance issue I feel your missing the point, its the caravan insurers who will not accept the situation. Surely they have 100% feedback of towing incident claims that they settle, irrespective of this being but a small percentage of all motoring claims.

So they must be able to form a pretty well informed view of the risk they are taking, and seemingly they don,t like too high a weight ratio.

Perhaps it is the 168BHP that the insurers object to and they imagine that the caravan will be pulled at great speed by a fairly light car. Personally I am sick and tired of stroppy insurers and I'm no spring chicken. I tow with a Rover 825SD which is brilliant as there is about 1 ton on the driving wheels (1.7 tonne gross). I was once sent to the weighbridge but they couldn't make anything stick, but to avoid future hassle I bought a Range Rover. Insuring the Rangie was a nightmare as it had originally been a 12mpg 3.5 V8 Auto EFI Vogue. Someone had converted it to a VM 2.4 turbo diesel 5 speed, but even though the engine has "Range Rover" on it most companies regarded it as a kit-car. The other problem was its lack of alarms and immobilisers. I had to insure it as a classic car and use a "Disklock" on the steering wheel. Before Christmas the hatchback was given a rear-end shunt by a taxi. Still had no compensation. It seems to me that insurers like to take your money, but they are very tardy when it comes to paying out and they constantly think up ways to avoid paying. (I had that problem with a trailer bought with a PLATINUM credit card) MBNA "Platinum" is basically rust, as they had introduced a multitude of get-out clauses (without informing me). Basically the "Worldwide Purchase Protection" was worthless except in a small number of cases. (Exclusions were "cars, boats, aircraft, their engines and accessories, caravans, tickets and money, perishables, foodstuffs, work done by tradesmem) Not a lot left! (Would work done by a tradeswoman be insured?)