Lutz said:It's poor practice to change a definition because you never know whether someone is talking about kerbweight according to the old definition or according to the new one.Raywood said:Possibly the guide reference to kerb weight needs to be updated to mass in service, as that is basically the figure you should use.
Mass is service isn't a particularly good choice if you want to be really accurate, either. It will nearly always result in a conservative weight ratio figure because mass in service is the minimum that the car can weigh to make it saleable. It wouldn't include any uplevel factory fitted options that the car may have. Bearing in mind that manufacturers are under no obligation to publish kerbweight figures, the closest one will get to kerbweight, as defined in UK legislation, is the actual weight figure that will only be found in the Certificate of Conformity issued with the car. The only difference between that figure and kerbweight is that it allows 75kg for the driver, which kerbweight doesn't, and only a 90% full fuel tank instead of a 100% full one as per the kerbweight definition.
Can’t recall receiving a Certificate of Conformity either with a new car or newish use cars less 9 months old.