Returning to Caravanning

[Daventura]

Quote from Gov.UK "The gross train weight is the weight of the fully-loaded car plus fully-loaded trailer and must not be exceeded". I reckon that means up to but not beyond? I could have up to 100 kg in the 'van and around 350 kg to spare in the car after me and the missus have got in it.

 

[otherclive]

Hi. I have since found out on their website that the MIRO actually includes the tolerance so it maybe that it could be 5% lower than stated, hopefully. Do you like your Sprite?

We bought it after giving up caravanning for three years when literally everything was sold. So we had to set up afresh and went for the Sprite as it provided all of the basics and being the TD is particularly spacious during the day. It’s a budget van but we’ve always been comfortable in it and until very recently our granddaughter came with us on many trips. It’s been reliable and other than a cracked rear panel it’s been trouble free. The panel was replaced under swift warranty. It’s payload is near 200 kg which is about sufficient, MTPLM is 1300kg, and it tows really well. So “ yes” I like it. Would I buy something more glitzy? Probably not at my age. 👍👍

PS our two Springers love being away in the caravan too.

 

[Hutch]

OC thats great but with my Coachman our payload is used up to the Max. We have thined stuff down, even to the point of not taking dual packs of toilet chemicals. But when your going away for a month or two, buying in bulk saves money, but payload hurts.

 

[Beachball]

OC thats great but with my Coachman our payload is used up to the Max. We have thined stuff down, even to the point of not taking dual packs of toilet chemicals. But when your going away for a month or two, buying in bulk saves money, but payload hurts.

Hi Hutch going away a month or two the most for me is three weeks for medical reasons

 

[otherclive]

Hi Hutch going away a month or two the most for me is three weeks for medical reasons

Hutch
i know what you mean re Payload restriction. Once when we went off to France there were two 15 kg bags of dog food and I even took some weights. The Bailey S5 had an upgrade and was near 250 kg but even so the Sorento was well loaded too. But the “good news” is that if we were to go do it again the dry dog food mix would not be allowed into the EU, neither would my cheddar, long life milk etc. etc. So we would cross with a Mars Bar and a bottle of Evian and look for the nearest Auchan for some tins of Canigou for the dogs, and would probably be banned from bringing back my tins of cassoulet and saucisson sec too by U.K. Border.
😰😰😪☹

 

[Buckman]

Insurance has nothing to do with this conversation. If the drivers licence is not contravened and neither are the outfit weight limits and towing limits exceeded there is no insurance issue either.

Point I was querying is that in the event of a claim the insurance company cannot weigh the vehicles or units so I would think that they would need to go by the plated weights?

 

[Daventura]

We bought it after giving up caravanning for three years when literally everything was sold. So we had to set up afresh and went for the Sprite as it provided all of the basics and being the TD is particularly spacious during the day. It’s a budget van but we’ve always been comfortable in it and until very recently our granddaughter came with us on many trips. It’s been reliable and other than a cracked rear panel it’s been trouble free. The panel was replaced under swift warranty. It’s payload is near 200 kg which is about sufficient, MTPLM is 1300kg, and it tows really well. So “ yes” I like it. Would I buy something more glitzy? Probably not at my age. 👍👍

PS our two Springers love being away in the caravan too.

That's an amazing caravan for that weight. It's been 20 yrs since we caravanned with our family so it's a bit like starting over again. What with having work done to the house, in the garden and this year flippin Covid we haven't been willing to go away for a holiday for a couple of years now. In a way Covid has given us the opportunity to have some safe time away (eventually?)
I've just turned 70 and my wife is 69 and thankfully we are both fit enough to take this up again, for a few years hopefully.

 

[otherclive]

That's an amazing caravan for that weight. It's been 20 yrs since we caravanned with our family so it's a bit like starting over again. What with having work done to the house, in the garden and this year flippin Covid we haven't been willing to go away for a holiday for a couple of years now. In a way Covid has given us the opportunity to have some safe time away (eventually?)
I've just turned 70 and my wife is 69 and thankfully we are both fit enough to take this up again, for a few years hopefully.

Like you we have had a lot of home projects as we moved house in spring 2019, and since 2017 there have been some family related difficulties so being able to get away four times July-October last year was a real boon.

I hope you enjoy the new caravan fir many years to come.

 

[Raywood]

Taking the sum of the plated maximum gross weight of the vehicle and the plated maximum gross weight of the caravan/trailer if added together exceed the maximum gross train weight, then the driver could be prosecuted. insurance may then only pay out third party in the event of a mishap and then claim back those costs from the driver.

You cannot be prosecuted for the maximum plated weights of the combination exceeding the gross train weight. The prosecution would have to show that the actual weight was exceeded. It is perfectly legal to have a combination that exceeds the plated weight of the towing vehicle. This is used extensively in transport where very lightweight tractor units are used to deliver trailers, which if loaded would exceed the tractor units towing capacity.
The insurance aspect would normally only be a problem if the insurer could show that the exceeding of the limit caused or contributed to an accident. The exception would be a small number of policies that exclude trailers heavier than the towing vehicle, which is slightly different.