Towing limit vs MTPLM

[phiddlesrtw]

The unladen weight of my tow car is 1615kg and the towing limit is 1300kg (as per V5C).

If I were to tow a caravan with a MIRO of 1120kg and MTPLM of 1317kg and ensured that the laden weight of the caravan never exceeded the 1300kg tow limit, is this legal?

Where do I get a definitive answer that I can use should there ever be a need to ... from the caravan dealer, caravan manufacturer, police, DVLA, other?

 

[WoodlandsCamper]

In the event of an accident both the police and insurance companies will go by written evidence ie manufacturer's stated MTPLM and V5c, as there is no way of measuring actual weight after an accident. However, people will say that the law is not written very well with regards to towed weight and can argue both ways. Do you want to risk invalidating your insurance policy (on the car) in the event of an accident?? Could be an expensive claim.

 

[Dustydog]

The plates are a legal requirement and legally define eased weight platez MITPLM.
A number of manufacturers will issue revised plates with a lower weight.
Bailey on certain models will issue increased or decreased plates for £60
.00

 

[Sproket]

Have a read of this ....

 

[RogerL]

The towing limit has no legal status - the legal limits are the Gross Train Weight and the car's Maximum Authorised Mass, neither or which are permitted to be exceeded.

So if you limit the caravan's laden weight to 1300kg as you suggest - or alternatively don't fully load the car - in both cases, no offence occurs as the GTW isn't exceeded.

 

[TheTravellingRooster]

The unladen weight of my tow car is 1615kg and the towing limit is 1300kg (as per V5C).

If I were to tow a caravan with a MIRO of 1120kg and MTPLM of 1317kg and ensured that the laden weight of the caravan never exceeded the 1300kg tow limit, is this legal?

Where do I get a definitive answer that I can use should there ever be a need to ... from the caravan dealer, caravan manufacturer, police, DVLA, other?

Hi phiddlesrtw. A couple of years back I had a 1997 Volvo V70 T5 CD Auto that had a kerbweight of 1630kgs and a maximum braked towing limit of 1600kgs.
I towed my Elddis Crusader SuperSirocco ( MiRO 1426kgs MTPLM 1750kgs - I just ensured that I kept an inventory of everything that went into/onto the caravan and into & onto the car.
Do not overlook the fact that the hitch weight is part of your car payload and is behind the axle and is quite critical in the handling/steering of the car.
In my experience you cannot trust the figures that are printed on the V5C document - no more than you can trust the data bases for kerbweights.

The only sure way is a weighbridge and the best of the lot are Dynamic Axle Weighbridges (VOSA)..

What is your license entitlement?

If you were towing at your unladen weight and with your caravan loaded to the MPTLM - you would be towing at just under 82%.
Unladen weight and kerbweight or not one in the same thing.
Unladen weight I do believe is still the car as it left the showroom with minimal fuel and no driver weight allowance.

 

[ProfJohnL]

The unladen weight of my tow car is 1615kg and the towing limit is 1300kg (as per V5C).

If I were to tow a caravan with a MIRO of 1120kg and MTPLM of 1317kg and ensured that the laden weight of the caravan never exceeded the 1300kg tow limit, is this legal?

Where do I get a definitive answer that I can use should there ever be a need to ... from the caravan dealer, caravan manufacturer, police, DVLA, other?

Let me first say what you propose is legal from the cars perspective because the ACTUAL weight of the components would be within vehicle specifications.

There is a very good simple approach which suggests you should choose your caravans MTPLM to be within the cars stated towing limit. This is perfectly sound advice, but its not actually comparing apples with apples. You can usually tow a bit more but you do have to be very careful and understand the intricacies of the definitions and how to apply them.

The devil is in the detail, and the cars specification refers to the towed WEIGHT or MASS, it does not refer to the towed MTPLM. So the construction and use regulations look to see the actual weights involved do not exceed the maximum limits.

The total weight of a trailer is the sum of the axle load and the nose weight, and combined these must not exceed the MTPLM. Now the Eu regulations expect the nose weight of a trailer to be at least 4% of the trailers actual weight, so if your trailer was fully loaded up to its MTPLM of 1317kg then 4% (53Kg) would be the minimum expected nose weight. (The CC recommend aiming for between 5 and 7%) This means the axle load will only be 1317-53=1264Kg or less.

Now for complex reasons the EU consider the trailer nose weight is carried and not towed by the car so your maximum towed load is only 1264Kg, which is within your cars specification.

Now where MTPLM does play a part is with you driving licence categories. depending on when you passed your driving test, what you are allowed to drive is different. For private caravanners the relevant sections are Cat B and BE (B+e) If you passed your test before jan 1997, then you have Cat BE and that covers all normal private caravan towing. But if you passed after Jan 1997 then by default you will only have Cat B, which restricts you to outfits with braked trailers of combined MAM not exceeding 3500kg.

MAM and combined MAM may need some explanation:- MAM stands for Maximum Authorised Mass and it is the equivalent of the cars MLW or GVW or GVM and the trailers MTPLM. The combined aspect is for towing vehicles where the MAM of both the tow vehicle and the trailer must in simple terms be added together and must not exceed 3500Kg

Assuming you have a post 1997 licence , where does this leave you? Well your caravan has an MAM of 1317Kg which leaves 3500-1317 = 2183Kg for your car. Based on the ULW figure you give of 1615Kg that is a load capacity of 568Kg. If the full laden weight of your car exceeds 2183Kg (Check the data plate on your car) then you are not licenced to drive your outfit. If you passed before Jan 1997 then you are legal

 

[xtrailman]

The unladen weight of my tow car is 1615kg and the towing limit is 1300kg (as per V5C).

If I were to tow a caravan with a MIRO of 1120kg and MTPLM of 1317kg and ensured that the laden weight of the caravan never exceeded the 1300kg tow limit, is this legal?

Where do I get a definitive answer that I can use should there ever be a need to ... from the caravan dealer, caravan manufacturer, police, DVLA, other?

You should also consider any hill start.
Towing at the limit is always best avoided, difficulty with hill starts, generally working the car to its limits could lead to overheating of the engine and poor towing performance.

Probably ok if you only want to move it to a permanent site for the season.

 

[colin-yorkshire]

The unladen weight of my tow car is 1615kg and the towing limit is 1300kg (as per V5C).

If I were to tow a caravan with a MIRO of 1120kg and MTPLM of 1317kg and ensured that the laden weight of the caravan never exceeded the 1300kg tow limit, is this legal?

Where do I get a definitive answer that I can use should there ever be a need to ... from the caravan dealer, caravan manufacturer, police, DVLA, other?

hi, welcome to the forum,
the simple answer yes its fine go ahead, while the law is complex on this issue with multiple applications the basic rules are the towing limit or MAM [MTPLM] refers to the actual maximum weight a trailer can be.
however the maximum trailer towed weight refers to the TOW LOAD this is the [MAM] minus the nose weight as this is carried by the car and not towed, so in your case the tow load is 1317kg minus nose weight typically 75kg.
this means 1317kg minus 75kg = 1242kg, you could assuming the nose weight is 75kg tow a van with a MTPLM of 1375kg and still be legal.