Upgrade weight plate

Nov 30, 2022
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That's exactly correct You get a new decal to affix to the outside and a new Certificate of Conformity. I have done it for tge last 2 caravans I have owned. Its a con!
Nothing actually "alters" on the caravan The Statutory VIN plate in the gas locker shows the higher weight from new anyway.

It's a bit of a throw back to the time you needed the +E category on your driving licence to drive a rig over 3500 kg. By having a lower MTPLM it widened the market slightly in regards to who might buy the caravan and still remain under the magic 3500kg

The "upgrade" just boosts your available payload by about 50kg
But don't forget that Bailey quote the MIRO Without a leisure battery (which they say you shouldnt operate the caravan without :unsure:) so one of those takes 25 - 30kg off your payload to start with, then if you have amotor mover that's another 25-30kg so the upgrade is wiped out before you start. If you fit a battery and mover, and dont go for the "upgrade" you start out with only about 100kg available payload (gas bottle, crockery, clothes, food soon exceed that figure) Crazy isn't it?
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Nov 11, 2009
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On one Bailey I had an upgrade. It just about compensated for my battery and motor mover and recovered my 250kg payload. Where Bailey were remiss is they did not give any indication that the original tyres Load Index came to 1420 kg and after the upgrade the Caravan MTPLM was 1400 kg. So I fitted higher Load Index tyres to give more margin.
 
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Nov 6, 2005
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On one Bailey I had an upgrade. It just about compensated for my battery and motor mover and recovered my 250kg payload. Where Bailey were remiss is they did not give any indication that the original tyres Load Index came to 1420 kg and after the upgrade the Caravan MTPLM was 1400 kg. So I fitted higher Load Index tyres to give more margin.
I believe the NCC recommend tyre Load Index should be at least 10% higher than the MTPLM - whilst not illegal, such an upgrade as you received should have removed the NCC Approved classification from your caravan. Just shows how inept the UK caravan is!
 
Sep 21, 2022
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That's exactly correct You get a new decal to affix to the outside and a new Certificate of Conformity. I have done it for tge last 2 caravans I have owned. Its a con!
Nothing actually "alters" on the caravan The Statutory VIN plate in the gas locker shows the higher weight from new anyway.

It's a bit of a throw back to the time you needed the +E category on your driving licence to drive a rig over 3500 kg. By having a lower MTPLM it widened the market slightly in regards to who might buy the caravan and still remain under the magic 3500kg

The "upgrade" just boosts your available payload by about 50kg
But don't forget that Bailey quote the MIRO Without a leisure battery (which they say you shouldnt operate the caravan without :unsure:) so one of those takes 25 - 30kg off your payload to start with, then if you have amotor mover that's another 25-30kg so the upgrade is wiped out before you start. If you fit a battery and mover, and dont go for the "upgrade" you start out with only about 100kg available payload (gas bottle, crockery, clothes, food soon exceed that figure) Crazy isn't it?
,

Thank you Mr P you have confirmed my suspicion of smoke and mirrors, £65 gone with no real value at all - I have a battery & quad movers !! boat river and no paddles spring to mind - crazy for sure.
 
Jan 20, 2023
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Some offer a decent payload increase, my previous 2018 Sprite was one, MTPLM increased from 1624kgs to 1800kgs! Our current caravan only offers an increase from 1424kgs to 1500kgs but as Mr Plod pointed out, it’s all a bit of a con!
 
Nov 11, 2009
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I believe the NCC recommend tyre Load Index should be at least 10% higher than the MTPLM - whilst not illegal, such an upgrade as you received should have removed the NCC Approved classification from your caravan. Just shows how inept the UK caravan is!
When did the NCC introduce the 10% load index margin. I suspect that it may have been after I had my upgrade in spring 2006.
 
Nov 6, 2005
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When did the NCC introduce the 10% load index margin. I suspect that it may have been after I had my upgrade in spring 2006.
Way before that - when I bought my first new caravan in 1983, UK caravan makers could, and did, fit tyres 10% below the gross weight as an allowance because caravans "never" exceed 50 mph - I don't recall the exact date the NCC introduced the Approved Caravan scheme, hence the little badge on the A-frame, but things like tyre load index at MTPLM plus 10%, minimum payload, the term MIRO were introduced
 
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Way before that - when I bought my first new caravan in 1983, UK caravan makers could, and did, fit tyres 10% below the gross weight as an allowance because caravans "never" exceed 50 mph - I don't recall the exact date the NCC introduced the Approved Caravan scheme, hence the little badge on the A-frame, but things like tyre load index at MTPLM plus 10%, minimum payload, the term MIRO were introduced

I’ve read some of the posts on another forum that you have posted on along with Arc too. But in 2006/7 comments by Swift were clearly saying that because the caravan tyre speeds rating was higher than the legal limit for towing in U.K. the load capabilities automatically gained another 10% so having tyres fitted that only just exceeded the MTPLM was satisfactory. Around that time Bailey Pageant range had tyres whose LI only just exceeded MTPLM viz 1420 cf 1400kg

I seem to recall that also around that time some vans suffered tyre failures and more focus was given to the make and quality of tyres fitted. I had a 2011 Sprite that came with Hankook Vantra C spec tyres that had a 10% margin in load index above MTPLM.
 
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May 7, 2012
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Seems an admission that the MTPLM is set too low. Personally I would buy it for the peace of mind the extra gives you and to help if you ae stopped for a check, It is a bit of a cheek though..
 
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My payload went from 163kg which was just about OK for a family of 4 on a two week holiday but had to be careful with 3 surfboards, wetsuits and 4 body boards etc to 357kg with the upgrade.
Yes, its a legalised scam but we know that we are well within limits rather than just squeaking below them
 

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Do you get a certificate with the upgrade plate? I am buying a caravan, it has the upgrade sticker in the gas locker but how do I prove this is no certificate?
 
Nov 11, 2009
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Do you get a certificate with the upgrade plate? I am buying a caravan, it has the upgrade sticker in the gas locker but how do I prove this is no certificate?
I had paperwork from both Bailey and Swift confirming the upgrade plus a new sticky label for next to the door. I never fitted that label as they invariably faded, so just retained it in the vans paperwork and stuck it on when I parted with the vans.
 
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Mar 14, 2005
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Do you get a certificate with the upgrade plate? I am buying a caravan, it has the upgrade sticker in the gas locker but how do I prove this is no certificate?

The sticker, if it complies with the regulations, is a document in itself. You don’t need a certificate.
 
Nov 16, 2015
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My caravan, a 2013,Coachman has No plate in the front locker, and the axle is rated to. 1700kg, but Coachman would not give any upgrade when new. The only plate I have is the one by the door.
So could I legally tow at a MTPl of 1700kg.
IMG_20230825_163020_431.jpg
 
Nov 30, 2022
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That IS your caravans VIN plate, and no, because your caravans MTPLM is less than 1700kg

Unless you mean your car is rated to be able to tow a caravan thats MTPLM is 1700kg , in which case legally yes (Just)
 
Nov 11, 2009
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My caravan, a 2013,Coachman has No plate in the front locker, and the axle is rated to. 1700kg, but Coachman would not give any upgrade when new. The only plate I have is the one by the door.
So could I legally tow at a MTPl of 1700kg.
View attachment 5410
Here’s a radical input that’s been discussed ad infinitum on the Forum, without a definitive outcome. Your axle is rated at 1700kg. When towing you transfer 80kg onto the cars towball. So you reduce the axle loading to 1620 kg. Can you put another 80kg in the caravan.

Should have floated that one when a police motorcycle rider flagged me to follow into a Highways Depot near Ringwood, where the outfit was weighed and inspected.
 
Nov 16, 2015
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That IS your caravans VIN plate, and no, because your caravans MTPLM is less than 1700kg

Unless you mean your car is rated to be able to tow a caravan thats MTPLM is 1700kg , in which case legally yes (Just)
Mr Plodd. My car a Hyundai Santa Fe.GRW 2500kg ish. I am taking about the caravan. The pictures plate is the only one , nothing in the locker , I asked Coachman. On their 2013 brochure it states NO Upgrade. ????
 
Nov 16, 2015
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Here’s a radical input that’s been discussed ad infinitum on the Forum, without a definitive outcome. Your axle is rated at 1700kg. When towing you transfer 80kg onto the cars towball. So you reduce the axle loading to 1620 kg. Can you put another 80kg in the caravan.

Should have floated that one when a police motorcycle rider flagged me to follow into a Highways Depot near Ringwood, where the outfit was weighed and inspected.
I like that thought. Again what is the max towed limit. The caravan is towing, 1645kg . Let us say for this , tow hitch weight is 100 kg. You are still towing 1645 kg but axle weight will just be 1545 kg.
Pandora's box, Tin of worms.
 
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My caravan, a 2013,Coachman has No plate in the front locker, and the axle is rated to. 1700kg, but Coachman would not give any upgrade when new. The only plate I have is the one by the door.
So could I legally tow at a MTPl of 1700kg.
View attachment 5410

The plate shows an MTPLM of 1645kg and that is an absolute limit. There's no way you can make full use of a maximum permissible axle load of 1700kg without a change of plate, well not unless you have a negative noseweight of 55kg, which I presume and hope that you don't.

If the caravan weighs 1645kg and the noseweight is 100kg then you are towing 1545kg. You tow only the axle load, not the noseweight. The noseweight is being carried and is part of the overall weight of the towing vehicle. It is not being towed..
To put it bluntly, you would be towing a caravan weighing 1645kg but you wouldn't be towing 1645kg.
 
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Nov 30, 2022
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As someone who spent many years weighing vehicles and trailers of all types over many years I can assure you that when it comes to measuring whether a trailer exceeds its MTPLM then it is weighed ON ITS OWN not when attached to a towing vehicle.

It is entirely possible that it may be weighed when still attached to a towing vehicle. But if there is then  any suspicion its overweight then it will then be detached and weighed on its own.

I have come across many who subscribe to the "Well 80kg is taken by my car so that means my caravan weighs 80kg less" theory.
My response to that is "The courts most certainly dont share that view! !

MTPLM means exactly that, the maximum the trailer can weigh ON ITS OWN.
 
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As someone who spent many years weighing vehicles and trailers of all types over many years I can assure you that when it comes to measuring whether a trailer exceeds its MTPLM then it is weighed ON ITS OWN not when attached to a towing vehicle.

It is entirely possible that it may be weighed when still attached to a towing vehicle. But if there is then  any suspicion its overweight then it will then be detached and weighed on its own.

I have come across many who subscribe to the "Well 80kg is taken by my car so that means my caravan weighs 80kg less" theory.
My response to that is "The courts most certainly dont share that view! !

MTPLM means exactly that, the maximum the trailer can weigh ON ITS OWN.
As a matter of interest can you remember how many people towing caravans were prosecuted for being over weight when the caravan was detached? Also who detachs and reconnects the caravan , the driver or DVSA?
 
Mar 14, 2005
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My experience is that the weight of the caravan is seldom checked against its MTPLM. Normally, the outfit is left hooked up and only the caravan’s axle load (= towed load) is measured. That can be done much quicker and it still gives the authorities a good indication of whether a weight limit is exceeded. If the axle load limit is exceeded one can be pretty sure that the MTPLM is exceeded, too.
 
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As a matter of interest can you remember how many people towing caravans were prosecuted for being over weight when the caravan was detached? Also who detachs and reconnects the caravan , the driver or DVSA?
It wasn't that common, but a lot of "Words of advice" were given, along with transference of weight from caravan to car!!
Detachment and re-attachments were always (when I was involved) undertaken by the driver. I did always check re-attachments to ensure they were correct though (stressed drivers can make mistakes!!)

Lutz's comments are pretty accurate. If you see my previous post I did outline the circumstances where caravans are weighed alone. Sometimes it would be tow car axle weights exceded due to excessive noseweight, which was often the result of the caravan being overweight. Two separate (and expensive) offences, especially if en route to a ferry crossing as the rig would not be allowed to proceed until legal.
 
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