Question for our German friends
What conditions need to be met in order to upgrade your caravan speed to 100kph on Motorways in Germany?
Can any test or inspection be done in the UK?
Comments
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I think coaches can obtain the certifcate in the UK but I have never heard of caravans. There is an issue of whether a caravan needs to be registered as they are in Germany but not in the UK. As the certificate has to be obtained from a TUV centre non registration
might cause some confusion depending on whether they are used to dealing with UK customers. From memory the requirements for a caravan to qualify for a Tempo 100 relate to having shock absorbers, the age of the tyres and a hitch stabiliser. There may be other
requirements in addition and I am sure that perhaps Lutz could give us the full low down.As perhaps an aside is it actually worth going to all the bother because unless it allows you to overtake when you are on an autobahn with over taking restrictions in place which seem to be most of them progress is not going to be much faster with the Tempo
100?David
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Hi Wherenext
The test cannot be done in the UK
The 100km sticker involves a test at a TUV station and a visit to a registration centre in Germany. The cost is about €50-€65.
I have a great e-mail from another member which has all the info you need. If you would like to drop me an e-mail: hazel.havell@caravanclub.co.uk I will forward a copy to you tomorrow morning.
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Hazel
Might it not be interesting to post the contents of the e-mail here? Obviously without any personal details. The subject does come up from time to time and you do hear conflicting reports about the level of ease/difficulty.
Fortunately one of the benefits of owning a motorhome as up to 3500kgs are treated as ordinary cars although I expect my humble Peugeot won't be able to scorch a path down the autobahn in the same way as a big powerful Merc at warp speed!!!
David
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I understand that Dutch and Danish authorities have some sort of reciprocal agreement to allow them to issue 100km/h stickers for caravans, but as David has hinted, the hassle involved in having a foreign caravan to go through the process in Germany is hardly worth the effort, especially as UK caravans not being registered adds to the complexity of the issue.
David has correctly mentioned conditions that apply. In addition, there are also weight ratio restrictions.
To be honest, few caravan outfits seem to stick religiously to the 80km/h limit on the autobahns, but generally move at the same speed as the trucks. I have never heard of such a transgression of speed limit being followed up on derestricted stretches of the autobahn. If this were the case, the police would have a field day.
Those that do have a 100km/h sticker tend to drive even faster to make their sticker a worthwhile investment!
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Hi David
The information inlcudes maps and directions to the TUV station and registration office an Auchen, and there is an awful lot of info provided. However I can give the feedback from the member:
As you probably know the speed limit for towing a trailer on a German autobahn is 80 kph (50 mph). If you have one of these stickers you can go up to 100 kph (60mph) legally. This makes journeys a little faster but mainly, I think, safer because you
do not have Lorries thundering pass you as they can travel at 90 kph.My wife and I tried to get one of these stickers in Munich in 2011 and failed miserably because we had no registration documents for the caravan. I explained that such things do not exist in UK but they would not budge and I don’t think they accept the
CSIR documents either. After further research and with information from the caravan club we decided to try again this year (2012) in Aachen and to my great surprise, succeeded. There now follows a detailed account of how we did it. I hope it will be of some
use to you.In general terms you firstly have to take you caravan to the Technischer Überwachungs-Verein (TÜV for short and pronounced something like tooff) testing station to give your caravan a sort of MoT. This is straightforward and takes about
30mins once they start.They seem to mainly look at:
- General condition and less than 6 years old
- Correct tyres
- Suitable suspension (They seem to like shock absorbers)
- Braking system
- Combined towing hitch/stabiliser
It is possible to make an appointment for this test but most of the time it is not necessary. You should be tested and away with your test certificate, not to mention €35 poorer, in about an hour. These testing stations are in most towns and bigger
cities will have more than one.Secondly you have to take you certificate to the Zulassungsstelle which is another part of the TÜV organisation but is often
not on the same site as the testing station. Therefore be prepared for trip across town to do this, although you don’t have to do it the same day as the test. You don’t need to take your caravan and often there is no room to park with your
caravan when you get there. Be prepared for a long wait (it took us 90 mins to be seen). Once seen they will stamp everything, give you your sticker and take another €20 from you. You are now done (in more ways than one) and the sticker and accompanying documentation
are valid for the life of the caravan.You should be able to do this in any Germany town or city. You can get the addresses of the necessary parts of the TÜV off the internet. The test part is no problem and you will be able to get this done in any TÜV testing station but, as we found in
Munich, they may not be prepared to deal with the lack of a registration documents. The German contact of the Caravan Club suggested that if you meet this problem, ask them to telephone Aachen to find out how its done.If you would like the full e-mail including maps, just pop me an e-mail. This information is now 4 years old, but it should still be relevant.
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Thanks Hazel and Lutz for the information. I am still unclear whether the Tempo 100 gives you the additional benefit of being able to overtake in restricted zones, which I suspect it does not. As Lutz says most towing caravans tend to keep up with the wagons even if technically this is going slightly faster than the speed limit. What is more likely to arouse the interest of the traffic police is if they see people overtaking in restricted areas. I would also suggest people judge their speed by their GPS rather than the speedometer which can under read by up to 10%. I was once a victim of lorry driver anger once because I was trundling along at 45mph thinking I was doing 50!!!!
David
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In general, the speedo in a car, or van (or motorhome) will over read by about 10%, ie it will indicate 60 when you are doing 55. You can check with satnav of course, but when driving, I don't spend much time looking at the sat nav, except when lost, and
speed is the least of my worries! Speedo is in line of site when driving, so should be the primary reference I think.Not sure that "... sorry officer, I know the speedo said 80mph, but the sat nav showed 72 mph, so you can't book me, as I was within 2 mph of the limit..." would cut much ice in any language!
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Plasticmac
The point I was making was rather the reverse of what you are saying. The speed limit for towed caravans in German is 80kph which is about 50mph without a Tempo 100 certificate. If you rely on the car speedo and stick to an indicated 50mph you are likely only to be travelling at about 45 mph. If you are a lorry driver is trying to maintain your allowed speed limit you won't be a happy bunny if you are stuck behind caravanner taking his speedo speed as gospel. If you were silly enough to travel at 72 mph even by taking the GPS speed its likely any police measuring devices would be similarly calibrated so no argument, 72 mph is 72 mph in any language
. Hence the general advice to keep up with the speed of the trucks even if that means creeping a little over the 50mph. David
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Thanks Hazel and Lutz for the information. I am still unclear whether the Tempo 100 gives you the additional benefit of being able to overtake in restricted zones, which I suspect it does not. As Lutz says most towing caravans tend to keep up with the wagons even if technically this is going slightly faster than the speed limit. What is more likely to arouse the interest of the traffic police is if they see people overtaking in restricted areas. I would also suggest people judge their speed by their GPS rather than the speedometer which can under read by up to 10%. I was once a victim of lorry driver anger once because I was trundling along at 45mph thinking I was doing 50!!!!
David
As I said, hardly anyone sticks to the 80km/h speed limit on an otherwise derestricted section of the autobahn. Most trucks sit at about 90km/h and the caravans just hang on in there too. Besides, in Germany one is allowed 6km/h plus 10% grace, so if your speedometer is accurate you wouldn't be caught if doing an indicated 94km/h.
As regards overtaking, while towing a caravan it is only an offence where the no-overtaking sign applies to all vehicles in general or where a heavy vehicle no-overtaking sign has an additional symbol showing a car towing a trailer. No-overtaking signs that only that display a truck symbol don't apply to cars towing.
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Many thanks to all respondents. We normally troll along at 90km/h quite happily except when overtaking if its allowed but having been passed by quite a few caravans, with a 100km/h sticker, on the autobahns in the last few travelling days just got me thinking
about this sticker. Very interesting replies.0 -
From a practical perspective I have today driven from a site near Heidelberg to one south of Salzburg, 317 miles. Wherever practical I had the cruise control set at 60mph, except where there were speed restrictions. I was passed several times by police cars but was never even looked at. Other caravans were travelling at a similar speed (slightly slower or slightly faster) and I saw very few 100 stickers. I wonder if it is one of these rules brought in that is in practice unenforceable, there being easier pickings for the traffic police.
Some of the "no overatking" signs make it clear that they apply to trucks, caravans and buses, whilst others seem to be for trucks only. That is born out by my overtaking a convoy of trucks in one of the latter areas and being passed by a police car no problem.
A word of warning though. In unrestricted areas many big Mercs and BMWs etc do travel at warp speed, as David points out. Look twice in the wing mirror before pulling out. Those headlights in the far distance will be on you in no time! And watch for their bow waves too!
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Last year on the west bound E50 there were convoys of trucks nose to tail for miles. I must travelled between 6/8 miles overtaking one queue (2 carriageway) at about 60mph and the cars behind were quite patient with no flashing of lights or finger pointing.
Could not have got between the trucks anyway.0 -
I have always found that continental drivers are far more relaxed about a towed outfir overtaking a line of traffic at 60 mph than the English! If you signal that you want to change from lane 1 to lane 2 they will expect you to pull out!not like the English
who will totally ignore your indicator!!!I much prefer towing on the continent,I try to stick reasonably closely to their speed limits and I take notice of their road signs.My only confusion has ever been the overtaking ban for lorries.Until now i assumed
that it also referred to a towed caravan.Now I know better....thank you Lutz.0
Of course everyone else is welcome to request the info as well! Just drop me a an e-mail
