Chassis weight plates
Hi
We bought a 2014 Swift Callenger Sport 554 in June and on putting it on a weighbridge we were flabergasted to find we were over weight with only a very lightly loaded van. The chassis plate said max was 1432kgs. We came in at 1500kgs. Wow!!! And we only
had a very small load on. Getting back after the break, we contacted the dealer and found we could get an upgrade plate up to 1500kgs. No modifications to be done to the van, just stick on a different plate. But it will cost us £50.00. Someone is having a
laugh. If the van is capable of taking 1500kgs from the start why plate it under and if we want it to show more why should we have to pay? I don't for one moment think Swift are the only manufacturers doing this, but they are conning us as customers. There
is no way the van could be loaded to 1432kgs with a mover etc and a families clobber. We are only two people and try to keep the weight down but it would be nigh on impossible to keep it to 1432kgs.
Comments please other members.
Dave R
Comments
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We have just bought a Coachman Pastiche 460 2016 model. The MTPLM is 1325kg, with a MRO of 1202kg, giving us a user payload of 123kg. This is not a lot, now that I have had a m/mover fitted which weighs in at 37kg, this deducted from the 123kg, only gives
us 86kg for personal usage. Have contacted Coachman and they will upgrade it too 1350kg for a fee of £35.00. I will have to do this, other wise we will be over the limit of 86kg. Yes it is a bit of a con, but as previously said, it is for sales!!!0 -
We had the same problem some years agotook our new van to weigh bridge and it was well over its max weight although lightly loaded,operater suggested bring it back empty(did not charge for first weigh ) second weigh came out as giving the van a load margin of 57kg against 135kg on plate, after a lot of talking and another weigh, by dealer ,at makers request,it came out that a whole range of their vans had been calculated "wrong?"we were given "compensation" and van chassis plate upgraded ,as it was it was still well within our car at the time tow limit
Now a lot of vans run on the same chassis as heavier vans (more goodies) but are plated lower to give a wider leeway to be towed by lighter cars
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The payload on UK vans are already pathetic enough without these silly games.
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We asked an NCC registered company to do our last service on our Elddis (not an Elddis dealer) and to replate which they said they could.
They did the service in late July and they said they were waiting for the new label to be sent by Elddis .....
Guess what? Still waiting for Elddis to send a simple small label but seems this is beyond their capability.
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....and here endeth the first lesson....get it weighed
with manufacturers allowed a +/- 5% tolerance on weights, a van with a MIRO of 1500kg and an MTPLM of 1650kg could be 150kg out and actually have no payload at all.....
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We asked an NCC registered company to do our last service on our Elddis (not an Elddis dealer) and to replate which they said they could.
They did the service in late July and they said they were waiting for the new label to be sent by Elddis .....
Guess what? Still waiting for Elddis to send a simple small label but seems this is beyond their capability.
Write your comments here...I purchased a new Affinity 15 months ago and the upgrade is free from Elldis when requested at time of order. Of course this does not apply when purchasing a stocked caravan, so tell the salesman if he wants to sell a caravan suppy
the plate for free.0 -
"......and on putting it on a weighbridge we were flabergasted to find we were over weight with only a very lightly loaded van. The chassis plate said max was 1432kgs. We came in at 1500kgs. Wow!!! And we only had a very small load on."
well, what a surprise...and even JVB, above, had weight problems.....and so do thousands of other vanners who either dont know or dont care that their vans dont mirror what the 'brochure says'....
with (generally) paltry payloads, a caravan can be close to (or over) its limits with a mover, a few tins in the kitchen, your clothes/books/shoes, the TV/digibox, frozen food, wine/beer, etc, etc....none of which are taken into account when stating
the MIRO....the same can be true for some longer MH running on a 3500kg chassis, yet we continue to hear surprise expressed when folk actually get round to weighing their vans....which seems to be a rarity anyway.....
throwing (literally) the kitchen sink at a van is going to be an issue with some of the poor (non existant) 'payloads' that vans are marketed with today....
be safe, weigh the van.....especially prior to parting with hard earned...
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All that what B B said then add 100 amp liesure battery and a couple of gas bottles, weight limit, what weight limit???
...I think a battery and gas are part of the mro
Then sadly a rethink is needed as the UK industry managed to get the battery removed from the MIRO, though my German van does include it.
Re the gas, be careful again here as there is an allowance but probably not for the size gas bottle(s) we would think of using.
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All that what B B said then add 100 amp liesure battery and a couple of gas bottles, weight limit, what weight limit???
...I think a battery and gas are part of the mro
Then sadly a rethink is needed as the UK industry managed to get the battery removed from the MIRO, though my German van does include it.
Re the gas, be careful again here as there is an allowance but probably not for the size gas bottle(s) we would think of using.
yes, the rules jave changed so as to only include (pretty much) what the manufacturer says it includes...
the previous unuformity has been relaxed just this year, so unlikely to be changed again soon.....
as ever, caveat emptor......weigh it
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Its necessary to look at the user manual for what is included in the MRO. For example with my Coachman all they include is, depending on the number of connections to the regulator, 10kg per gas bottle and 4kg for the electric cable. They don't include the
battery in the MRO. There doesn't seem to be a standard for the MRO.As I bought new I had the plate upgrade for 'free'. As others have pointed out the reason for the lower MTPLM is that cars are lighter and it's a commercial decision to increase the market size.
As to finding a weigh bridge locally, there isn't one. The nearest weigh bridge charge a crazy £28.
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there are 58 listed VOSA weighbridges, spread around the uk.
they are orovided on a Freedom of Information respnse which includes the disclaimer...
"The Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA) wishes to advise that none of the weighbridges owned/operated by the Agency are open to the public. They are not public weighbridges and are not authorised for trade use."
....however, i called into the one at J27 M5 nr Minnows Caravan site and the operator (nice VOSA livery) was only too happy to allow a conscientios motorhomer check his weight.
nice printout, nice smile, no charge....
our local scrapyard weighed my new van for free, just took a call to them to check that it would be ok, a chap helped me out, but just an LED display, no printout.
there must be a zillion friendly scapyards in Merseyside, surely...
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