Safe to Tow?
I've just put a deposit down on a Bailey Unicorn Cordoba however I just did a match on the website with my car and it says it's not suitable due to the curb weight ration of 103%.
My car is a Volvo XC70 (i.e. a big 4X4 volvo estate) so didn't expect it to be an issue.
The report says the maximum towing weight for the car is 1800kg and the weight of the caravan is below...
My question is whether it is safe and legal to tow or if I need to not buy the caravan and loose my deposit?
| MTPLM | 1750kg |
| MIRO | 1590kg |
Comments
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Sorry the curb weight ratio is actually 94%. Although its a 57 plate it's actually the 2008 model so maybe it's OK? Any advise would be great!
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Thanks for your reply Lutz
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whilst reasonably accurate, the matching service on here and others that are available online are only guides.
Look on the VIN plate and owners handbook and find the exact kerb weight , gross train weight, braked weight allowed for your particular model.
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Hi Tom,
I would have a look at the Mass in Service on the V5 for your car. I have a 2012 V70 which has a Mass in Service of 1829Kg, that would be a 95% match for your proposed van. I would expect the XC70 to be heavier, so would have thought your ratio will lower than the quoted 94%.
As already stated your car can legally tow the van, but it's how confident you'll be, especially if you're a novice and assuming you have B + E entitlement. I have found the V70 a very stable tow car, so would expect the XC70 to be more so with the benefit of four wheel drive.
Paul.
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Hi Tom,
I would have a look at the Mass in Service on the V5 for your car. I have a 2012 V70 which has a Mass in Service of 1829Kg, that would be a 95% match for your proposed van. I would expect the XC70 to be heavier, so would have thought your ratio will lower than the quoted 94%.
As already stated your car can legally tow the van, but it's how confident you'll be, especially if you're a novice and assuming you have B + E entitlement. I have found the V70 a very stable tow car, so would expect the XC70 to be more so with the benefit of four wheel drive.
Paul.
The Mass in Service will normally be less than the actual kerbweight because it is based on a vehicle without any factory-fitted options, so if you use that figure you will always be on the safe side. The difference between Mass in Service and what the car actually weighs at the kerbside can be up to 150kg in some cases. Only the Certificate of Conformity will give a legally definitive value.
Four wheel drive doesn't make an outfit any more stable though. It just makes it easier to move when the going gets tough.
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if we were dicussing 'weight' issues with a MH, most would be advising a visit to a weighbridge....this is very easy in a towcar and you have your real towing weight to hand....
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What I find a little concerning is that the dealer is selling a caravan without checking that the buyer has a vehicle suitable for towing. For both the vans we bought, although I had checked them and satisfied myself the dealer gave us a print out, as part
of the order paperwork, showing our vehicle was suitable. I would have thought if they let you hook up an unsuitable or illegal vehicle,there might be some come back on them as well as the person towing.0 -
When we wanted to buy a caravan we first weighed our car on a public weighbridge. From there we could then decide which caravans we could safely tow.
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We did the same as the previous post and ran the car onto our local weighbridge and then the sums stacked up in our favour, because, like you ours was a miss match on the CC guidelines. It was free too! Only charged us if we wanted an official print out...
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What I find a little concerning is that the dealer is selling a caravan without checking that the buyer has a vehicle suitable for towing. For both the vans we bought, although I had checked them and satisfied myself the dealer gave us a print out, as part of the order paperwork, showing our vehicle was suitable. I would have thought if they let you hook up an unsuitable or illegal vehicle,there might be some come back on them as well as the person towing.
To be blunt I don't think that it's the dealer's business to check whether the prospective buyer has a towcar that is suitable. That responsibility must rest solely with the customer. All that the dealer is entitled to do is to make sure that the caravan is not removed from his premises using a vehicle with an inadequate permissible towload.
When we wanted to buy a caravan we first weighed our car on a public weighbridge. From there we could then decide which caravans we could safely tow.
Fair enough, but then you will be using actual weight rather than kerbweight as a basis for calculating the weight ratio. That's your choice, but it's not in line with the recommendation from the various sources and the result won't be comparable with other published data.
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What I find a little concerning is that the dealer is selling a caravan without checking that the buyer has a vehicle suitable for towing. For both the vans we bought, although I had checked them and satisfied myself the dealer gave us a print out, as part of the order paperwork, showing our vehicle was suitable. I would have thought if they let you hook up an unsuitable or illegal vehicle,there might be some come back on them as well as the person towing.
To be blunt I don't think that it's the dealer's business to check whether the prospective buyer has a towcar that is suitable. That responsibility must rest solely with the customer. All that the dealer is entitled to do is to make sure that the caravan is not removed from his premises using a vehicle with an inadequate permissible towload.
It might not be their business but it does, in my opinion, make sense as part of the service they offer. It would also prevent any possible unpleasantness if the buyer turns up with unsuitable car. Certainly in the case of our first van I found the fact that they agreed with my figures reassuring.
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From above, dealers are obviously in business to sell but the consequences for their customers of towing too heavy a van are serious so it is in everyone's interest to explain and be sure that the purchaser understands the information. In the very early
stages of purchase (when we didn't understand very much) we were told that a particular caravan we were interested in could be DOWN-plated to make it a match for our car. It wasn't mentioned that this would have to come out of the already tiny payload which
would have been an inappropriate purchase for us. Thankfully we didn't go ahead. Dealers can get away with it (and many probably do?) but it destroys their integrity and damages the reputation of whole industry plus potentially has safety issues.0 -
I have towed caravan that was 95% to car ratio and found in some situation's the towing combination was unstable and pulled the towing vehicle about so i bought a vw touareg it can pull anything i tow 624 twin wheel pegasus and it dosen't no it is on the
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If the outfit appeared to be unstable at a weight ratio of 95% then the weight ratio itself was not the only reason. Everything else being as it should, a slightly higher than recommended weight ratio should only be marginally noticeable.
Assuming that the car is powerful enough, the caravan should not seem to be pulling the towing vehicle, no matter how poor the weight ratio.
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If the outfit appeared to be unstable at a weight ratio of 95% then the weight ratio itself was not the only reason. Everything else being as it should, a slightly higher than recommended weight ratio should only be marginally noticeable.
Assuming that the car is powerful enough, the caravan should not seem to be pulling the towing vehicle, no matter how poor the weight ratio.
Write your comments here...it was a 2.2ltr xtrail tdi and the caravan pulled it about, caravan was to heavy just because it says the train weight is two ton for the vehicle to tow the xtrail was not heavy enough
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2.2 xtrail would only weigh around 1650 kg certainly under 1700kg, with the power and torque available i wouldn't tow anything over 1500kg with it.
As for blaming a dealer for selling a mismatched caravan, as far as i'm concerned you should do your own checks, and i wouldn't be using the CC service as its very inaccurate for all the cars i've had, including the one i have.
As others have said weigh the car and then start from there.
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Quite rightly as pointed out it is the sole responsibility of the purchaser to ensure suitability. Believe a car salesman ? right.....I think not
Tj
Write your comments here...perhaps if the car manufacturer's was honest with what the car can tow then perhaps people would get it right in the first place nissan state in there manual that it can pull a breaked trailer up to 2 ton in weight these car maker's
are not honest at all with some of there claims as we have all just witnessed0
