Any thoughts on towcar - info info correct or not
This site confuses Me I have a golf mk4 1.9tdI 2003 100bhp , which as a tow limit of 1300kg I recently bought a Bailey 550/6 1078kg ,on towinfo by juggling the weights on one hand my cars a match on the other it's not but juggling different weights either in the car or caravan I can get a perfect match
What's annoying it's not correctly right this is what I been told the payload can differ , by adding 4 passingers are they classed as payload a roof box 2 border collies .how to I know whats the correct weight my car can be loaded to, do I have to weight each person and dogs tow bar ..towinfo states if I load my car which will get heaver this makes the caravan a perfect match I just can't get around this site is it misleading or can I use the figures they give me to get a safe loaded car and caravan . are there a bunch of idiots running towinfo.com or is the information they give correct on this site there's nothing stateding about extra weight
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Forgetting published charts and getting back to basics.
re the car; that must not by law exceed the makers quote towing limit and the combination must not exceed the makers plated GTW. [Gross train weight.]
If your driving licence was post 1997 and you have not taken the towing test then the caravan can't have a plated maximum weight more than the car itself . Plus the cars maximum weight [not its kerb] and the caravan's maximum plated weight together can't be more than 3500kgs, whatever the car's limits might be.
Then we consider the cars kerb weight; often a difficult figure to determine but having a Mk4 TDI once, I recall it was about1220/1250 kgs. For towing stability as well as any legal post 1997 licencing requirements, the sensible max plated weight of the caravan should not be more than the kerb weight; the Golf mk4 sedan is inherently a stable tow vehicle so an often quoted advisory that the caravan's plated max weight should not be more than 85% of the cars kerb weight whilst still sound advise is in this case not as critical as other vehicles could be.
It is hard without knowing specifics to believe a 6 berth caravan has a plated maximum weight low enough for a Golf Mk 4 to tow legally. Your vehicle's mere 100 horse power is going to make towing a struggle at anything like the weights that must be involved here.
Actual weights are not the deciding factor in all cases it is the "plated weights", so running under packed is not a get out of the law route, however actual weights must not exceed the allowed plated weights either. You can't play with weights, they are what they are.
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.how to I know whats the correct weight my car can be loaded to,
The Maximum Mass and maximum train weight will be on the V5C document.
For matching purposes the kerbweight of the car is the weight of the car empty (without top box) but with a fuel tank 90% full and a driver and his gear to a total of 75kg.
I emptied my car, filled the tank and took it to local weigh bridge and paid my £5. Deducted the weight of 10% of tank capacity and added on 75kg for driver allowance to get the correct kerbweight.
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Bottom line figures. Kerb weight of your model Golf 1250Kg, although the "mass in service" figure in your V5 document is specific to your car. MTPLM of that Bailey is 1326Kg. It is ILLEGAL for you to tow it. If you want a caravan that size, get a chunky
towcar with more grunt.0 -
If the mptlm is 1325kg than you are correct Cyber. There must be a number of suitable large family cars though.
Whilst I would not advocate the use of this particular combination (driving licence considerations apart),it would only be illegal if the towing limit or the gross train weight were exceeded,as far as the towing limit is concerned it is the actual weight that counts, not the MTPLM of the trailer.
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If the mptlm is 1325kg than you are correct Cyber. There must be a number of suitable large family cars though.
Whilst I would not advocate the use of this particular combination (driving licence considerations apart),it would only be illegal if the towing limit or the gross train weight were exceeded,as far as the towing limit is concerned it is the actual weight
that counts, not the MTPLM of the trailer.While that is true it is likely to be unsafe towing a caravan exceeding the cars kerb weight by that margin. Except for very light caravans the I am afraid the car is simply neither heavy enough or powerful enough for towing them.
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Bottom line figures. Kerb weight of your model Golf 1250Kg, although the "mass in service" figure in your V5 document is specific to your car. MTPLM of that Bailey is 1326Kg. It is ILLEGAL for you to tow it. If you want a caravan that size, get a chunky
towcar with more grunt.Can you please explain why it is illegal? I can't see anything in the figures quoted making it illegal.
By the way, the mass in service figure in the V5 document is not specific to the car. It is basically the lowest possible figure for that particular model.
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It's more than 100% of kerb weight.
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It's more than 100% of kerb weight.
Perhaps you can point out what law is being broken to make that illegal? It would have been prior to 2012 if the OP had a Category B driivng licence issued after 1997, but that restriction has since been dropped.
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I wasn't aware of that. The complexity of government legislation is bad enough without the blighters changing oparts of the small print while we aren't looking.
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