Motorhomes towing cars
Comments
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When we first bought our motorhome I couldn't believe that some people towed a car behind. 'Why not get a car and caravan' I thought. After 6 years of motorhoming we now tow a small car on an 'A' frame and it has made a massive difference. The main advantage
is that you can choose whether you take the car unlike caravanners. So if we fancy a bit of touring ( a night here, a couple of nights there) the car stays at home. If we going to stay some where for a while we take the car. Also we do many weekends away and
we used to be limited to sites where we could walk or cycle somewhere (and don't say 'get a bus' because we've always found public transport to be a real pain). Now we can go to places 'out in the wilds' and drive somewhere. One more point, I don't think the
cost is massively different between running a motorhome with small car and large car and caravan. (Motorhome insurance £320, tax £165. Car insurance £160, tax £0. Total £645)0 -
..... I don't think the cost is massively different between running a motorhome with small car and large car and caravan. (Motorhome insurance £320, tax £165. Car insurance £160, tax £0. Total £645)
My tow car's road tax is £500
fortunately my other car's tax is only £30 
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We tow a car behind our motoehome on an A Frame and find it very handy. Our motorhome is 7.5 meters long so it can be difficult to find a parking space so the car is great once we are all set up. We caravanned for many years and loved it but the motorhome
is much easier for us even setting up the A Frane etc it still suits us better now. Another advantage is that we use our little car as our main car now so free tax and 60 mpg much cheaper than our previous car which was a 4x4 that we needed to tow our caravan.
Also we dont always take the car it depends where we go for instance last weekend we stayed on a site near a town so didnt bother taking the car so you have a choice you dont need to tow0 -
Surely parking a motorcaravan is always easier than parking a tow vehicle + caravan?
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..... I don't think the cost is massively different between running a motorhome with small car and large car and caravan. (Motorhome insurance £320, tax £165. Car insurance £160, tax £0. Total £645)
My tow car's road tax is £500
fortunately my other car's tax is only £30 So you're probably paying quite a bit more for your towcar + caravan than I am for Motorcaravan + towed car. Interesting!
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When we first bought our motorhome I couldn't believe that some people towed a car behind. 'Why not get a car and caravan' I thought. After 6 years of motorhoming we now tow a small car on an 'A' frame and it has made a massive difference. The main advantage
is that you can choose whether you take the car unlike caravanners. So if we fancy a bit of touring ( a night here, a couple of nights there) the car stays at home. If we going to stay some where for a while we take the car. Also we do many weekends away and
we used to be limited to sites where we could walk or cycle somewhere (and don't say 'get a bus' because we've always found public transport to be a real pain). Now we can go to places 'out in the wilds' and drive somewhere. One more point, I don't think the
cost is massively different between running a motorhome with small car and large car and caravan. (Motorhome insurance £320, tax £165. Car insurance £160, tax £0. Total £645)I agree with Pumfo. We were new to motorhoming a year ago. After speaking to other motorhomers who tow, we traded the VW Polo for an Aygo, had an A frame fitted and now have the flexibility to tow. Each to his/her own.
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..... I don't think the cost is massively different between running a motorhome with small car and large car and caravan. (Motorhome insurance £320, tax £165. Car insurance £160, tax £0. Total £645)
My tow car's road tax is £500
fortunately my other car's tax is only £30 So you're probably paying quite a bit more for your towcar + caravan than I am for Motorcaravan + towed car. Interesting!
Running costs perhaps, but (not knowing what your motorhome is) a motorhome on its own could cost way way more than what I paid for both tow car & caravan
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so, a MH with an A-frame is easier to tow than a caravan behind a car.....
a MH can be used without taking the towed car...
the towed car can be the everyday car at home, and is usually easy to park, cheap to buy and run....
OTOH.....
a car with a caravan on the back can be a handful to tow sometimes..
a caravan cant be used without having to take the towcar...
the towing car might not be the only car at home as it might be too difficult to park, and also expensive to buy and run....
from the OP....
"I really cant understand why people buy a moterhome (sic) and tow a car behind it...."
how about....
"I really cant understand why people buy a car and tow a caravan behind it...."
at the end of the day, we all use the outfits we have in the way we do because we want to and it suits us......
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By all means tow a small car behind a motor caravan, its a matter of personal choice.
IMO the towing laws in the UK should be brought into line with the rest of the world and the use of A frames should only be used for the temporary recovery of broken down vehicles.
Using a trailer is the safest way to tow any car. ----No modification required to the towed car-- Easy to load and unload the car by driving on and off.--- Able to take the towed car to the rest of the world.
K
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Loading a car onto a trailer isn't that straight forward as some think on a campsite, while cc sites are roomy sites abroad can be very tight with trees in awkward places. Don't forget you don't have a mover on a car trailer, do you load the car first,
then try and move it to hitch up or do you hitch up trailer then load car. As I said not straight forward, take it from someone who has a trailer with a trike. We also have a small car and A frame, its much quicker, easier to use the A frame all 4 wheels on
the ground is far more stable than 2.0 -
While motorhoming on the continent year after year we were on many campsites where motorhomers were towing small cars on trailers with twin axles. Both continentals and British
They never had any problems loading or unloading their small car Nor did they have any problems hitching up on campsites.
Maybe those people are more proficient drivers.
If as some people claim A frames are safer than twin axle Car trailers, why are Aframes disallowed all over continental Europe. ??
K
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While motorhoming on the continent year after year we were on many campsites where motorhomers were towing small cars on trailers with twin axles. Both continentals and British
They never had any problems loading or unloading their small car Nor did they have any problems hitching up on campsites.
Maybe those people are more proficient drivers.
If as some people claim A frames are safer than twin axle Car trailers, why are Aframes disallowed all over continental Europe. ??
K
Well, having witnessed the antics of a german couple with a large A-class, trailer and car, messing about the last time we were in gemany, i can see exactly what TG is aluding to.....
it was a farce....
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Legally the car brakes have to work so the answer is yes they do but I think you have to have the engine running for ABS to function? Even so as TG points out with four wheels on each corner it is more stable than any other form of trailer.
peedee
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Refering specifically back to the OP, you might like to consider that there are quite a few who actually live full time in their MHs, and therefore tow their daily vehicle around with them. We have come across quite a few MH owners who spend 365/6 days a
year on sites, moving around as the whim takes them. Everyone chooses the system that works best for them, and will do it for the best of reasons, often not immediately apparent to others.0 -
Lutz is your man to give a definitive answer but I think the legality hinges around the car becoming a trailer once it is being towed and trailers now have to have type approval. Obviously, a car is not type approved as a trailer so in Europe A-frame towing
has been declared illegal. In the UK such a declaration has not (yet) been made.0 -
Lutz is your man to give a definitive answer but I think the legality hinges around the car becoming a trailer once it is being towed and trailers now have to have type approval. Obviously, a car is not type approved as a trailer so in Europe A-frame towing
has been declared illegal. In the UK such a declaration has not (yet) been made...
thats about it.There are still lots of people who do A frame in europe, even French and Dutch. We stopped after being pulled up on 2 separate occasions in 2 differant countries. We go on holiday to enjoy ourselves and relax, if you are constantly looking over your shoulder
waiting for the police to pull you it is neither.0 -
While motorhoming on the continent year after year we were on many campsites where motorhomers were towing small cars on trailers with twin axles. Both continentals and British
They never had any problems loading or unloading their small car Nor did they have any problems hitching up on campsites.
Maybe those people are more proficient drivers.
If as some people claim A frames are safer than twin axle Car trailers, why are Aframes disallowed all over continental Europe. ??
K
..many thanks for those words of wisdom, if you were at all hinting that OH isn't proficient you are seriously barking up the wrong tree.
Some people use a winch to load their cars, some drive them up while the trailer is hitched to the m/h, this of course can't usually be done while on a pitch as they are not long enough, so you either have to block the road, or do the loading once out of
the site. Don't forget once the car is on the trailer it take about 10 mins to secure it safely and do checks. Having watched a far few people doing the other method of loading the car onto trailer first then try and push it onto the m/h as no mover fitted
to trailer, its quite a palarver. If you have a smart car and trailer they seem to be the easiest.0 -
We used to tow a Corsa behind us, but no longer tow. Rather than waffle on about it, my blog item details it all.Read it here
if you want.Russ
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Our solution is using the MH to go out and about, using electric bikes and even walking! We got chatting to a couple on Wells Beach, it turned out that they had a caravan. When we said we had a MH he replied that they wouldn't want a MH as they needed
a car, to which I replied "how do you think we got here". We've found that you can in fact park your MH in the same car parks and spaces as a car!0 -
Even the smallest 'proper' MH is a foot wider and three feet longer than most cars. Not all car parks are, sadly, MH accessible.
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The bays are usually wide enough, CY, and you learn tricks such as letting the rear overhang a grass verge.
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In most of the car parks I use, I can just about get the car doors open. Another foot of vehicle width and I would end up emulating the Dukes of Hazard when exiting the vehicle.
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We looked into 'toads' when we had the RV, the legislation on A frames was so grey we decided it wasnt worth it, plus reversing becomes so much more difficult.
We always used to take a car as well - but then we didnt tour. Taking the RV out and about shopping etc really wasnt a viable option.
In most of the car parks I use, I can just about get the car doors open. Another foot of vehicle width and I would end up emulating the Dukes of Hazard when exiting the vehicle
We parked my 4x4 in the overflow area at Chatsworth as we werent allowed two cars on pitch, came back to find her so hemmed in OH had to climb in through the boot! She doesnt fit under car park barriers for a lot of carparks anyway and in supermarket
car parks I tend just to park at the furthest end. I can wriggle her into fairly small spaces but its easier not to bother.0 -
As has been said, there are ways and means of getting parked and it really isn't a problem generally. The advantages of having your home with you all day are many. For example we parked recently at Hayling Island, over looking the sea and next to the
beach. We paid for all day and spent a lovely time enjoying the music event that was on and exploring the area. We could pop back home to put the kettle on, to use to loo, the make some lunch and we even had our evening meal there. Being able to do this
type of thing is what makes having a motorhome so brilliant.0 -
would the cost of hiring a car for the days you are away be cheaper than towing to your destination ,and the additional cost of buying a trailor or having the car modified ???
Haven't done enough motorhoming yet to say wether we would tow a car or not, probably not ,as we aim to tour and only stay a couple of nights in that area,
But i can see why some do and some don't
We can't get away that much and when we do it tends to only be for weekends so the cost of a tow bar etc for us would not be a wise spend. For the odd time we are away and need a car we do hire one. It generally works out for a week or two a year. This year
cost me just over £100 for a small car for the week when we stayed in Cambridge.In the past wev've also just travelled in tandom with the OH in the car behind. Not great for long journeys but for 3 or 4 hours travel it's OK. It means I can choose the radio station in the van!!
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