Just having a conversation with my mate as i have just bought a e class estate with a tow bar!

I wanted to know if attach a trailer on the back and if the weight of car and loaded trailer (with a car) dont go over 3.5t i would be allowed to tow on a normal car license, passed test in 2005?

I looked it up and cant make much sense of it

Help appreciated???

 

Minefield....Its all about maximum authorised mass (MAM) and the towing limits of the tow vehicle. Max limit unbraked is 750kg for a start.

Best advice if you want to tow any serious weight is eliminate doubt and do the test otherwise any discussion over the internet attracts some boring know it all called rog whose sole aim in life appears to be to sign up to as many forums to hand out advice on towing!

 

Cheers buddy i know what you mean about the test

All other info seems like a minefield tbh

Just asking as would of been good too be able to tow with not to much hassle

 

Post 1997 licence holders as long as the trailer kerbweight is equal to or less than the car all is good. Total mam cannot exceed 3500kg. So if car weighs 2000kg then the trailer and load cannot exceed 1500kg.

 

So say if I wanted to tow a small 1 bike trailer with a race bike on the back in a mk4 golf gti I will be fine?

 

Its something like the weight of the trailer and load must not exceed the full weight of the tow vehicle up to its MAM(iirc) and not exceeding 3500kg.
eg; if your mercs MAM is 1700 and tow limit is 1400 braked it will be fine iirc. However if the trailer you are towing is unladen and plated to 2000kg for example you could be in bother with vosa iirc. That would be as simple as getting it replated to suit.
If you apply it to towing a track car though how many are there that will fit within the limits of most cars capacity for the purpose of our licences? you'd need a 500kg trailer with a 900kg max load. Realistically most will be more than that and not allow much in the way of weight for the load.

IIRC when i looked into it the best combination was a D90 to tow but you'd need to be pretty close on the weight of the track car, mine at the time would have been a bit touch and go with my 205 and plenty of weight saving.

Someone may be along with better advice, i looked into it and gave up for now and will do the test eventually to remove doubt

As with these things i know guys on the same licence that tow all over with play day 4x4s that obviously exceed the weights allowed by their licence but well within the limits of trailers/cars etc.. and have never had any bother. You can look at it that provided its all safe, secure and the trailer fully functioning you can take a chance on not getting a tug but VOSA will tear you a new one in the event of an accident and you're over limits.

I read a story(with a pinch of salt) that a guy was shunted quite seriously when towing a mini digger behind a pickup, VOSA rocked up and despite it not being his fault he still got nailed for being being over weights for his licence..

 

Depending on the unbraked limits on the golf, i'd guess that would fall well within the unbraked limit of 750kg. A bike trailer won't be much and whats the bike weigh? 170kg as a guess?

 

It's a nightmare. And pretty sure they changed the rules again last year too, although think that was to keep caravanners happy.

Which actually relaxed the rules a bit.

https://www.gov.uk/towing-with-car

 

To be honest it seems more headache than its worth i would only be towing a mk2 golf most of the time.

thanks for the help mcst

Its not worth taking the risk, knowing my luck i will get tugged even if i am all properly loaded etc driving like a fairy.