Recovery Truck - 3500KG limit - insurance question

[ArnieVXR]

I have a drag car that I have trailered to race meets in the past. I now have a caravan (sleeping in the back of a van isn't the most restful experience), so want to use a recovery truck to shift the car.

Ideally, I'd convert my Iveco 35C14 from a luton body to a beaver tail. It's low mileage and runs really well (better the devil you know, etc). Trouble is, the car plus bits (fuel, tools etc) comes in at around 1400-1500kg, so would be on the limit for my truck, even with a lightweight body.

The question I have is this, does driving [slightly] over the weight limit invalidate your insurance? I'm less worried about being pulled and weighed, as I'm only on the road about six times a year (mind you what's the penalty for this?).

If this is out of the question, what's the best way to sell a ten year old van? Ebay, Autotrader or what?

Cheers...

[LouD86]

Driving overweight could invalidate your insurance, could also put you into bother with your licence aswell. You really don't want to risk it.

[ctsdave]

If your licence allows you upto 7.5t could you not just uprate you van? I sell heavier/uprated springs to customers regulatly who yp from 3.5t to say 4t. May be worth looking into?

[ArnieVXR]

ctsdave said:

If your licence allows you upto 7.5t could you not just uprate you van? I sell heavier/uprated springs to customers regulatly who yp from 3.5t to say 4t. May be worth looking into?

I passed my test a long time ago, so my license covers 7,500kg.

However, I didn't think that you could officially upgrade the GVW. I thought you could only downgrade it?

If it's that easy, I'd certainly be interested.

[LouD86]

You can with a correct report and springs etc, but it can be a ballache. Often the Iveco's have a larger capacity

[GC8]

175 kilos wont cause you a problem, but anything over 5% could.

[Chrisgr31]

Could you put the caravan on the beavertail and tow the car?

[ArnieVXR]

Chrisgr31 said:

Could you put the caravan on the beavertail and tow the car?

I did think that one through, but I'd have to pay for the conversion and a trailer (I was borrowing one last year).

My man maths tells me that I could just sell the luton and buy a decent recovery truck for the same money. A beaver-tail is around £2K all in and a decent tilt trailer is just under £2K. I could buy an nice (but leggy) Isuzu recovery truck for that sort of money.

Looking at up-plating the Iveco at the moment...

[ArnieVXR]

And the caravan is a Swift 17/3, so 17-feet long plus the a-frame. I'd need a 20-foot bed, which would mean an unacceptably long overhang...

[renorti]

can't see a problem,being stopped and caught over weight.
down here {south wales} the amount of transit,s carrying another transit full of scrap{must be 2.5t} into the scrap merchant yard almost every day they never seem to be caught over weight.example below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbK1-UFu4QE

[E36Ross]

Watch the other videos in the above link, See how they load the Jaaaag.

[powerstroke]

renorti said:

can't see a problem,being stopped and caught over weight.
down here {south wales} the amount of transit,s carrying another transit full of scrap{must be 2.5t} into the scrap merchant yard almost every day they never seem to be caught over weight.example below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbK1-UFu4QE

Laws only apply to the law abiding !!!
Vosa go for the soft targets not rufnecks off the estate!!

[renorti]

E36Ross said:

Watch the other videos in the above link, See how they load the Jaaaag.

yea crazy, engine over hanging the body by 3 feet,imagine the axle weight on the transit!
like quoted on here vosa targets drivers who are likely to pay fines, "scarp" guys don't get any bother

[Fane]

I've uprated my Transit Beavertail to 4 tonnes, and, tbh, it was a complete ball ache. Air suspension, digital tachograph, speed limiter set to 56mph, Operators Licence, Driver CPC, tacho cards, not allowed in the outside lane blah blah blah.

OK, I use it for business and pleasure, rather than just pleasure, but one side of me feels that it wasn't worth the faff for risking getting caught being slightly overloaded. Especially when I see my competitors blatting past me on the Motorway. The other side of me says that I'm legal and can take the moral high ground.

[E36Ross]

How did you go about doint it?
What Transit have you?

[Upatdawn]

cheap as chips

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/7-5-ton-lorry-boxvan-Rac...

[renorti]

nicely loaded 3.5t gross transit!

[Fane]

E36Ross said:

How did you go about doint it?
What Transit have you?

I used SV Tech from Lancashire for the upgrading paperwork. Fill in the form on their website and they tell you what you need to do.

It's a Transit 350 ECF, which had 100bhp, but i've upped that to 125bhp.

[wack]

powerstroke said:

Laws only apply to the law abiding !!!
Vosa go for the soft targets not rufnecks off the estate!!

I had a transit pickup in front of me with the 5ft greedy boards on, I could see into the back from the cab , it was full almost to the top with cable, must have been over 2 tonnes of it

We were driving past the entrance to B&Q when a cop car came the other way, he nearly tipped it over swerving into b&q before the copper saw him.