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...

[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.

[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...