trailers

[rab dj]

hey

was talkin to a mate earlier and he said i would be able to tow a trailer on my license.? but i thought you had to pass a trailer test??

so just wondered what can be tow'd on my license if i passed it in 2007???

cheers guys!

rab

[LeeThePeople]

IIRC you can tow up to 750kg without any extra training.

[ChrisRS]

My understanding is that as long at the combined weight of the towcar and trailer + load weighed under 3500kg your covered on a licence issued after 1997, full details are on the DVLA website.

[Paul Drawmer]

AS ChrisRS says:

http://letmegooglethatforyou.com/?q=dvla+towing+we...

You can get the facts as the link above, or just ask here for guesses.

Edited by Paul Drawmer on Tuesday 27th January 07:48

[OJ]

ChrisRS said:

My understanding is that as long at the combined weight of the towcar and trailer + load weighed under 3500kg your covered on a licence issued after 1997, full details are on the DVLA website.

Nearly right, the combined maximum legal weight of towcar & trailer, i.e. add the car's maximum allowable weight to the trailer's maximum allowable weight. It doesn't matter if they actually weigh less than 3500kgs.

LeeThePeople said:

IIRC you can tow up to 750kg without any extra training.

That's also right, if the combined max weight of the two exceeds 3500kgs, it's alright if the weight of the trailer is less than 750kgs

ETA - Sarcastic googling isn't particularly helpful. You can find the details by googling it, but last time I checked it wasn't particularly clear on the DVLA website

Edited by OJ on Tuesday 27th January 08:28

[dan101smith]

So, as I passed after '97, I'd need to take an extra test to tow another car on a trailer.

Anyone on here done this? What's involved?

[OJ]

dan101smith said:

So, as I passed after '97, I'd need to take an extra test to tow another car on a trailer.

Anyone on here done this? What's involved?

I actually managed to get under it towing a Caterham with a light BJ trailer with my Landy for a couple of years (was about 20kgs under the legal limit), but as the Landy got a bit unreliable I had to switch to borrowing my parents Range Rover, for which I needed a test.

The test is just like a normal driving test, but a bit longer. You need to take it at an LGV testing centre, you can find you local one on google probably.

The rules for the size of the trailer compared to the towing car are quite fiddly, and it has to block the centre mirror (which my trailer doesn't do), so I got a 'trailer capable' instructor for the morning who had a suitable box trailer and car with a tow bar.

Aside from driving around for 40 minutes like a test you have to reverse the trailer into a space that's behind and to the side of you (you're allowed to shunt, i.e. go backwards and forwards, twice and get out to check you're far back enough so it's not that hard if you've ever reversed a trailer). At the end of the test you also have to unhitch the trailer, drive away, reverse back up to it and rehitch it using the correct sequence. The instructor will show you this.

I only needed an hour with him before the test to show me the format of the test and sequence for unhitching and rehitching, but if you've never driven a trailer before, then you might need a full day to show you how to reverse properly

Edited by OJ on Tuesday 27th January 08:40

[dirty boy]

I'm a bit concerned now, i've regularly towed the MG using the Range Rover (passed in Aug 1997)..

I'm off to do some googling...

[OJ]

dirty boy said:

I'm a bit concerned now, i've regularly towed the MG using the Range Rover (passed in Aug 1997)..

I'm off to do some googling...

Yep, I'd pretty much guarantee you're overweight with that combination. Check your license to see what classification you've got on it, you never know you might be lucky

[dirty boy]

OJ said:

dirty boy said:

I'm a bit concerned now, i've regularly towed the MG using the Range Rover (passed in Aug 1997)..

I'm off to do some googling...

Yep, I'd pretty much guarantee you're overweight with that combination. Check your license to see what classification you've got on it, you never know you might be lucky

a vehicle with an unladen weight of 1.25 tonnes and a MAM of 2 tonnes coupled with a trailer with a MAM of 1.25 tonnes could be driven by the holder of a category B entitlement. This is because the MAM of the combination does not exceed 3.5 tonnes and also the MAM of the trailer does not exceed the unladen weight of the drawing vehicle



Oh dear, although I still find that statement confusing (not much sleep)

The RR has a MAM of 3.5, but if the RR is under 2 tonnes unladen, does that mean the trailer that can be towed is up to 1.5 tonnes?

[OJ]

dirty boy said:

a vehicle with an unladen weight of 1.25 tonnes and a MAM of 2 tonnes coupled with a trailer with a MAM of 1.25 tonnes could be driven by the holder of a category B entitlement. This is because the MAM of the combination does not exceed 3.5 tonnes and also the MAM of the trailer does not exceed the unladen weight of the drawing vehicle


Oh dear, although I still find that statement confusing (not much sleep)

The RR has a MAM of 3.5, but if the RR is under 2 tonnes unladen, does that mean the trailer that can be towed is up to 1.5 tonnes?

No it is bloody confusing!!! I phoned up the DVLA 3 times and got a different answer from them each time. A friend found out for me in the end, I think he asked a copper.

Basically, the Range Rover has a MAM of 3500kgs, therefore you're already up to the MAM limit and thus you can only tow a trailer of up to 750kgs with a standard license.

If the Range Rover had a MAM of 2500kgs (like the Landy does), that would give you 1000kgs to play with for the MAM of the trailer. My trailer was 980kgs MAM (even though it probably only weighed about 800kgs most of the time), so it was legal.

[rab dj]

ohh dear gettin more confusing lol!!

that dvla site's cofusing things even more! lol think i'll ask the traffic cops when i get stopped next!

[rab dj]

well according to the nice police man since i passed after 1997 i can only tow 750k!

but with an older qualified driver and displayed L plates you can tow more!

cheers guys