Need a van + tow vehicle / what van?
Discussion
Sprinters for me towing heavy stuff mega miles a year, pal does the same & prefers Ivecos, some Ivecos are far better on the train weight than any other 3.5t van which can be v handy, sprinters are usually far higher than transits, tranny usually 5.5t, sprinter 6.3t, some Iveco 7t
Ref tacho, if its commercial use then yes legally you need one, costs roughly a grand fitted. If its purely private use & you can prove that when/if stopped don't need it.
If you get paid to transport goods & run with a trailer you will also need the massive, massive, ballache of getting an operators licence, same O regs needed as to run as a 44t Scania, law in already, enforcement will begin in earnest in June.
Ref tacho, if its commercial use then yes legally you need one, costs roughly a grand fitted. If its purely private use & you can prove that when/if stopped don't need it.
If you get paid to transport goods & run with a trailer you will also need the massive, massive, ballache of getting an operators licence, same O regs needed as to run as a 44t Scania, law in already, enforcement will begin in earnest in June.
iguana said:
Sprinters for me towing heavy stuff mega miles a year, pal does the same & prefers Ivecos, some Ivecos are far better on the train weight than any other 3.5t van which can be v handy, sprinters are usually far higher than transits, tranny usually 5.5t, sprinter 6.3t, some Iveco 7t
Ref tacho, if its commercial use then yes legally you need one, costs roughly a grand fitted. If its purely private use & you can prove that when/if stopped don't need it.
If you get paid to transport goods & run with a trailer you will also need the massive, massive, ballache of getting an operators licence, same O regs needed as to run as a 44t Scania, law in already, enforcement will begin in earnest in June.
You need to check the towing limit of each individual van, I seem to recall that the Sprinter/Transit sized vans that have a GVW of 3.5 tonnes can only pull a trailer of 2 tonnes, (GTW of 5.5 as mentioned), although that was some years ago, and the Sprinters might be better (as indeed you say). I would guess though that it depends on the spec of the van itself, since there are a huge number of variants of each van available.Ref tacho, if its commercial use then yes legally you need one, costs roughly a grand fitted. If its purely private use & you can prove that when/if stopped don't need it.
If you get paid to transport goods & run with a trailer you will also need the massive, massive, ballache of getting an operators licence, same O regs needed as to run as a 44t Scania, law in already, enforcement will begin in earnest in June.
The O licence law has been in force for donkeys years (for anything over 3.5 tonne combined weight. It's a bit of a pain, but not as much of a ballache as you are suggesting, although the rules are strict, and you would be foolish to try to circumvent them.
saladdodger said:
waste management license to scrap a car/metal.
Thats good to know, costly i bet.
Google search....
Waste Carrier's Licence to move the vehicles from the previous owner's premises to your yard. Waste Management Licence for your premises to engage in the actual dismantling.Thats good to know, costly i bet.
Google search....
Super Slo Mo said:
vans that have a GVW of 3.5 tonnes can only pull a trailer of 2 tonnes, (GTW of 5.5 as mentioned)
Not quite correctUnless there is a listed max towing capacity then the GTW can be utilised as the driver sees fit
If the van actually weighed 3500 then the trailer can only actually weigh 2000 making the 5500 GTW
However
If the van actually weighed 2500 then the trailer can actually weigh 3000 making the 5500 GTW
CAVEAT - not the best idea to have the trailer weighing more than the towing vehicle but legal and can be perfectly safe
The GTW minus the GVW does not indicate the max towing limit
Super Slo Mo said:
The O licence law has been in force for donkeys years (for anything over 3.5 tonne combined weight. It's a bit of a pain, but not as much of a ballache as you are suggesting, although the rules are strict, and you would be foolish to try to circumvent them.
You are incorrect, it has only been in just over 2 months- from 4/12/11 for a 3.5t & trailer set up, no O licence ever been needed, always needed a tacho, but never an O licence, was a great way to have 7t transporter.Doing an O licence, its a new law I agree, however stupid & costly it may be IMHO, but thats EU law for you. Yes foolish to ignore it & there is a lot to it but I would class the following few main points as a massive, rather than a bit of pain.
-10 days off work & typical £1200 cost to do Transport managers course & combined CPC & test it is posible to home study for less, but not easy to do if you want to pass & you could do just CPC circa £500 ish & sub contract to a transport manager for a monthly fee circa £300pcm ish.
-Rent a suitable transport commisioner approved storage yard, you can no longer park on the road, or on your drive, unless- you have room to turn you vehicle around upon it- at 14m-17m that is not posible for most & still in most cases
-Suitable person check
-Maintenace contract- 6 wk checks
-Need circa 7700 available funds in place 1st vehicle
-Need circa 4000 available funds in place for 2nd vehicle
R0G said:
Not quite correct
Unless there is a listed max towing capacity then the GTW can be utilised as the driver sees fit
If the van actually weighed 3500 then the trailer can only actually weigh 2000 making the 5500 GTW
However
If the van actually weighed 2500 then the trailer can actually weigh 3000 making the 5500 GTW
CAVEAT - not the best idea to have the trailer weighing more than the towing vehicle but legal and can be perfectly safe
The GTW minus the GVW does not indicate the max towing limit
Sorry, I was referring to the Max Towing Capacity of the vans I was looking at, when we needed to tow a trailer heavier than 2,000 KG's. This was getting on for 10 years ago, but the Sprinters and Transits of the time definitely had a specific (and relatively low) towing capacity. It's quite possibly changed a bit by now, but I'd still definitely check.Unless there is a listed max towing capacity then the GTW can be utilised as the driver sees fit
If the van actually weighed 3500 then the trailer can only actually weigh 2000 making the 5500 GTW
However
If the van actually weighed 2500 then the trailer can actually weigh 3000 making the 5500 GTW
CAVEAT - not the best idea to have the trailer weighing more than the towing vehicle but legal and can be perfectly safe
The GTW minus the GVW does not indicate the max towing limit
iguana said:
Super Slo Mo said:
The O licence law has been in force for donkeys years (for anything over 3.5 tonne combined weight. It's a bit of a pain, but not as much of a ballache as you are suggesting, although the rules are strict, and you would be foolish to try to circumvent them.
You are incorrect, it has only been in just over 2 months- from 4/12/11 for a 3.5t & trailer set up, no O licence ever been needed, always needed a tacho, but never an O licence, was a great way to have 7t transporter.iguana said:
Doing an O licence, its a new law I agree, however stupid & costly it may be IMHO, but thats EU law for you. Yes foolish to ignore it & there is a lot to it but I would class the following few main points as a massive, rather than a bit of pain.
-10 days off work & typical £1200 cost to do Transport managers course & combined CPC & test it is posible to home study for less, but not easy to do if you want to pass & you could do just CPC circa £500 ish & sub contract to a transport manager for a monthly fee circa £300pcm ish.
You don't necessarily need to do the CPC yourself, just need to sub it out to a suitably qualified person, although I had no idea they cost that much. Having said that, there's a lot of useful info in the CPC that probably makes it worth doing. Perhaps the difference between 'massive' and 'a bit' is one of perspective, I've always done it from an employed position, and not had to front any costs myself. -10 days off work & typical £1200 cost to do Transport managers course & combined CPC & test it is posible to home study for less, but not easy to do if you want to pass & you could do just CPC circa £500 ish & sub contract to a transport manager for a monthly fee circa £300pcm ish.
iguana said:
-Rent a suitable transport commisioner approved storage yard, you can no longer park on the road, or on your drive, unless- you have room to turn you vehicle around upon it- at 14m-17m that is not posible for most & still in most cases
-Suitable person check
-Maintenace contract- 6 wk checks
Maintenance contract is mileage dependent. I've done them at as low as 4 weeks, and as high as 10, but you can get to 12 weeks for exceptionally low weekly mileages. Or at least, you could, as said, I'm a bit rusty, as haven't been in the Transport game for a little while.-Suitable person check
-Maintenace contract- 6 wk checks
Edited by Super Slo Mo on Wednesday 22 February 21:49
V8mate said:
Just to clarify - if I run a car transporter (no trailer) up to 7.5t can I run it without an O licence?
No not commercially, only commercially to 3.5t unless its a recovery truck & strict rules apply then.For 100% private use- your own car to car shows etc, then yes its posible.
Edited by iguana on Wednesday 22 February 22:09
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