Towing Weight Laws

[AceOfHearts]

I am struggling to find some information that I thought would be easy to come by, so thought I would ask on here.

I want to tow a car trailer that has a MAM of 3500kg, do I need to use a car that is rated to tow 3500kg or just the actual weight of trailer plus whatever it is carrying?

I am just in the process of doing my B+E test and am looking to buy a tow car, but searching for cars with a 3500kg tow weight makes it very restrictive.

[Mr Pointy]

Does this sticky thread not give the answer?

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=11...

[Rivenink]

Mr Pointy said:

Does this sticky thread not give the answer?

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=11...

It's literally the first thread on this forum... sigh

[M_A_S]

Ignoring licensing issues it's the actual weight of the trailer you need to worry about.

[R0G]

AceOfHearts said:

I want to tow a car trailer that has a MAM of 3500kg, do I need to use a car that is rated to tow 3500kg or just the actual weight of trailer plus whatever it is carrying?

NO

There is no law or rule that states the towing capacity of a vehicle must be able to accommodate the MAM of a trailer

Legal example -
Vehicle
GVW 2100
GTW 4100
Tow capacity 2000

Trailer
MAM 3500
Empty 500

Max load for trailer = 1500

The reason you could not find info is because there is no law or rule with such a restriction
Laws generally tell you want you cannot do or what you must do

[AceOfHearts]

Rivenink said:

Mr Pointy said:

Does this sticky thread not give the answer?

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=11...

It's literally the first thread on this forum... sigh

Oops

I'm sure a lot of us are guilty of ignoring stickied thread titles

Thanks for the answers though

[un1corn]

R0G said:

NO

There is no law or rule that states the towing capacity of a vehicle must be able to accommodate the MAM of a trailer

Legal example -
Vehicle
GVW 2100
GTW 4100
Tow capacity 2000

Trailer
MAM 3500
Empty 500

Max load for trailer = 1500

The reason you could not find info is because there is no law or rule with such a restriction
Laws generally tell you want you cannot do or what you must do

That's what I thought.

In theory (and I stress that word very much so), you could try to tow a fully articulated HGV trailer using a reliant robin. I think....