Shocked! How many cars are actually legal to tow with?

absolute diva said:
But my understanding is that that wouldn't be legal? I thought your car had to be capable of carrying the maximum weight of your trailer, even if in reality you only ever put shetland ponies in it?
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This is my understanding also. If VOSA were to pull you up, they could quite lawfully read the MLW of the trailer, as indicated on the drawbar plate, and check that against the car's towing limit. You might be OK if they weighed the outfit, but they are under no obligation to do so.
 
absolute diva said:
I know, its ridiculous. I'm on hold to the DSA, will let you know what they say...
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The person I spoke to was unsure, so sent me the document. All about trailer weights and requirements. It's an acrobat doc. Ask them to email it!

It has been linked on this forum before.... If someone wanted to do a search.
 
Apparently the DSA are experiencing high call volume and are unable to take my call. Please ring again later!!!

ARGH, could have told me that before I spent five minutes on hold!!
 
absolute diva said:
Have looked up the Outback and that only has a capacity of 1800kg, Volvo is better but still not quite there at 2250kg :(

Thanks though :)
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OK I thought the subaru was more than that! But just to add another option to the melting pot!! Not sure what size horse/s your looking at travelling, but look at these trailers if the horse is under 16.2

http://www.towinghorsetrailers.co.uk/trailer/1045

Which would sit behind a volvo XC quite happily according to weights!
 
brighteyes said:
This is my understanding also. If VOSA were to pull you up, they could quite lawfully read the MLW of the trailer, as indicated on the drawbar plate, and check that against the car's towing limit. You might be OK if they weighed the outfit, but they are under no obligation to do so.
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They are under an absolutely rigid obligation to take you over a currently calibrated weigh bridge if they wish to take any action. Even the incredibly accurate WIMS strips now built in to many motorways are not admissible evidence in court.
 
Mike007 said:
Lord no. :D.This seems to be somthing of an HHO urban myth. The weight plate on the trailer is no more than the manufacturers guide to what their product can carry safely ,and if you exceed it ,the police have a prima facie case against you ,that you are overloading the trailer(regardles of the capacity of the towing vehicle). As long as the weight of trailer and ACTUAL LOAD,plus towing vehicle ,does not exceed the maximum weight for the towing vehicle,it is legal also.There is NOTHING that requires the towing vehicle to be heavier than the trailer loaded.
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I'm guilty of believing this, but my brother (traffic cop) advised me it was the case. Admittedly it was some years back so I got a Daihatsu Fourtrak and never had a problem. Superb towcar.
 
Don't forget Daihatsu Fourtrak's. Pull 3.5tonnes.

I've been looking into this too to change mine eventually. Its either a defender 90 or a SWB Shogun for me. Was looking at Kia's but they're big long for my needs!
 
the watcher said:
Technically, and legally you are correct, however common sense dictates that this would not be a good idea!
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However if the vehicle manufacturer were to specify figures ,why should I consider that my "common sense" over rules their engineering calculations?
 
Ditto Diahatsu Fourtrak - saddly lost mine 6months ago :( fantastic car, brilliant at towing and low mpg.
Now have Ford Maverick - rubbish at towing!!
 
Woodykat said:
Ditto Diahatsu Fourtrak - saddly lost mine 6months ago :( fantastic car, brilliant at towing and low mpg.
Now have Ford Maverick - rubbish at towing!!
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The ford maverick has a mtw of 2.8 tonnes and weighs 1.75 tonnes so can only pull a trailer of about 1 tonne including load.
 
Seahorse said:
ditto this, but I do believe it's only the 4L petrol one that is capable of towing 3500kg I think the diesel one can't, but correct me if I'm wrong :)
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My mate has a Jeep and tows with it. She has the biggest double ifor - the 18hh one or soemthing and can get her HW 17hh hunter and my HW 15hh in it and tow safely.
 
we tow with a mitsubishi animal l200.

Its great for chucking hay in the back too.

A ssangyong Rexton would be another option.

A tange rover tows brilliantly but ours cost too much to keep on the road with a load of problems
 
WishfulThinker said:
My mate has a Jeep and tows with it. She has the biggest double ifor - the 18hh one or soemthing and can get her HW 17hh hunter and my HW 15hh in it and tow safely.
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I love my Jeep, I tow an Ifor 510 with mine, only ever had 1 horse in it but you wouldn't know you were towing anything!

I do believe that an Ifor 510 weighs 1100 kgs so with 2 horses in weighing 500kg each that's still only 2100 kgs, so if your vehicle can tow 3500kgs then you are way under the limit.
 
absolute diva said:
OH has said that I can finally start looking for a 4x4 and a trailer to get out and about. I've been transportless for six months now since the sale of my beautiful van so I didn't need telling twice.

I know that people do tow with all sorts of vehicles but I'm a fairly law abiding sort so want to make sure that we tow legally and don't go overweight.

My understanding is that the car's maximum towing weight must be over that of the maximum weight of the trailer. Given that the maximum weight of an Ifor 510 is 2700kg I need a car that can tow this legally, even if I'm not planning on actually taking two big horses.

So that leaves me with a list of:

Landrover Discovery or Defender
Toyota Landcruiser
Isuzu Trooper
Nissan Terrano
Mitsubishi Shogun
Vauxhall Frontera (Diesel)

Thats not a very big list of cars! Are there any that I'm missing out or do an awful lot of people actually tow illegally?
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no you need a car that will tow the weight of the trailer and it's load so two 17 hh WBs you will need something that will tow about 2.7 tons but if its the kiddies 12hh lead rein pony then you only need to be able to tow about 1.5
you need a car to suit the load.... thats the law.... simples!!!
 
Wheels said:
Think you'd be OK with the following;

volkswagen Touareg
Audi Q7
BMW X5
Range Rover
Mitsubishi L200
Jeep Cherokee (possibly only LWB)
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Wrong - the Jeep has the same towing capacity with either the short or long wheel base. I looked into it in depth before buying my short wheel version.

Don't recommend the X5 though - standing joke at work that all those with X5's couldn't actually use their cars in the heavy snow (and yes, the Jeep went everywhere)
 
Wheels said:
Maybe it's to do with the fact that everytime the police stopped someone for using an unsuitable towing vehicle they would have to take them to a weighbridge to prove they were overweight whereas if it was just going on maximum weights they'd just need to look at a plate on the car and trailer? It wouldnt' make sense to have a law they couldn't police although I am very aware that doesn't usually matter when making laws up lol
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that is the only way they can prove you are breaking the law is to weigh your lorry or what ever else how would they know its load is under or over weight :D LOL
 
brighteyes said:
This is my understanding also. If VOSA were to pull you up, they could quite lawfully read the MLW of the trailer, as indicated on the drawbar plate, and check that against the car's towing limit. You might be OK if they weighed the outfit, but they are under no obligation to do so.
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well they would be wasting there time when it came to court and they handnt got any evidence ie a weighbridge ticket...
 
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