Understanding car and caravan weights

In this video I discuss caravan and tow car weighs, what they mean and how to calculate them. These numbers are an important element of caravan ownership and can help understand if your tow car is a suitable match for your caravan and also gives information on how these numbers relate to each other. I give some practical demonstrations on how to use the numbers on the caravan and tow car, and show how we can understand the information presented to us.
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CHAPTERS
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Introduction 0:00
The caravan MRO and MTPLM 01:00
Calculate user payload 02:24
Dealer special caravans 02:43
Up plated caravans 03:38
The caravan weight plate 03:57
Fully laden mass 04:49
The Tow car 05:32
The VIN Plate 05:56
Calculate towing capacity 06:45
The Kerb weight 07:20
The coupling 08:36
The S Value 09:01
Maximum Nose weight 09:32
Recommended Nose weight 10:54
Calculating 5% and 7% nose weight 11:14
Our perfect nose weight 11:48
Calculate current nose weight 12:23
Outfit matching 12:47
The 85% rule 13:12
Calculating the 85% match
Calculating current match 14:10
beyond 85% match 14:33
Outfit Matching websites 15:49
Kerb weight issues 16:07
Conclusions 16:50

[@philip9657]

The best recommendation i can give to anyone shopping for a new tow car is to buy the biggest and heaviest you can afford to buy and run. This will allow room to tow the next caravan the wife wants, which will always be bigger !!

[@Slash1066]

We did exactly this, bought a Mitsubishi Shogun 3.2 LWB which can tow 3500kg, meant we could buy anything the caravan dealer had including the massive twin axle monsters, it tows with ridiculous ease!

[@EVDriver1990]

@@Slash1066 same as us.. Bought a 2015 4.2 Twin Turbo Diesel Porsche Cayenne S, purely for towing!!! Nearly 1000nm of torque standard 😂😂 holds the record for the biggest tow achieved in the world record books

[@robswiseways5697]

Extremely well documented Dan. The caravan hitch payload is rarely mentioned in the sales brochures. Our caravan hitch nose weight was stated in the brochure at 79kg and our car tow bar nose weight is 85kg. As you say, you have to stick to the lower figure, in my case 79kg. This is a video to refer back to should one want a refresher on calculations 👍 All the best, Rob

[@mpersad]

Really helpful and clearly explained. Terrific production Dan. Thank you.

[@leontowns9231]

That is THE best description of how it all works and how to check legality, I actually understand it now and never truly have before. Thank you very much Dan for yet again making things very easy to understand and follow. 👌

[@martinkendal2486]

Thanks Dan this is one of the best guide videos you have done and I've watched a lot of them!

[@TheBlauwitje]

Nice explanation Dan, love the British caravans, i weight our towing hitch evertime we go away. We bought our caravan last year sow our loading can change sometime. With two bicycles at the front and our gas bottles I'm always keeping around max 85kg for our ford focus just to keep the caravan as steady as can be. Love your content, greetings from the Netherlands 🇳🇱

[@twogotikitouring6940]

Another awesome video Dan. Thank you 👍

[@alandoran1403]

Thanks so much, this video has answered so many questions for me and my selection of tow car. Now I can tow with piece of mind as all the numbers add up. Thanks, Alan.

[@anthonygardham4573]

This was a truly wonderful video Dan. You made what can appear most confusing subject Easy to understand. Thank you.

[@coraspapa]

Excellent info thanks so much. Now I can tow with reassurance all is matched correctly.

[@metin1994ful]

Really good and informative video. Thank you

[@terryfielding8836]

Great information on a minefield subject thanks Dan. I am certainly much clearer on this subject than I was before this video.

[@mash21sid]

Good work Dan! Great video and well put 👍

[@mark-hazelsmotorhomeadventures]

A very informative video Dan with great explanation of a very sore subject with some people . Keep up the great work all the best Mark & Hazel .

[@totaltouring829]

I thought this was a very professional and the delivery superb. I will keep this posting for sharing with family and friends. Thank you.

[@andrewphillips9027]

Good information Dan, a lot there to think about and action - Cheers

[@mikeclifton7778]

Excellent video there Dan, I'll share it to my son who's just about to get on the caravanning ladder.

[@garethlewis3647]

Many thanks. A very important subject, not only in the legal sense but also safety. When I bought my first Eldiss Shamal some years ago, the dealer didn't even enquire what car I had to tow it. I knew absolutely nothing about nose weight, kerb weight, payload etc. So thanks again for bringing this to the attention of pros as well as newbies. Wish I had this information when I first started out.

[@davidbotterill7549]

Hi Dan. A very straight forward and informative video. I do wonder how many newbies actually take note of these very important figures. Looking at how they go down the road - a few clearly don’t. Keep up the great work. 👍

[@sanc47]

simply brilliant presentation ....thank you

[@paulhilling6208]

Great video , its very confusing when a newbie and this would have saved me a lot of stress at the time !

[@leanne4006]

Excellently presented. Thank you so much. I am saving this video for reference. You’ve also gained a subscriber.

[@SteveLewis75]

I am new to the Caravaning world, so much information on your channel. Thank you so much for the fantastic content.

[@TheTrudgians]

Glad you enjoy it! Take care Dan

[@jamesdougan2364]

Very informative,thanks Dan

[@michaelhayes9975]

Nice one Dan and glad to hear you are on the mend. If I might add our own experience we calculated the running weight (to include crockery, utensils, cutlery, bedding and towels gas cylinder, folding chairs and water barrel etc) of our van using the MIRO and then listing everything we loaded (see brackets) plus the battery and motor movers on a spread sheet to give us our total. We then visited a weigh bridge and found that the MIRO couldn't have included anything more than the stripped van, not even the hook up cable, if everything else was correct. The weigh bridge operator explained that they weighed in multiples of 20 kilos so our result could be + or - 10Kg in a worst case, so we are confident this is as close as we can get! This means we now know what we have left for food and clothing which is pretty tight I can tell you. It also means we need to take more than we thought in the car but at least we will be street legal. Our car only has a nose weight limit of 75kg. The van is listed at 77Kg but the only way we can achieve the lower number is to "back load" the van! We only have a safe fill gas bottle (10Kg) in the front locker and apart from the contents of the fridge everything else has to be over the axle or behind it to reduce the nose weight! This slightly contravenes the perceived wisdom on loading but we have no other way of complying with the cars specification. Not easy is it?

[@brennigjones]

Nicely explained, thank you

[@ianbetts4042]

Well discussed with attracting the controversial. One thing that I would add with regards to the improving technology (ie towing stability programmes in cars and Alko stabilisation boxes on caravans) is that what if one or more of these electronic stability aids were to fail whilst the caravan is under tow on a motorway, for example, in poor conditions? Pure reliance on the electronic aids increases the risk of instability. Fundamentally, if a tow train is stable at permissible speeds in poor conditions, then it will always be stable bar a catastrophic failure such as a tyre blowout.

[@TheTrudgians]

Morning Ian, thanks for your comment. You are 100% correct, no matter the technology, no matter the design - nothing can fix a badly loaded caravan / car combination. Who knows what the future may hold? perhaps caravans will have additional battery banks, maybe the wheels will end up being powered? perhaps a new concept that throws this current rule book out the window. Thanks again Dan

[@Parknest]

Another well put together video Dan. I still have my 1994 Lunar Planet Saturn (just got back from the first outing of this year) but my tow car is now a 2003 Volvo XC90 with the 2.4 D5 engine. This has more towing capacity than the 2008 Citoren C4 Grand Picasso it replaced. I don't plan to change or upgrade the caravan but it gives me options should I want to do so and my current outfit is safer. Handbooks for both the towing vehicle and caravan should be the first place to start if thye're available. The Go Caravanning website is a handy guide to caravan weights but can't be taken as gospel. Somtimes you might find the caravan plate attached tio the chassis like on my Lunar.

[@coraspapa]

Maybe one day you might make a short video in the best way to tow up hills. Thanks for all your videos you are my number one source of info as a new caravan owner

[@paultraynorbsc627]

Thanks very important discussion

[@jamessmith2411]

Great video Dan and very helpful. I did a lot of research into getting my first tow car but ended up with a Merc ML with pretty much the same stats as your VW. I bought a new swift 850 x it currently has a mtplm of 1850 bit can be up plated to 2000. Now it clearly states in the front locker it can take 2000 so where do you think you would stand in court I'm just curious 😀 keep up the good work 👍

[@zombiediscosounds2614]

Hello Dan thank you for the video x hope you're OK looking tired my friend xx look after you're self.followed you from day one x

[@TheCaravanNut]

Great detailed explanation of car, caravan & matching Dan. I think the DVSA might be out in force this year! Some dealers are not checking car/caravan compatibility when selling their vans to excited new caravanners, as a driver it is up to you to make sure your car/caravan is road legal, should dealers who sell these ‘unmatched’ outfits be liable? Would be interesting to see how that one plays out, ‘the dealer told me it was fine’ Anyway, luck after yourself, speak soon matey.

[@narlynic66]

Excellent...thank you

[@ukzerocom]

Good explanation. Our 133% towing ratio does mean we do come in for some "furrowed eyebrows of scorn", but obviously always take care and make use of many years of towing experience. Owning a 2800kg MTPLM caravan means we either never tow it, buy a lorry or use the legal towing limit of our pick up of 3500kg rather than the "caravan matching guidelines". When you also consider the hitch limit of 120kg on the Inos that is also less than 5%. According to some it's amazing we sleep at night!😉

[@sooty1410]

Well explained Dan. What are your thoughts on towing a van who's weight exceeds the towcar's kerbweight? Your own figures show this to be legal but would you say it was advisable?

[@noretreat6910]

Thanks,I’m now outside looking 👍🏻👍🏻

[@TheBlauwitje]

Still outside looking?😆

[@Perthshire]

@@TheBlauwitje no reply - now calling RNLI, 999 and Mountain Rescue

[@coryh4009]

Great video, random question, what brand of wind break is that in front of your caravan awning?

[@justfarmingmad]

Do you have a video that walks through controls on heating and power etc. We are picking up a bailey alicante sintra in a few weeks having previously had a coachman. Would be interested to get familiar with things as we get the caravan 2 days before we go to Devon for 2 weeks. Thx

[@Perthshire]

it uses alde touchscreen heating controls - plenty of videos about them here on youtube.

[@CaravanWithThatYorkshireChap]

Hi Dan, my question is if my car has a legal towing limit ( as stated on the V5) of 1200kg. Can I tow a caravan with the mtplm of 1300kg if it’s loaded below 1200kg? I’m asking because I have come across a German caravan weighing 1000kg empty & 1300kg fully laden & I believe 200kg will be ample enough for items loaded. Any advice would be greatly appreciated

[@kevintattersall2009]

thank you

[@homeonwheels700]

I personally find as new to towing, that when my caravn is loaded it is nicer to tow than when unloaded. Is that normal ?

[@richardford4344]

Weighed my van (Eriba 230L) at the local weighbridge and was told it was accurate to +/- 50kg, With a potential payload on paper of only about 50kg this wasn’t a lot of help! Any suggestions?

[@hairywol]

Like you, we had our caravan up-plated for extra user payload. However, this involves only changing the plate attached to the caravan and a bit of paperwork, not any physical upgrade to the suspension or frame. But it cost £65. My question is, do you know if there is a reason for plating caravans below their safe maximum weight, or is it just a gimmick to make more money off us?

[@colinhale1431]

I believe it is more to do with the changes to the driving licence categories after 1997. Anyone passing their driving test after 1997 had a lower weight limit for towing unless they took the additional B+E test. The manufacturers plated the caravans with a lower MTPLM to allow more new drivers to leagally tow their new caravans. Drivers with the requisite higher category driving licence could have the caravan up plated to take advantage of the full design payload capacity of the caravan. The 1997 restrictions took the towing weight capability ( not the weight being towed) of the tow car in the calculations.

[@hairywol]

@@colinhale1431 Cheers, sounds fair, but the fee still irks me.

[@andrewkerr3985]

How do you go about up plating for extra payload . Who do you write to cheers

[@TheTrudgians]

So, ask a dealership if your caravan can be up plated. Ideally go to your supplying dealership or one that sells your make of caravan. Have your VIN number to hand and they will acquire a new weight plate and Cris certificate. 👍

[@johnpalin5701]

Very informative. Many thanks. Can I share this the 2 pages I’m admin for Thanks

[@TheTrudgians]

100% yes - please share away. 👍

[@johnpalin5701]

@@TheTrudgians many thanks

[@anthonygardham4573]

Hi Dan, Could I please ask you to run your calculator over the following numbers to make sure I could tow a Buccaneer Cruiser, (1936 kgs) 2022 model. Jackie Burnett I have no desire to dampen your excitement with your new van. But looking at the stats for the SQ5, you both might want to check with the caravan club or someone like them, I’m not sure if your car is man or safe enough to tow the Cruiser. Price as tested £44,715.00 Review year 2014 Kerbweight 1975kg 85% match 1679kg Maximum towing weight 2400kg Towball limit 100kg Many thanks Tony

[@paultraynorbsc627]

Do you calculate car weight with passengers?

[@daveandow2809]

Well explained Dan. Just one point, (when I were a lad) you could included 75kg for the driver.. ie Car kerb weight + driver. Has this been discontinued???? My motor has a low, (compared with some) towing limit which is 85% or there abouts, of the car KW so towing at 100% is out of the question. It's a minefield. Some unit matching sites don't show this. Easy to fall foul of this. Insurance wise.

[@sydneywicks3747]

Mtplm is basically the reason I sore someone at the services with his plant trailer 3.5 max weight, roughly 1ton giving 2.5ton of towable weight 1.6ton of his caravan and 900kg of what ever he wanted. Clearly done

[@tichbarr]

Should you measure the height of your tow ball on your car when measuring nose weight

[@teddygas9689]

What weight increase with your aircon please?

[@davidpearson9036]

Hi i passed my driving test in 2003 and im looking into buying a caravan and a car to suit it and the plan was to be able to takr my parents sometimes too. So what i was wondering what is the max weight my car + caravan + cargo can be?

[@TheTrudgians]

Hi, As per the GOV.UK site this is what you can tow : If you got your licence before 1 January 1997, You can usually drive a vehicle and trailer with a combined weight of up to 8,250kg MAM. You’re also allowed to drive a minibus with a trailer over 750kg MAM. If you got your licence from 1 January 1997 You can tow a trailer that weighs up to 3,500kg MAM. Details of what you can / cannot drive are listed on your driving licence. You can view it here: www.gov.uk/view-driving-licence Hope that helps.

[@alantugwell3463]

I am thinking of buying a caravan. My car is a 2107 BMW X1 xDrive 20d with a kerb weight of 1615kg x85 percent = 1372. The V5 and handbook say you can tow a braked trailer with a weight of 2000kg. my local caravan dealer said i could tow any single axle caravan, which i don`t believe. I'm getting lots of mixed messages and would be most grateful for any help. Kind regards Alan Tugwell

[@TheTrudgians]

Hi Alan, if your car is able to tow 2000kg, then your dealer is correct - you will be able to tow any single axle caravan as the heaviest single Axle on the market is 1800kg. The x85 is guidance only for inexperienced towers. Even with that in place you can still manage to tow a 4 berth caravan for around 1372kg.

[@gavinwilkinson1602]

skoda karoq sportline 4x4 towing a elddis avante 868 2022

[@Perthshire]

fiat uno 50s 1987 and ace courier 1976

[@timharris6043]

Only thing seems that I didn't see here was, that you told us the nose weight max of the caravan and towbar but didn't refer to the max nose weight allowed by the car itself. My hitch can take 140kg, but the car itself is only allowed 90kg!

[@Judge_Dredd]

Mmm... well, bit of a minefield then. First I can't find my kerb weight in my car user manual, will have to check the V5 to see if it's on there, second it looks like the S Number is not stamped on my Westfalia detachable tow bar, so will have to check with the manufacturer, third the car manual states 75kg Drawbar, but online I find it's either 75kg or 100kg nose weight, fourth the MTPLM of the Caravan is variously listed as either 1620kg or 1685kg, again I'll have to check the plate on the caravan, and fifth the max towing weight of the car is 1800kg. This is a bit of a faff, as the gas bottles it came with were Butane 15kg, two of them each weighing 35kg full, and the caravan is supposed to have two Propane 6kg bottles, weighing a total of 21kg full. With just one 15kg bottle fitted I measured the nose weight at 90kg, so have since bought a couple of 6kg bottles. As the caravan is 15 years old, I've replaced all the lights, leisure battery, and fitted a new battery tray + clamp (old one had 0.85v DC on the meter, and the battery clamp was missing), door catches, fitted a new gas locker hydraulic stay, plus a bunch of plastic fittings that have weathered and broken over the years. Looks like the jockey wheel needs completely replacing due to wear on the winding mechanism, the break away cable had almost rotted through, and I replaced both the 12S + 12N plugs. The Caravan is a 2008 Ace Celebration 620, and I have no user manuals for the caravan, fridge, cassette toilet, shower, indeed anything. If anyone can provide a link to the manuals I'd very much appreciate it, so far the oven and microwave have been tested, although the grill burners need servicing, the car now charges the leisure battery, and so does a mains hookup, heard the gas heater start working on Butane, but need to test it on Propane. Oh and no idea how to use the Caravan Alarm System, plus one of the manually activated motor movers is missing, along with the remote control, so will probably replace the motor mover altogether with a new automatically engaged system, and hope someone here knows anything at all about the Alarm System. Anyway, bit of a learning curve this end.

[@bobhope3817]

I will not comply I live in my car atm a jag xf it says it can tow max 1800 soon as my house sale is done I will buy a caravan My question is this car any good as a tower if anyone knows

[@reginaldshannon4220]

In ireland a car licence allows you to drive a car to more than 3599kg what does a uk car licence allow. And in reguard to towing a caravan

[@Perthshire]

google it

[@EVDriver1990]

Anything now changed start of the year.

[@gavinwilkinson1602]

look alot slimmer there Dan

[@philpoole5670]

This information can be very confusing there should be a standard set up across all formats and dealers both caravan and cars should have this information ready available….. it could save time money and lives

[@paultraynorbsc627]

Bought a VW Passat Estate 2016 model £20 tax

[@garydavis1528]

With electric cars slowly taking over the 85% rules is going to become a lot less than that due to how poorly the EV’s perform for towing and the harm towing can cause the motors.

[@paulefc1971]

Wonder how many newbies have just realised they have been towing illegally after watching this

[@Perthshire]

not only newbies