best van for towing car trailer...

[winchman]

Just something I have only just found out if its 3500 or above you may need to look at the Taco law.
https://www.gov.uk/tachographs/overview

Its worth just reading and understanding incase you get stopped then you know how to answer. When I sold tools out of the back of a 8 ton lorry but drove it on a 7.5 ton car licence and never used a Taco I was glad I knew what to say when VOSA and the police did a spot check ( Mobile Exhibition allowed exemption truck was down plated)

 

[Wedg1e]

As an aside, did you van drivers know that if you drive silly miles in a day or go outside a 50 mile radius of base you are subject to some of the provisions of the Drivers' Hours legislation...?
I know I read it somewhere, can't recall if it was on here so maybe if it was, someone more cleverer than me can post up linky things to words about it.
Personally, if I'm on the other side of the universe and want to go home I just keep driving, cobblers to a break every 2 hours.

 

[BrokenBiker]

As an aside, did you van drivers know that if you drive silly miles in a day or go outside a 50 mile radius of base you are subject to some of the provisions of the Drivers' Hours legislation...?
I know I read it somewhere, can't recall if it was on here so maybe if it was, someone more cleverer than me can post up linky things to words about it.
Personally, if I'm on the other side of the universe and want to go home I just keep driving, cobblers to a break every 2 hours.

im sure thats only for business users, i would be a domestic pleasure and commuting driver so not included with drivers hours etc...that was flagged up ages ago when i had my first van

 

[dannyp]

it's another exampel of the huge problem with this contry, there are so meany silly laws and ademdmens and revisions thereof that no one actualy knows the laws

 

[BrokenBiker]

it's another exampel of the huge problem with this contry, there are so meany silly laws and ademdmens and revisions thereof that no one actualy knows the laws

i know, i dont see why there cant be a simpler way to do things...even if its just a better way of making the info known...

 

[cliff366]

I've never been sure what I can and can't tow and these threads confuse me even more lol
I'm sure I'm not allowed over 3.5 but can borrow weight from my t4 towards the trailer weight aslong as the trailer is not heavier than my t4 as only have the b cat
where as the b1 means you can tow a heavier trailer than my t4 lol

 

[Wedg1e]

im sure thats only for business users, i would be a domestic pleasure and commuting driver so not included with drivers hours etc...that was flagged up ages ago when i had my first van

Furry point

 

[Justme]

ah fair enough...i was looking at a t350 MWB a while back but dont need a MWB any more. the van you have seems to fit my bill though...i reckon at most i would need to tow 2T if the megane is loaded up with fuel and whatever else may be in it...

I think the trailer & car will weight in at more than 2000kg.

 

[Justme]

On mine, MAM is 3.2t.
Megane + trailer will be c. 2t so you could potentially fully load the van.
70mph absolute max top speed tho - downhill, with a tailwind.
50 is more realistic.

50mph is the legal limit on A roads & 60mph on dual carriage ways & M ways anyway.

As it would be for the van anyway apart from the Mway which would be 70mph.

 

[Justme]

when was that? when i did my B+E last summer i was told something along the lines of you can only tow a trailer that has the same top rating as your vehicle...

Sadly most B+E trainers dont keep up to date with the changes & even those that do, dont like sticking their necks out.

 

[Justme]

I've never been sure what I can and can't tow and these threads confuse me even more lol
I'm sure I'm not allowed over 3.5 but can borrow weight from my t4 towards the trailer weight aslong as the trailer is not heavier than my t4 as only have the b cat
where as the b1 means you can tow a heavier trailer than my t4 lol

B1 is not even as big as a car so def cant tow heavier trailers.

Category B1
You can drive motor vehicles with 4 wheels up to 400kg unladen or 550kg if they’re designed for carrying goods.

Your Cat B licence allows you to:-

drive a vehicle of up to 3500kg MAM
Tow a trailer of up to 750kg MAM with any Cat B vehicle (so a GTW of 4250kg)
OR
Drive a combination of vehicle & trailer where the combined mass (both MAMS added together) of up to 3500kg.

You can not "borrow" capacity from the car to the trailer as its the plated weight that is counted for Cat B licences.

There used to be a limitation that the trailers MAM could not be more than the cars curb weight but that has now been removed.

 

[BrokenBiker]

B1 is not even as big as a car so def cant tow heavier trailers.



Your Cat B licence allows you to:-

drive a vehicle of up to 3500kg MAM
Tow a trailer of up to 750kg MAM with any Cat B vehicle (so a GTW of 4250kg)
OR
Drive a combination of vehicle & trailer where the combined mass (both MAMS added together) of up to 3500kg.

You can not "borrow" capacity from the car to the trailer as its the plated weight that is counted for Cat B licences.

There used to be a limitation that the trailers MAM could not be more than the cars curb weight but that has now been removed.

so with B+E could i use a trailer plated at say 3T, but only actually have a total weight of 1.8T with a vehicle that is rated to tow say 2T or would it be seen as the 3T plate trailer is not suitable to be towed by the vehicle with a max of 2T?

 

[Gritineye]

Remember that a 3.5 t trailer is heavier built than a 2.0 t trailer so payload is reduced accordingly, it doesn't make sense to tow one and keep below a van's 2.0 t limit.

 

[Parm]

I might be missing the point here but if you only need a van or trailer to move house which may at most take a couple of weekends surely hiring a van or paying for a man and a van is cheaper than buying, taxing, insuring something and I haven't even taken into consideration your luck with any form of wheeled transportation device

 

[dannyp]

trailers are just a PITA tho

i really chould justify doing B+E but i'm also avoiding it like the plague. problem is the rules with these bloody trailers never seem to stay the same for more than about 5 minutes. the MAM is pain if you have 1 vechel and 1 trailer, you can plae it so the MAM of the trailer is = to the towing capacity of the veichel. or the diffrence between the MAM of the veichel and 3.5 ton. once you put multi veichel and trailer and driver in your knackerd.

my passat is a pain here. as it has a MAM of 2160 KG and has a towing capacity of 2000 KG so i can tow 1340 kg going on MAM, the car actualy weighs in at about 1700 KG from memory so can i really tow 1800 KG. it so close to makeing B+E pointless for that car.

but we allways have another car about quite often as the car is lighter and even tho it's plated as been abel to tow less it's to my understandin legal to tow more, so be rateing trailers is goign to be a mega pain as it would i guess have to be to the lowest weight

 

[BrokenBiker]

I might be missing the point here but if you only need a van or trailer to move house which may at most take a couple of weekends surely hiring a van or paying for a man and a van is cheaper than buying, taxing, insuring something and I haven't even taken into consideration your luck with any form of wheeled transportation device

it will come in handy for other things too, i dont just plan on using it to move house with but cant see me needing one for more than a year...i am wrapping up a few jobs that are being done as favours that i owe, once they are done i firmly pan on not going back to private work so the van really will be pointless then, but i have 3 more jobs to finish (well, start really) before i get to that point and my experience with delivery of materials is that if the road is even slightly too narrow for the drivers liking they dont deliver down it...much easier with a van...

Remember that a 3.5 t trailer is heavier built than a 2.0 t trailer so payload is reduced accordingly, it doesn't make sense to tow one and keep below a van's 2.0 t limit.

it was more a hypothetical question of the regulations...could you use a 3T plated trailer with a vehicle that is only rated to 2T if it is actually under the 2T limit of the vehicle...basically, is it ok as long as gross weight of trailer and load is under the rating of the vehicle?

 

[Turbo]

Once you have the van you will find a lot of uses for it and wonder how you ever managed without one!

I could really have used a van this week. I bought several old wardrobes to make storage cupboards in my garage. The place I had to collect them is at a busy car park, right beside a Jollyes & a KFC so you can imagine how much fun I had trying to get a car and horsebox maneuvered in close to the building. If I had a van I could simply have parked in front. Tonight I bought 2 pine doors at an auction but I have to go back tomorrow with the trailer as they are too long for the car.

Unfortunately I'm in no position financially to buy a van but it doesn't stop me wanting one!

 

[CornishPete]

my passat is a pain here. as it has a MAM of 2160 KG and has a towing capacity of 2000 KG so i can tow 1340 kg going on MAM, the car actualy weighs in at about 1700 KG from memory so can i really tow 1800 KG. it so close to makeing B+E pointless for that car

my understanding is you could not tow the trailer even if its empty on a cat b license as the total mam is greater than 3500kg (4160kg) but you could on a cat b+e, then it goes on actual weights not mam

 

[cliff366]

Ment b+e not 1 think bb is in the same boat as me confused lol there must be an easier way for folk to understand the rules rather than having all the diff systems and rules

 

[cliff366]

And also what does a trailer weight become if it was home made say a single wheel car trailer like was always about till ifor etc became more avail be