Car transporter trailer kerb weights

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Dieselman

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Peugeot 403 Convertible
Does anyone have definitive information relating to the kerb weight of a car transport trailers?
 
Thanks. I had already looked but somehow missed the unladen weight.

Just on the limits, then...

Does anyone know the law regarding unplated "home built" trailers?
 
DM: spill the beans, what car have you just bought?
 
Trailers including car transporters require a plate. If stopped by the Police and you don't have a plate with all the relevant info on it, they are empowered to impound your trailer. About the unladen weight of your transporter, take it to a weighbridge, then check if your car/vehicle can legally tow it. Lots of homemade trailers are heading to the scrapyards because of the new (ish) regulations.
 
Trailers including car transporters require a plate. If stopped by the Police and you don't have a plate with all the relevant info on it, they are empowered to impound your trailer. About the unladen weight of your transporter, take it to a weighbridge, then check if your car/vehicle can legally tow it. Lots of homemade trailers are heading to the scrapyards because of the new (ish) regulations.

+1

And of course there is the insurance issue.

And another point is to ensure your car is homologated for towing...

Noticed recently that my Renaultsport Megane isn't, nor for a roof rack. Its sister models are though.
So fitting a tow hitch and then having an 'incident' or 'stop' could be a fatal error!
 
My car is type approved for towing, max load 1900Kg, hence being interested in trailer weights.
~500kg for the trailer, 1400kg for the load, means it's close but OK.

At 500kg, trailers seem unnecessarily heavy. Better design would reduce that.
 
Trailers including car transporters require a plate. If stopped by the Police and you don't have a plate with all the relevant info on it, they are empowered to impound your trailer. About the unladen weight of your transporter, take it to a weighbridge, then check if your car/vehicle can legally tow it. Lots of homemade trailers are heading to the scrapyards because of the new (ish) regulations.

I think that is only for trailers built after a certain date , possibly around the same time that towbars started having to be type approved and plated .

Certainly with the towbars , you don't have to retrospectively change older ones ; same with most new motoring legislation .

With DIY constructed trailers it would be very difficult to prove when it was manufactured .

EDIT - I checked and only trailers manufactured after 28 October 2012 need to be plated . The towbar regs came in a while before that .
 
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Something to be aware of is that some police forces have their own interpretation of the law. When I approached a Leicester trailer dealer about buying a car transporter, he warned me that I could not tow a 650kg unladen trailer home behind a small car rated for 1300kg because the trailer plated weight was 2500kg. This interpretation by the local constabulary is not supported by the government website which makes it clear it is the actual weight towed that is relevant. Not much consolation when you have the trailer impounded while the position is clarified.
 
In some cases where the MTPLW exceeds the towing limit for a particular vehicle , but the actual weight to be towed falls within it , it is possible to 'downplate' the trailer to suit the towing vehicle .
 
I can't see how the Police can effect a charge for an over plated trailer as long as the overall combo doesn't exceed the rating for the car.
 
I can't see how the Police can effect a charge for an over plated trailer as long as the overall combo doesn't exceed the rating for the car.

They can't but it doesn't prevent them from impounding your trailer and calling a lowloader at your cost to take it away while the matter is resolved. This type of thing is more often than not dreamed up by a senior officer anxious to increase the tally of stops and reports. There was a similar case a few years back involving lots of stops of farm vehicles during harvest traced back to one officious sergeant in an outlying East Anglian town.
 
In some cases where the MTPLW exceeds the towing limit for a particular vehicle , but the actual weight to be towed falls within it , it is possible to 'downplate' the trailer to suit the towing vehicle .

Correct. At least one trailer builder will supply two plates for a 750 kg trailer so that it meets UK regs and a 500 kg plate for anyone moving to France so the trailer dips under the MOT-equivalent trailer test requirement.
 
Just trailered a 320 cdi estate on an Ifor Williams 3500 16ft trailer without the sides, tailgate or front behind a 1996 defender. 622 miles from Poole to Scotland. Two long follows by traffic police cars but no pulls. I reckoned on being about 500Kg under the limit but was concerned that a knowledgeable policeman might have got me on the drawbar weight as I needed the car well forward on the trailer to stop the death weave.
A lot of weight to tow behind an old Defender.
 
I can't see how the Police can effect a charge for an over plated trailer as long as the overall combo doesn't exceed the rating for the car.

It shouldn't , but because it was happening some trailer manufacturers were supplying down rated plates at owners requests .
 
Just trailered a 320 cdi estate on an Ifor Williams 3500 16ft trailer without the sides, tailgate or front behind a 1996 defender. 622 miles from Poole to Scotland. Two long follows by traffic police cars but no pulls. I reckoned on being about 500Kg under the limit but was concerned that a knowledgeable policeman might have got me on the drawbar weight as I needed the car well forward on the trailer to stop the death weave.
A lot of weight to tow behind an old Defender.

I bet that drank a few gallons of fuel !
 
Another thing to watch is the towed weight exceeding the towing vehicle weight!

Tony.
 

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