Car transporting question

[07DefenderSeb]

A friend and I want to transport his SIIa from Worcestershire to Essex.

What do you reckon is the best way, other than to drive it and get there 2 days later?

Hire a trailer or pay someone to transport it (preumably quite expensive)?

Does anyone have experiences of trailer hire that i would find useful?

[muckmoses]

I hired a car transporter to collect the Disco I bought off Ebay.

Approx £40.00 for the day. Ifor williams Twin axel tilting bed and winch.

Towed excellently behind 110 CSW TDI.
Check your licence though as recently passed drivers don't have ability to tow over 750KG.

[Bush Tucker Man]

I hired a car transporter to collect the Disco I bought off Ebay.

Approx £40.00 for the day. Ifor williams Twin axel tilting bed and winch.

Towed excellently behind 110 CSW TDI.
Check your licence though as recently passed drivers don't have ability to tow over 750KG.

From Graham, up at the 'Swillington Trailer Centre'??

[thermidorthelobster]

40 quid a day is a bargain.

Personally I'd be tempted to drive it, and treat it as an adventure.

[waveydavey]

If it's on the road I'd drive it. The trailers tow well but cost in fuel; especially as you need to bring it back again as well.
Bang the numbers into a nav system; even at 50 max it isn't that long a journey.

[07DefenderSeb]

Thanks for the advice chaps. Thinking about it - it would probably be cheaper to drive it in the end. Would save on trailer hire and petrol to pull.

Many thanks all.

[Rich_P]

You should be able to do it easily in a day.  I've done 150 miles in about five hours, including stops for fuel and breaks.  That was also cruising at 45-50mph (GPS reading).

[smo]

Dont forget about how you are going to get home if you drive it there....trains are slow and expensive. My vote goes on towing it, its not that bad on fuel and is a dam site better than ublic transport of any description!

[edy]

or just get you friend to follow you down in his car or somthing

[muddyjames]

place in banbury hires out all sizes of trailers.

you hire a trailer and pay the diesel and a few non beer tokens ( T total) and I will tow the trailer for you. you only need to do 1 way journey too then

[07DefenderSeb]

you hire a trailer and pay the diesel and a few non beer tokens ( T total) and I will tow the trailer for you.

Another legendary MC display of generosity. Thanks MuddyJames.

However, looks like we'll make a day of it and drive the A-roads all the way. With this weather it should be a nice trip. Perhaps we'll bump into some green short cuts on the way!

[muckmoses]

muckmoses wrote:
I hired a car transporter to collect the Disco I bought off Ebay.

Approx £40.00 for the day. Ifor williams Twin axel tilting bed and winch.

Towed excellently behind 110 CSW TDI.
Check your licence though as recently passed drivers don't have ability to tow over 750KG.


From Graham, up at the 'Swillington Trailer Centre'??

How'd you guess? He's even put some LF fliers out.

[Bush Tucker Man]

muckmoses wrote:
I hired a car transporter to collect the Disco I bought off Ebay.

Approx £40.00 for the day. Ifor williams Twin axel tilting bed and winch.
From Graham, up at the 'Swillington Trailer Centre'??

How'd you guess? He's even put some LF fliers out.

Well, he's not a million miles away & is your local Ifor-Williams dealer

[Range Rover Blues]

Tow the trailer down with a samll car then tow the car/trailer back with the Series.  Trailers can't go any faster than a series anyway and then you can save a bit of fuel.

[V8MoneyPit]

Tow the trailer down with a samll car then tow the car/trailer back with the Series.  Trailers can't go any faster than a series anyway and then you can save a bit of fuel.

Isn't that likely to be illegal RRB? I understood the tow vehicle must have the towing capacity equal to or greater than the *gross* trailer weight. And a trailer capable of carrying the car that is towing it is likely to exceed this.

[redhand]

Tow the trailer down with a samll car then tow the car/trailer back with the Series.  Trailers can't go any faster than a series anyway and then you can save a bit of fuel.

Isn't that likely to be illegal RRB? I understood the tow vehicle must have the towing capacity equal to or greater than the *gross* trailer weight. And a trailer capable of carrying the car that is towing it is likely to exceed this.

no as long as the weight of the trailer doesn't exceed the towing capacity of the vehicle towing it its legal. Almost had a major rant on this but then I re-read your post and did a quick edit oops.

[Eeyore]

Okay, first check - what's the towing limits on the S2a?

My 110 weighs in at 2t - given the right trailer it'll tow 4.  :?

I'm not quite following the line of arguement above.

FWIR (and I'm happy to be corrected), liscence permitting, the towing limit is determined by the manufacturers limit on the vehicle and the trailer it's towing (be it in terms of type or load).

If anyone is familier with the legalities, now would be a good time to raise 'em!  :lol:

To factor in for driving it back without towing, consider the cost of fuel at 20 to the gallon, then factor in the cost of getting there by public transport, too.

Public transport? Probably cheaper to post the car back!  :lol: Joking!

Cheers
 8)
Eeyore

[grunty]

I do quite a bit of towing using an A frame, I am unsure of the legalities so I phoned our local cop HQ, guess what.. they were unsure too  :shock:
Not been pulled yet but I am waiting
Alan

[redhand]

I do quite a bit of towing using an A frame, I am unsure of the legalities so I phoned our local cop HQ, guess what.. they were unsure too  :shock:
Not been pulled yet but I am waiting
Alan

An aframe should only be used for the recovery of a broken down vehicle. Unfortunately that's where the legal definition ends. and no one has defined when a recovery stops being a recovery and becomes an overweight unbraked trailer.

[CaptainColourful]

Looking at FAQ on  
http://www.ntta.co.uk

I have a motor home and want to tow a Fiat Seicento behind it using an A-frame. This car has a kerb weight under 750 kg so am I legal with this outfit?
Sorry no is the answer. The law regards this as an unbraked trailer and you are allowed to tow up to 750 kg Gross Trailer Weight, not a car’s kerb weight. The figure you have to use is the car’s Gross Vehicle Weight or Maximum Permitted Weight. This is usually at least 300 - 400 kg more than the kerb weight. We have no knowledge of any car sold in the UK that has a GVW under 750 kg. The only vehicle we know that is completely legal to tow with an A-frame is the French Aixam small "car". This is a full four seater and details can be obtained from Aixam UK on 01926 886100. An A-frame or dolly can only be used to recover a broken down vehicle to a place of safety. Transporting a car is, therefore, illegal. A-frames may be offered with a braking system that applies the car's brakes. These do not conform to the law as the car then becomes a "braked trailer" and has to conform to European Directives contained within the Construction and Use Regulations. It does not conform to the European Directive 71/320/EEC and amendments regarding braking requirements in any way. The use of this A-frame for transportation is illegal. It is still OK for use to recover a vehicle to a place of safety.

[S188]

A friend of mine was telling me the other day he was getting his 206SW modified so it could be towed with his perents RV (he had to take a LGV test to drive it but his perents didn't so I think it must be close to but under 7.5ton.)

I did question its legality because I recon the car must weight atleast a tonne and have a gross weight of probubly more than 1.5tonnes.  Presumably this conversion would be braked but I doubt he'd be able to tow it himself with a cat C licance anyway as he has no +E entitlement.  I'll see him tonight so if I remember I'll ask how this idea is going (he seemed pritty unaware at first and asumed it must all be fine as his dad had probubly made inquiryes into it)

Cirtainly if you don't have +E entitlement towing stuff with a car its the trailer gross weight thats important not its weight at the time of towing, which genrally makes towing a braked triler a problem for younger drivers (though sometimes legally possable).

If you aren't aloud to tow a trailer with a max gross weight of more than the towing vehicle (regardless of if your useing the capacity) I'd have thought there would be alot of people breaking the law on a regular basis which could be easy to spot.  Example, most twin axle trailers like Ifor Williams ones have a gross weight of 3.5t (smaller ones can be 2t).  Modern landys are some of the few vehicles that are plated to tow these things fully loaded.  Series vehicles are only plated to 2 ton (if plated, would that mean you could pull 3.5t on an early one? Obveously stopping might be a struggle).  My Dads VW Transporter has an unsually generus towing capacity of 2.5 tonnes for a non 4x4 and cars are often pathetic (so even a 2t trailer would be way too big for them).  Never the less you can often see many of these vehicles towing big twin axle trailers on a dayly basis on the motorway.  Surely if it was ilegal alot would have been booked by now and you'd be hearing about it.  Sofar all I've herd is that younger drivers towing trailers are starting to be pulled over as the police are wakeing up to the fact few have B+E licances or understand the rules.

I was once told if you use an A frame you should fiddle with the oil presure switch so the warning light won't go out.  You can then claim the vehicle has a fault that needs attenchion by a qualified mecanic hence being towed.  (Can't drive it with an engine warning light lit afterall). ANyone know if thats true?

[V8MoneyPit]

.....The law regards this as an unbraked trailer and you are allowed to tow up to 750 kg Gross Trailer Weight, not a car’s kerb weight. The figure you have to use is the car’s Gross Vehicle Weight .....

That's what I was believing. It's no longer the actual weight you are towing, but the gross weight (the weight the trailer is capable of carrying plus it's unladed weight). I seem to remember it used to be just the weight you are towing at that moment, but it was impossible to enforce. If you were stopped you woul dhave to be escorted to a weigh bridge!! It is much easier to enforce a law based around gross weigh because it's marked on the trailer.

Of course, when it's a car on an A frame, the gross weight would have to be obtained from DVLA or the manufacturer, unless you have the handbook in the vehicle!

[CaptainColourful]

I notice that Rollazooki (sp) has started a similar thread on towing law. Thers a couple of links there, one of which i have mentioned above.

 The DVLC link is good if you can understand the wording about which licences cover what.

That's probably why the police are only just starting to pull younger drivers who are towing trailers, they have probably been on a course and are trying to use their recently boosted knowledge of the somewhat complicated laws  :!:

[Range Rover Blues]

As stated above, towing a broken down vehicle to a place of safety is the only "legal" way you can use an 'A' frame, but in the same circumstances you can also tow a vehicle connected to a trailer, so we are talking 'special circumstance'/

If you adapt a car to use the car's brakes then it must comply with the 1986 C&U regs, as stated previoulsy and no car brakes do, for one reaosn the C&U regs require reversible brakes for a trailer, completely the opposite of what you need in a car.  The only way round that is to tow a pre-1986 small car, eg a Fiat 126.  I'd rather walk :lol:

IF you hold catagory B+E then you CAN tow a trailer with a MAM (MTPLM) greater than the car's kerbweight, provided you do not exceed the car's rated towing ability.

If the MAM of the trailer exceeds the car's max trailer weight you CAN load the trailer to within the manufacturer's stated max trailer load. I don't know whether you could then argue that you loaded it within cat B only and wouldn't like to put it to the test, ie a car trailer loaded to under 750kg max :?

Butu, you could then in theory tow an empty car trailer with say a Fiesta, max trailer weight (depending on model) is 900kg, our trailer is about 650kg, to pick up a LR, then tow the Fiesta/trailer home with the LR, legally.  The later would require B&E so any concerns about towing without it would be accedemic.

NB, if you are careful in your selction of car/trailer or caravn you can tow beyond 750kg without B&E.  My sister's first 'van, a 14 foot 2 berth had an unladen weight of 710KG and a MAM of 900KG IIRC.  This can be towed by a RRC (not a Disco though) as the MAM of a RRC is 2,510KG.

If you took a Mondeo then you would be able to tow about 1200KG caravan  but you CANNOT exceed the kerbweight of the car.

Confused :?

It's a matter of knowing which bit fo law to apply when.

[V8MoneyPit]

Confused :?

Totally....  :lol: