New driving licence

[scruffythefirst]

How do I find out what the maximum authorised mass of a car, trailer and its load is.  

From the dvla website (i passed in '99)

Motor vehicles with a MAM not exceeding 3500kg having not more than eight passenger seats with a trailer up to 750kg. Combinations of towing vehicles in category B and a trailer, where the MAM of the combination does not exceed 3500kg and the MAM of the trailer does not exceed the unladen mass of the towing vehicle

Does this mean I can drive a 3.5T car and a 750kg trailer, or only if its under 3.5T total?

[Guest]

the simple answer is you can't tow a trailer without taking another test ..... all this figure juggling thinking you'll scrape by does not really add up , if you search this was explained recently

[BigDaveUK]

..It was explained to me, as by the sounds of it you are in the same boat. basically the whole rig cant weigh more than 3.5ton at max load, so trailer weight+trailer max load + car weight + car max load must be below the 3.5 limit.

hope this helps

[dhutch]

Yeah. I looked into this myself.

As far as i know the limitations are:

- 1) MAM of the whole rolling train must be under 3500kg (so the wieght of the car, plus trailer, plus max the trailer is plated to carry)

- 2) The MAM of the trailer must not exceed the unlaiden weight of the car (assuming braked trailer). Or the maximum rate tow capacity of the car.

To this end, as far as i can tell, im ok to tow the westfeild behind my car on standard post-97 cat-b licence.

The trailer weighs about 500kg, the westfeild about 600. The car unlaiden 1150kg. And as the trailers a DIY build anyway, ive plated it as having a MAM of 1100kg. Total rolling weight 2200kg.

Its a tiny bit top weight on what the car is happy to tow, so i keep the speed down, and plan to get a stabiliser before long. But far as i know is fully by the book in terms of legal requiments for towing.

To take a test to get cat b+e is £105, plus any training you require. Which as the test allows you to get cat d+e and is therefore basical a hgv test, is apprently atleast a days training even if you are fairly confident at handling a trailer. (according to a bloke who runs training courses anyway)

Daniel

[BigDaveUK]

Yeah. I looked into this myself.

As far as i know the limitations are:

- 1) MAM of the whole rolling train must be under 3500kg (so the wieght of the car, plus trailer, plus max the trailer is plated to carry)

It must be the MAX weight of the car,

e.g my volvo weighs 1350, but the max gross weight is 1850 so i can only get a trailer that is 1650 MGW

[bjnsharp]

You can drive anything with a total MAM of no more than 3500kg. This is a total maximum weight that the vehicles/trailers are designed for. I.e you can drive a luton van which has a MAM of 3.5tons i.e the maximum weight it can take is 3500kg including all passengers fuel and any load you have in the back. Therefore if you are using a trailer it is not the actual weight of the trailer or the weightof the trailer and stuff on it. If the trailer only weighs 1000kg with the stuff on but it is plated at 2000kg (MAM) then 2000kg is the figure you need to use when totallying up the complete MAM. If the trailer is only used at a lower weight than it's MAM weight it can be downgraded to that weight.

I did find this quite confusing when I looked into. Best thing is to read through the dvla website several times until you understand it.

[dombanks]

as far as i know you cant drive with much over a ton and you most certainly cant drive with anything live in the back. its a pain if you own a horse as you cant tow it anywhere and you cant drive a horse lorry either. you are allowed to use one of those 3.5ton transit based boxes.

[BigDaveUK]

If the trailer is only used at a lower weight than it's MAM weight it can be downgraded to that weight.

Any idea how to do that? as it would be useful

[Vinny's Westie]

From the Freight Transport Association handbook the wording is as follows

"New drivers passing their car test may only drive vehicles in category B: a further test will be required if a driver wishes to obtain C1 entitlement.  Category B does also permit the towing of trailers with a greater MAM (maximum authorised mass) than 750Kg provided;

a.  the maximum gross weight of the trailer does not exceed the unladen weight of the towing vehicle and

b.  the total of the two MAM's together does not exceed 3.5 (not 4.25) tonnes.

Couple of examples;

Van MAM 3500kg, Van unladen weight 1500kg, trailer MAM 750kg, is a total mass of 4250 which is legal.

Van MAM 2260, Van unladen weight 1300kg, larger trailer MAM of 1240kg is a total mass of 3500kg.  This is just acceptable as the gross weight is on the limit at 3500kg.  The MAM of the trailer is just less that the van's unladen weight."

Hope that sorts that out for you.

Edited to add some more info about trailers;

"The need to take into account the permisssible maximum weight of a trailer as illustrated above creates difficulty if it does not have a plate giving this information.  However, therre is a formulafor calculating the notional maximum permitted weight, whereby the unladen weight of the trailer is multiplied by the approximate number shown below;

1.  Engineeering plant (i.e. a compressor on wheels) = 1

2.  Drying or mixing plant designed for producing asphalt, bitumen or tarmacadam = 1

3.  Agricultural trailer = 1

4.  Works trailer = 1

5.  Living van = 1.5

6.  Any other trailer = 3

Example, a small goods carrying trailer shows no plated MAM.  If its unladen weight is 300kg then for driving purposes its MAM is deemed to be 300 x 3 = 900kg.

The same problem can arise with an unplated motor vehicle, but this is likely to be less significant."

If you want details on vehicle multipliers then I need to ring the FTA as a member.

Hope that clarifies the situation for you, to me is would seem it may be advantageous to remove a plate, i.e. I have a trailer weighing 540kg which is allowed to be 2600kg total weight, by applying a multiplier above this could be reduced to 1620kg which would help in certain circumstances for people with category B entitlement only.

From my experience the only other way to reduce weights is to apply to VOSA and physically alter the equipment to meet the lower weights (expensive and timely).

Cheers all.

[samcooke]

What you gonna do scruff?

Sounds like a Luton might be out too...

[dhutch]

From the Freight Transport Association handbook the wording is as follows

"New drivers passing their car test may only drive vehicles in category B: a further test will be required if a driver wishes to obtain C1 entitlement.  Category B does also permit the towing of trailers with a greater MAM (maximum authorised mass) than 750Kg provided;

a.  the maximum gross weight of the trailer does not exceed the unladen weight of the towing vehicle and

b.  the total of the two MAM's together does not exceed 3.5 (not 4.25) tonnes.

Couple of examples;

Van MAM 3500kg, Van unladen weight 1500kg, trailer MAM 750kg, is a total mass of 4250 which is legal.

Van MAM 2260, Van unladen weight 1300kg, larger trailer MAM of 1240kg is a total mass of 3500kg.  This is just acceptable as the gross weight is on the limit at 3500kg.  The MAM of the trailer is just less that the van's unladen weight."

Hope that sorts that out for you.

Edited to add some more info about trailers;

"The need to take into account the permisssible maximum weight of a trailer as illustrated above creates difficulty if it does not have a plate giving this information.  However, therre is a formulafor calculating the notional maximum permitted weight, whereby the unladen weight of the trailer is multiplied by the approximate number shown below;

1.  Engineeering plant (i.e. a compressor on wheels) = 1

2.  Drying or mixing plant designed for producing asphalt, bitumen or tarmacadam = 1

3.  Agricultural trailer = 1

4.  Works trailer = 1

5.  Living van = 1.5

6.  Any other trailer = 3

Example, a small goods carrying trailer shows no plated MAM.  If its unladen weight is 300kg then for driving purposes its MAM is deemed to be 300 x 3 = 900kg.

The same problem can arise with an unplated motor vehicle, but this is likely to be less significant."

If you want details on vehicle multipliers then I need to ring the FTA as a member.

Hope that clarifies the situation for you, to me is would seem it may be advantageous to remove a plate, i.e. I have a trailer weighing 540kg which is allowed to be 2600kg total weight, by applying a multiplier above this could be reduced to 1620kg which would help in certain circumstances for people with category B entitlement only.

From my experience the only other way to reduce weights is to apply to VOSA and physically alter the equipment to meet the lower weights (expensive and timely).

Cheers all.

So if my trailer weight 500kg, and is unplated, its MAM would be calulated as 1500kg. Which is more than the unlaident weight of the car (1150kg).

- Wheras if it was plated as (down rated to) a MAM of 1100kg (500+600) i would be ok?

Also, although i presume its well below 2400kg (3500-1100) can you tell me the MAM of a 1.8l 99reg 306 hatchback?

Also ditto BigDaves request for infomation.

Daniel

[BigDaveUK]

Van MAM 3500kg, Van unladen weight 1500kg, trailer MAM 750kg, is a total mass of 4250 which is legal.

Just out of curiosity, i dont get this, i thought it was 3500 MAX for the whole rollingtrain at max capacity, so how is 4250 legal?  

Really useful post, cheers. i think i get it now, and taking the plate off seems the way forward for me.

So to confirm i understand this right    

I`m looking at a Brian James tiltbed clubman,

weights:

Gross Capacity:2000 Kg

Load Capacity:1500 Kg

but if i took the plate off it would effectively have a mam of 1500kg. is that right?

(actual trailer weighs 500kg, times 3, 1500kg MAM???)

[Vinny's Westie]

To clarify

If the towing vehicle has a MAM of 3500Kg it can still tow a trailer upto 750kg MAM which gives a gross weight of 4250kg, the extract above is direct from the FTA Handbook 2008, so its uptodate and correct.  The law states a category B covers you upto 3500 and a 750 trailer total is 4250.  Once trailer weights go above 750 the the unladen weight of the car comes into play, give me a couple of hours and I will ring and find out from the helpline.

Cheers

[dhutch]

Further to my other posts (sorry to keep posting, but this really good infomation on here) i also believe that as my (and really any other wesfeild trailer) is over 1.6m wide (6ft is 1.8m) then you need white reflectors and white markers on the front leading corner. As well as a (working?) foglight.

Side markers/relectors are not required unless its over 6m long. Boat trailers are exempt from almost any lighting requiments.

If im doing front markers i might might do a side marker near the rear too so i can atlease see it when reversing in the dark as well.

Daniel

[scruffythefirst]

Picked it up in a Luton in the end, b****y scary in the side winds on the M3.  Will look at getting a small trailer to fit to the Purgeot at some point to come under the weight limits.