Motoring Alan Judd

TRAILERS

Watch your weight this summer. Not you, but what’s behind you – what you’re towing. Needless regulations in the past few years have complicated the whole business, and many towing drivers don’t realise they’re breaking the law.

Generally speaking, you can tow any old trailer without brakes, so long as it, and what’s in it, don’t add up to more than 750kg – or more than half the kerb weight of your car, which means the car’s weight not counting people and luggage. If your trailer weighs more than 750kg, it should be fitted with brakes. Small hatchbacks such as Minis and Fiestas are usually ok with a 500kg (half-tonne) trailer, more than enough for most rubbish-tip runs, while a Golf can take a braked trailer of up to 1,400kg.

As in life, things get more complicated as you get heavier. Caravans are relatively straightforward because their weights are known and most largeish cars, such as the BMW 5 series, can take one of 2000kg or a little more. When you get to larger twin-axle caravans, however, you need something like a Volvo XC90 (2,700kg), Ford Ranger (3,350kg) or Land Rover Discovery, Defender or Range Rover (3,500kg). And that includes luggage, remember.

Horse boxes are another matter. The weight of the box is usually stamped on it, but horses can vary between 200kg for a small pony and 1,000kg for a beefy Shire. For those who like complications, there is an unlikely-sounding formula for calculating the weight of a horse – girth in centimetres squared x length in centimetres, chest to buttock, divided by 8,700. I can’t say I’ve tried it – is there an equivalent for humans? – but I’m told that a hefty hunter can come in at about 650kg. Add a pair of those to the weight of the box, passengers, tack etc, and pretty soon you’re over the limit for the Audi A6 I saw disgorging a fine pair from its trailer recently.

If this is the kind of towing you anticipate, get a car that can handle the maximum 3,500kg, such as the Land Rovers, a Mitsubishi Shogun, Jeep Grand Cherokee, BMW X6, Toyota Land Cruiser, Mercedes G-class and VW Touareg.

But then the needless complications start because it depends who’s driving it. If you are of a sensible age and passed your driving test before 1997, you’re allowed a combined vehicle and trailer weight of up to 8,250kg; so you’ve no worries. If you passed your test after that, but before 2013, you’re allowed a total combined weight of 4,250kg, provided the trailer is no more than 750kg. If it is, you can still tow it, so long as it’s no heavier than the kerb weight of the vehicle and that together they don’t weigh more than 3,500kg.

For those unfortunates who passed their tests after 19th January 2013, the trailer limit is 750kg, and only then so long as the combined vehicle and trailer weight doesn’t exceed 3,500kg. If they want to tow more, they have to take a trailer test at around £115-£140 a time.

Casual observation suggests that drivers who are towing – especially livestock – are usually more careful than the unhitched and that, where accidents do occur, it’s not because of ignorance of how to manage a trailer.

So do your sums next time you take the Shires out or load up with scrap iron, even though there are hardly any police around to pounce on you (assuming they understand the legislation).