class 4 garage ????

caris

What is a class 4 garage? and how would we know if a garage is class 4?

We were told by VOSPA that if we have seat belts fitted to the rear seats of a campervan it would have to be done or at least checked by a class 4 garage, however they did not tell us where or how to locate one.

Any help or comments appreciated.

Silk

A class 4 for testing is for MOT's ie Class 4 is cars up to 8 seats etc ..standard MOT stuff. I think it's Class 4a for seat belt checks

Class 5 would be over 13 seat

Class 7 would be HGV's etc etc etc

All you need to do is check your local garage can do 4a

Rover_Driver

It's the class of vehicle for MOT testing:
Class 1 & 2 - Motorcycles
Class 3 - Small three wheelers
Class 4 - Cars, small goods vehicles, large three wheelers, motor caravans etc. (The 'normal' mot garage)
Class 5 & 6 Larger goods and passenger vehicles

mikey72

I think what they mean is they need fitting, or at least checking by a garage to mot standards, and a receipt produced accordingly to say they have been checked to the standard, and have passed.

It's always a subject of opinion, if you retro fit seat belts to a camper.
Mine have never been checked in all the time I've had it, and the only ones checked at the mot are the cab ones though.

Silk

mikey72 wrote: »

It's always a subject of opinion, if you retro fit seat belts to a camper.
Mine have never been checked in all the time I've had it, and the only ones checked at the mot are the cab ones though.

Hi Mikey,
It's not just opinion, it depends if you want to carry rear passengers sometimes ...your ok if the camper was made before 2001 but after that any passengers carried in the back have to have seat belts and be tested if fitted.
If the OP is adding to the van to increase the designated passenger load for insurance purposes they must be fitted.

It's a class 4a mot and I've a feeling a 4a has to be done by a class 5 station

Flyboy152

Silk wrote: »

A class 4 for testing is for MOT's ie Class 4 is cars up to 8 seats etc ..standard MOT stuff. I think it's Class 4a for seat belt checks

Class 5 would be over 13 seat

Class 7 would be HGV's etc etc etc

All you need to do is check your local garage can do 4a

Class 7 is for vans between three and three and half tons.

Wireless_2

Class 7 is also for Landrovers who have the incorrect vehicle weight on their V5/V5C, when they moved vehicle details onto computers the DVLA added the figure 3499kg to the vehicle weight category of older Landrovers, when most are less than 2000kg, and would normally be subject to a Class 4 MoT Test.

This wasn't a problem at the time, but since recent changes in MoT Testing, they rely on the vehicle weight to test the braking efficiency of the vehicle being tested. Also the Class 7 MoT Test is more stringent than Class 4.

You can imagine where this is going, particularly with it all being done electronically these days, basically people have been turning up in their old Landrovers and either sent away because the Testing Station doesn't do Class 7, or they are subjected to Class 7 and fail the braking efficiency test.

There's many Landrover Owners sending their V5/V5Cs away to DVLA, and either not seeing them again, or they take many months to be processed and returned, or they come back with exactly the same vehicle weight of 3499kg printed on the new V5C, even though the correct weight has been supplied.

The DVLA is a sodding nightmare organisation.

mikey72

Silk wrote: »

Hi Mikey,
It's not just opinion, it depends if you want to carry rear passengers sometimes ...your ok if the camper was made before 2001 but after that any passengers carried in the back have to have seat belts and be tested if fitted.
If the OP is adding to the van to increase the designated passenger load for insurance purposes they must be fitted.

It's a class 4a mot and I've a feeling a 4a has to be done by a class 5 station

As far as I'm aware, class 4a is for vehicles fitted with more than 8 passenger seats, used before 1 October 2001, mainly mini buses, and not camper vans.
The number of belts isn't recorded on the MOT for vehicles with less than 8 seats, it's marked as N/A, so it can't be seen if new belts have been fitted by the MOT tester if it's not recorded from year to year.
So no obligation for any check is required.
In fact, I don't know of any retro fitted belts in the habition area that need to be checked, it's only the cab belts.
This has been the suject of many discussions.

(You're not ok if the camper was made before 2001 either, any passenger carried must be belted, I have lap belts retro fitted in mine to comply, and they don't need testing either. After 2001 motorhomes should have belts fitted in the factory for all seats used for travel, so you shouldn't need to fit them.)

mikey72

There's even more legislation on fitting seat belts in the back, who can sit in them, using booster seats, and whether you need to in the first place, and what happens when you fit one and then need to carry more people.

What sort of van do you have, and what belts are you fitting to carry what age of passengers?

caris

Thank you for all your replies.

We havent actually got a campervan yet. We have seen one that we are really interested in, however althought it is a 5 berth it only has seat belts in the front, which is why my OH phoned VOSPA.

The people selling the campervan said it was not a problem for them as there is only the 2 of them, but they did previously own another campervan and they said that they had added extra seat belts (done at a motorhome selling place), but local campervan sales by us will not fit seat belts.

Our intention is to "carry" our grandchildren on breaks away, and their ages vary in one is 6 weeks old, another is 18 months, one is 7 and the eldest is 12. They will not be all travelling at the same time, and obviousley we do realise that the younger ones will need to be in proper car seat and the 7yr old will be on a booster seat and the eldest just a seat belt.

There will usually be only the 3 of us as the oldest GC lives with us full time.

The seating arrangement in the campervan are suitable for having extra belts fitted as they are not bench seats.

mikey72

When you say not bench seats, do you mean they are proper minibus seats, or the more usual wood type dinette seat, that will only fit lap belts, and not three point with the diagonal belt.