why are used trailers so expensive?

Herzlos

Good point, I forgot that was part of the driving licence.

My point is, the OP needs to confirm that he can legally use the trailer he's thinking of buying, because it's quite likely he can't. Parkers says the limits for a 1997 model golf is 600kg for all but the V5/V6/1.8GTI

AdrianC

Rover_Driver wrote: »

They are the Driving Licence requirements.

The towing weight limits are
Up to half the car kerbside weight, to a maximum MAM of 750kg for an unbraked trailer.

For a braked trailer, it is the maximum towing weight stated by the manufacturer.

There's two issues.

There's the driving licence issues, which you gave earlier.
Then there's the car's towing limits, which are individual per car spec, not even per basic model - for braked AND unbraked. They may be around 50% of kerb, they may not.

So a randomly-selected MkVII Golf...
http://carleasingmadesimple.com/business-car-leasing/volkswagen/golf-diesel-hatchback_5/57568/technical-data/
1280kg kerb, 670kg unbraked, 1600kg braked
or a different spec/engine MkVII Golf...
http://carleasingmadesimple.com/business-car-leasing/volkswagen/golf-diesel-hatchback_5/69735/technical-data/
1299kg kerb, 640kg unbraked, 1800kg braked.

Rover_Driver

Herzlos wrote: »

Good point, I forgot that was part of the driving licence.

My point is, the OP needs to confirm that he can legally use the trailer he's thinking of buying, because it's quite likely he can't. Parkers says the limits for a 1997 model golf is 600kg for all but the V5/V6/1.8GTI

Yes it does depend on the car - half the kerbside weight up to 750kg MAM for an unbraked trailer, a braked trailer will have a higher limit.

Iceweasel

A lot also depends on when you passed your driving test.

https://www.gov.uk/towing-with-car

wiltsguy_2

if you want to see trailer limits being flexed then go along to a horse show! we always see people turning up in estate cars, with a nearly 700kg trailer with 1 or 2 horses weighing approx 500kg's each! it always amazes me how they actually manage to get their! must be fun trying to stop!

colino

The vanity horse owners wont have any difficulty in stopping if they are like the ones round here. Once they have their precious cargo on board they never get to any speed and I'm sure the horse would be quicker trotting home.

wiltsguy_2

colino wrote: »

The vanity horse owners wont have any difficulty in stopping if they are like the ones round here. Once they have their precious cargo on board they never get to any speed and I'm sure the horse would be quicker trotting home.

lol:rotfl: sounds like my missus! when i go over 50mph she starts whining saying it's too fast!

Iceweasel

wiltsguy wrote: »

if you want to see trailer limits being flexed then go along to a horse show! we always see people turning up in estate cars, with a nearly 700kg trailer with 1 or 2 horses weighing approx 500kg's each! it always amazes me how they actually manage to get their! must be fun trying to stop!

An estate car towing a 700kg (unladen weight) trailer with a load of 1000kg of horseflesh may not necessarily be flexing or bending any rules at all.

A Freelander TD4 (very popular with the horsey set) has a max GVW of 2080Kg and a max towing weight of 2000Kg.

So if the driver passed their test before 1st January 1997 they could legally run with a Gross Train Weight of 4080Kg.

Such a driver is permitted to drive a combination up to a MAM of 8.5tonne.

The only requirement are not to exceed the car's max Gross Weight, the car's max Towing Weight, and the plated max weight of the trailer.

For those with later licences combination its the combined MAM of the two which must be under 3.5tonne.

A driver with such a licence couldn't drive the above example even if the trailer was empty.

onomatopoeia99

wiltsguy wrote: »

if you want to see trailer limits being flexed then go along to a horse show! we always see people turning up in estate cars, with a nearly 700kg trailer with 1 or 2 horses weighing approx 500kg's each! it always amazes me how they actually manage to get their! must be fun trying to stop!

I know what you mean, I saw it often enough. For a long time the towing weights in the owners handbook were treated as a recommendation did not have any statutory force, then somewhere along the way they started getting used in unsafe load prosecutions. You used to see clapped out 1600cc estate cars which clearly couldn't tow a two ton load turning up with two big horses on a big trailer an hear owners complaining about the cost of clutch replacement!

My estate car is plated to tow 2200kg (or 2300kg with a different type of trailer hitch). I don't have a horse or horse trailer though, and I did pass my test before 1998. I do have a trailer for a racing car (and a racing car to put in it )

My ex's horse trailer wasn't far short of ton in weight on its own, I remember when she snapped the pinion shaft on the rear diff of her Series IIA temporarily making it a front-wheel drive Land Rover (fortunately after the horse was back in its field, while returning the trailer to its house) and I had to come and recover the trailer, the Cavalier I had at the time didn't much like hill starts due to the weight!

I didn't much like the job of repacing the diff on the Landy on my own either :eek:

MX5huggy

There seems to be some people with some good trailer leagal knowledge around so...

With a BMW X1 23dXdrive (oldest incarnation if there are newer) and this trailer model 500-0110 http://www.brianjames.co.uk/pdf/CargoShifterweb2014singlepages_2.pdf
Can a post 97 license holder drive it? If so how much weight can they add to the trailer. For an old licence what is allowed?