Nosha
Guest
There has been much speculation of the last few years regarding towing a car on an A frame, is it a trailer? Is it a car being recovered? More importantly for us motorhomers IS IT LEGAL!?!
To start at the start:-
1). Does your driving licence allow you to tow a trailer?
2). Is the car over 750kg? A VERY important question!
3). Will the weight of your car and motorhome combination exceed the Gross Train Weight of the motorhome?
So providing you have the licence, can you go ahead? Firstly is it a car or a trailer? Well anything with wheels connected to your motorhome via a tow-ball is classed as a trailer, so know we know it’s a trailer what problems does this pose? Firstly ALL trailers have to display two red triangular reflectors; they have to display the registration of the towing vehicle and have to have lights operated by the towing vehicle. Is the car/trailer over 750kg? Almost certainly YES! (If not then that’s it, although it should display somewhere clearly the Max Gross Weight, year of manufacture and if newer than 1st Jan 97 a breakaway cable should be fitted).
ALL trailers over 750kg require over-run brakes, and if made after April 89 an auto reverse system (you could be asked to demonstrate this!) Also the breakaway cable fitted to a braked trailer must apply the handbrake should the two become uncoupled. Now I’ve seen A frame and car combinations that have an over-run hitch with a cable connected to the brake pedal, although after six applications the brakes the servo will have emptied and this system will be next to useless (if you don’t believe me stop on a hill, switch the engine off, pump the brakes until the pedal goes hard, let the handbrake off and once rolling try stopping!!). But I’ve NEVER seen it fitted to the car handbrake!
Most people who have this system fit the brake-away cable to the over-run/footbrake linkage, so if you became uncoupled the cable would yank the footbrake on, but when the cable snapped the there would be NO brakes still applied to the trailer – hence it MUST be fitted to the handbrake so that the ratchet is engaged and the brakes remain applied.
Remember the Police or VOSA can stop you and if ANY part of the above has not been applied they can slap a prohibition on the trailer and or combination, this could be a delayed prohibition allowing you to continue your journey and giving you 14 days to rectify the defect, or it could be an immediate prohibition preventing you from moving the trailer until the fault is rectified – this could be as simple as disconnecting the towed car from the A frame and your partner driving the car behind you; providing they are insured to drive it etc, but if not then you would have to leave your car and A frame at the side of the road until repaired/rectified.
So there you have it, if the car is less than 750kg and your motorhome has a Max Gross Weight that plus the weight of the trailer does not exceed the GTW of the motorhome all you need is a light board, licence and break-away cable. BUT if it exceeds 750kg you will need overrun brakes, auto reverse, breakaway cable connected to the handbrake and the light board etc! Of course the simplest solution is to put the car on a purpose built trailer but then you will have an even heavier combination. Don’t forget that countries such as Spain do NOT recognise A frames because of all the problems stated so can issue a prohibition on site regardless of whether you’ve complied with all of the above.
Sorry if this seems a bit long winded but there has been so much speculation regarding A frame and trailer towing on this and other forums that I thought it need clarification.
To start at the start:-
1). Does your driving licence allow you to tow a trailer?
2). Is the car over 750kg? A VERY important question!
3). Will the weight of your car and motorhome combination exceed the Gross Train Weight of the motorhome?
So providing you have the licence, can you go ahead? Firstly is it a car or a trailer? Well anything with wheels connected to your motorhome via a tow-ball is classed as a trailer, so know we know it’s a trailer what problems does this pose? Firstly ALL trailers have to display two red triangular reflectors; they have to display the registration of the towing vehicle and have to have lights operated by the towing vehicle. Is the car/trailer over 750kg? Almost certainly YES! (If not then that’s it, although it should display somewhere clearly the Max Gross Weight, year of manufacture and if newer than 1st Jan 97 a breakaway cable should be fitted).
ALL trailers over 750kg require over-run brakes, and if made after April 89 an auto reverse system (you could be asked to demonstrate this!) Also the breakaway cable fitted to a braked trailer must apply the handbrake should the two become uncoupled. Now I’ve seen A frame and car combinations that have an over-run hitch with a cable connected to the brake pedal, although after six applications the brakes the servo will have emptied and this system will be next to useless (if you don’t believe me stop on a hill, switch the engine off, pump the brakes until the pedal goes hard, let the handbrake off and once rolling try stopping!!). But I’ve NEVER seen it fitted to the car handbrake!
Most people who have this system fit the brake-away cable to the over-run/footbrake linkage, so if you became uncoupled the cable would yank the footbrake on, but when the cable snapped the there would be NO brakes still applied to the trailer – hence it MUST be fitted to the handbrake so that the ratchet is engaged and the brakes remain applied.
Remember the Police or VOSA can stop you and if ANY part of the above has not been applied they can slap a prohibition on the trailer and or combination, this could be a delayed prohibition allowing you to continue your journey and giving you 14 days to rectify the defect, or it could be an immediate prohibition preventing you from moving the trailer until the fault is rectified – this could be as simple as disconnecting the towed car from the A frame and your partner driving the car behind you; providing they are insured to drive it etc, but if not then you would have to leave your car and A frame at the side of the road until repaired/rectified.
So there you have it, if the car is less than 750kg and your motorhome has a Max Gross Weight that plus the weight of the trailer does not exceed the GTW of the motorhome all you need is a light board, licence and break-away cable. BUT if it exceeds 750kg you will need overrun brakes, auto reverse, breakaway cable connected to the handbrake and the light board etc! Of course the simplest solution is to put the car on a purpose built trailer but then you will have an even heavier combination. Don’t forget that countries such as Spain do NOT recognise A frames because of all the problems stated so can issue a prohibition on site regardless of whether you’ve complied with all of the above.
Sorry if this seems a bit long winded but there has been so much speculation regarding A frame and trailer towing on this and other forums that I thought it need clarification.
