Any disadvantage of Upplating?

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69473

Deleted User
Never up plated a camper before, wondering if there's any disadvantages I'm missing.
Our Hymer has a MIRO of 3076 kg giving a payload available of 424 kg.
MIRO includes 75kg driver, gas, 90% fuel and 100% water tanks
We are a family of four plus occasional dog and suggest this limit is a little tight bearing in mind we occasional carry 4 bikes, two paddleboard and inflatable canoe plus plus plus....
Have spoken to SV and have confirmed up plate to 4000kg without mods or 4200kg with spring assisters and tyre up grade.
Minded to upgrade to 4000kg but before I commit are there any pitfalls?
We have the necessary licenses are relatively young 55/47, so no age restriction worries.
Many thanks
 
Speed limits, but I personally wouldn't consider that a disadvantage as I don't drive at speed in the van anyway.

Mind shift takes place when I get behind the wheel of a leisure vehicle!
 
Skez said:
Speed limits, but I personally wouldn't consider that a disadvantage as I don't drive at speed in the van anyway.

Mind shift takes place when I get behind the wheel of a leisure vehicle!
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There will be no impact on speed limits, which are based on unladen weight which will be unchanged.

Main disadvantage would be if you ever use the vehicle for any commerical purposes. If so, it becomes a goods vehicle and requires tachographs, operator licencing etc.
 
If abroad speed limits may be lower if over 3500kg, tolls may be higher, some streets may have weight limits set at 3500. Its a peculiarly uk thing the unladen weight speed limit!
I would get the increase myself and accept the occasional restriction or added cost in tolls.
If in austria will need go box rather than vignette for motorways.
 
As per SandraL Switzerland and possibly a few others for Vignette.

I wouldnt possibly advise you to take a photo of your V5 to show to the vignette people or the gendarmes of your less than 3500 kg van in order to go over a bridge "legally" whilst hiding your +3500 V5 as that would be the wrong thing to do !

Another downside is it makes it very difficult to lend the van to your kin who passed their test post 97. This is a real downside for them (but not for me)
 
Have you checked what your existing axle weights are fully laden and also what they will be increased to with each of the options? Just because the overall payload can be increased doesn't mean it will be in the 'right' place to be able to use it so check this first, SVTech may need this info anyway before they could proceed.

As for speed limits, in the UK won't be affected as they are based on your existing unladen weight however abroad they are based on your registered weight so up to 3500kg same as before, over 3500kg some restrictions on speed and also possibly on places you can take your vehicle but that's a lesser issue if your vehicle 'looks' no more than 3500kg and you aren't much over in reality ... :giggle:

Check on your breakdown recover as some company's have different terms for vehicles over 3500kg with less benefits.
 
suavecarve said:
Another downside is it makes it very difficult to lend the van to your kin who passed their test post 97. This is a real downside for them (but not for me)
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Yes, this is a definite advantage! No need to lend your pride and joy at low/zero cost to be destroyed by people with no mechnical sympathy.

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SandraL said:
If abroad speed limits may be lower if over 3500kg, tolls may be higher, some streets may have weight limits set at 3500. Its a peculiarly uk thing the unladen weight speed limit!
I would get the increase myself and accept the occasional restriction or added cost in tolls.
If in austria will need go box rather than vignette for motorways.
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It works out cheaper if you are transiting Switzerland as you can get a 10 day "pass" at the border which is cheaper than the annual vignette. You cross off each day you are in Switzerland even if not traveling. We bought ours at the borders - just parked up wit the trucks and went into the office with all our paperwork - which they hardly glanced at. The very helpful and efficient officer spoke enough English and my (very poor) French meant we communicated - 5 minutes and we were on our way.

Our van was registered at 3650 rather than 3500 from new and we've never regretted it. We might have to down plate when Martin gets to 70 but that's not for a while yet. Like Minxy Girl says check the axle limits as it isn't always easy to move things forward (usually the rear axle is more likely to be overloaded) and also lever effects come into play and can make a surprising difference. We put our cycle and kayak gear inside the van, in front of the rear axle (all kept in plastic store boxes when dry and hung in the shower when wet strapped down behind where the table goes although we don't usually have the supplied table with us). Not strictly necessary but our garage has a weight limit.
 
Rear axle limit is 2250 and vehicle is covered by Mercedes recovery for the next 2yrs.
Good news about 10 day pass for Switzerland, in our old van last year for 4 days I did have to purchase a 12 month vignette whereas in Austria it was just a much cheaper weekly pass.
 
Wondering star said:
Our Hymer has a MIRO of 3076 kg giving a payload available of 424 kg.
MIRO includes 75kg driver, gas, 90% fuel and 100% water tanks
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You have a lot less payload than you think you have. Hymer always quote MIRO with 20Lt of water also only one 11kg aluminium gas bottle.
With a Hymer like all German vans everything is extra so you need at least 700kg for two people. Any options fitted above the absolute basic spec will reduce the payload, I would be surprised if you had 300kg.With your van it would be almost impossible to run legally with 2 let alone 4.

Our last Hymer we uprated to 3850kg, current one we bought on a 4500kg chassis not found any drawbacks.

Load your van up for a trip with everything including people then get it weighed then you will have a clear picture and know if the axle weights are OK.
 
Information states 90%fuel, 100% water 75 kg for driver, gas doesn't state how many bottles.
Options added are all factory weight listed i.e 30kg for additional lesuire battery.
Only extra not taken into account are items I have fitted, towbar and solor panels.
Even taking into account optimistic MIRO stated by the factory I suspect I have 300kg of payload?
With additional up plate of 500kg I estimate approximately 800kg pay load.
A trip to the weighbridge for me I think.
 
Wondering star said:
Information states 90%fuel, 100% water 75 kg for driver, gas doesn't state how many bottles.
Options added are all factory weight listed i.e 30kg for additional lesuire battery.
Only extra not taken into account are items I have fitted, towbar and solor panels.
Even taking into account optimistic MIRO stated by the factory I suspect I have 300kg of payload?
With additional up plate of 500kg I estimate approximately 800kg pay load.
A trip to the weighbridge for me I think.
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Stated MIROs are usually downright lies. Only the weighbridge will tell you what you need to know.

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poppycamper said:
How so... speed limits based on unladen weight... upplating does not increase unlayden weight.
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I should have been more specific.

In the UK no difference, but as far as I am aware it does in France, which is of more concern to me. Of course this may no be the case for many, or indeed the OP. I stand to be corrected again, but I think this is the case.
 
hi is your miro of 3076 stated on any paperwork if it is you are restricted to lower speed limits in the uk already the miro in the uk is 3050kg
 
Wondering star said:
Information states 90%fuel, 100% water 75 kg for driver, gas doesn't state how many bottles.
Options added are all factory weight listed i.e 30kg for additional lesuire battery.
Only extra not taken into account are items I have fitted, towbar and solor panels.
Even taking into account optimistic MIRO stated by the factory I suspect I have 300kg of payload?
With additional up plate of 500kg I estimate approximately 800kg pay load.
A trip to the weighbridge for me I think.
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What year is it?
The figures I quoted are what Hymer have been using since 2007.

Also on the Certificate of Conformity there will be MIRO & Technical MIRO the Technical one includes factory fitted options.
 
pagey said:
hi is your miro of 3076 stated on any paperwork if it is you are restricted to lower speed limits in the uk already the miro in the uk is 3050kg
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The speed limits for motor caravans are based on the unladen weight not the MIRO. MIRO generally includes 75kg for driver, some fuel, water and gas, and so the unladen weight will be quite a bit less than the MIRO.
 
cmcardle75 said:
Stated MIROs are usually downright lies. Only the weighbridge will tell you what you need to know.
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Had 3 Hymers alway been very close, 2 were 30kg under current one 16kg over.

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Vehicle is a Hymer Grand Canyon S 6m PVC with additional pop top.
MIRO 2765 KG
TECH MIRO 3081KG
Detailed list of all options with individual weights are itemised even gives additional 1kg for internal load compartment partition.
All this assumes the original Miro is correct. From what I've been told sometimes manufacturers figs are light.
 
Wondering star said:
Vehicle is a Hymer Grand Canyon S 6m PVC with additional pop top.
MIRO 2765 KG
TECH MIRO 3081KG
Detailed list of all options with individual weights are itemised even gives additional 1kg for internal load compartment partition.
All this assumes the original Miro is correct. From what I've been told sometimes manufacturers figs are light.
Click to expand...
Just checked water for MIRO is 20lt as in all Hymers.
 
Only problem we have had is getting the uprated V5 back from the DVLA. Since June and still waiting!
Stay safe and happy travels 👍
 
I have a Hobby Van Exclusive that I up plated to 4000kg.
There are two of us, two bikes and two paddle boards.
with all our gear,100% water we have 100kg spare on the rear axle and 250kg spare on the front axle.
Given the amount of people, the number of bikes and equipment I would say you definitely need to up plate and then still check your weights.👍

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up plating can push you into the next category for low emissions zones if i up plated mine I couldn't drive it home
 
Wondering star said:
Information states 90%fuel, 100% water 75 kg for driver, gas doesn't state how many bottles.
Options added are all factory weight listed i.e 30kg for additional lesuire battery.
Only extra not taken into account are items I have fitted, towbar and solor panels.
Even taking into account optimistic MIRO stated by the factory I suspect I have 300kg of payload?
With additional up plate of 500kg I estimate approximately 800kg pay load.
A trip to the weighbridge for me I think.
Click to expand...

Hi WS!

I'm not sure if you've mentioned what model Hymer you've got, but for our MLT570 we had around 100kg spare payload with half tank of diesel and water plus enough stuff for us for a trip away, but when we filled the tanks and added the electric bikes we were just over the 3,500kg. We were fine on the rear axle weight. In fact we got a bit of a lecture from the chap at Trading Standards, as it was their Public Weighbridge we used, but he was ok when we explained that we were just working out our weights for uprating!

Anyway, we found SV Tech to be very helpful and as for you, we went to to 4,050kg without mechanical mods. It took about eight weeks for the new V5 to come through - but the new plate (sticker) is provided quickly by SV Tech.
 
We have just up plated our Hymer to 4000kg. It gives us piece of mind now when we load and travel abroad.
As far as resale is concerned i think people are very aware of payloads and how little a lot of motorhomes have. I think it should be made compulsory for dealers to make the customer aware of what little payload some of the mohos have. Not great for sales mind(n)
 
Hi March Hare
Our Van's a Hymer Grand Cayon S
Sprinter PVC.
Like yours going up to 4000kg for peace of mind.
20201018_105400.jpg

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