Motorhome too heavy

T

Tom and Aisha

Joined
Oct 14, 2016
Posts
8
Likes collected
3
Location
yorkshire
Funster No
45,589
MH
Dethleffs Globus
Exp
since 2014
Our motorhome is always over-full. So, after head-in-sand for a few years, visited weighbridge and surprise surprise, not where where we should be ............ and that was without my co-pilot! Suggested she followed behind in a taxi but poor response!!! and that didn't cover what to do about the beer and wine. So, considering up-rating to give and extra 250/300kg.for food, wine and of course my wife.
Anyone done this, are there downsides, such as where you can/cannot go, ferry/tunnel prices, speed limits here and in France etc.
 
hi welcome;

there are many threads on this topic.

yes it can be done, yes motorway tolls caN BE AFFECTED and speed limits in some places.

it can also be expensive depending how you takle it
 
Good afternoon @Tom and Aisha,

Welcome to Fun.
It might be a good start if you tell us what your 'Van is.
ie, Make year and Model. I've no doubt if you've found that you need to go to weightwatchers, I'd be surprised if a fellow Funster hasn't found him/herself in the same motorhome (can't say Boat???)

Some 'vans lend themselves to a useful addition to the Gross weight without having to do anything other than submitting some technical stuff to DVLA. There are Co's that for a price will supply the information based on information you supply to them (Things such as tyre loads, size of wheels etc) but the main thing is the Chassis that the 'van is sitting on.
Regards

PS The reference wasn't targeted at you two. There are numerous Funsters who despite being thin as rails, drive 'vans that are overweight.
 
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Does your license cover you for driving vehicles over 3500kg?Medical required when you turn 70 and needs repeating every 3 years.Fines for overloading can be very costly,,BUSBY.

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Spot on .... the answer is for us both to visit weight-watchers !!
But, need to use the van this year and willpower is somewhat lacking.
The van is a 2017 Dethleffs Globebus T7, rated at 3500kg, and with a stated payload of 500kg. However, by the time we take off the weight-watchers candidates, plus the spare we've added, plus table/chairs etc and plus some water for traveling between un-serviced Aires in France, not much left for beer and wine
Am sure the up-rate is the way to go as much of the fun disappears without being able to take the kitchen sinks etc.
 
Don't know the vehicle but according to Dethleffs, the 2016 model had 16" wheels.
Don't want to build your hopes up but that might indicate that an upgrade might be possible.

According to the 2016 Tech Spec. thus;

https://www.dethleffs.co.uk/fileadm...fs/uk/Downloads/TI_Motorhomes_2016_150dpi.pdf


The vehicle can be uprated by Dethleffs as part of the construction process to 3850Kgs or even possibly to 4250Kgs. This is probably a paper exercise, but don't shoot the messenger. (See Page 10)
 
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I'm just sussing out the medical think at present as the end of the youthful stage of my life comes in April !
Next step is contacting SvTec
 
You're a month in front of me (Mine's in May) Just ordered the Forms from DVLA

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If you talk to Steve at SVTECH they will probably already have done one of your van types and will be able to tell you exactly what extra you have available and how to do it(y)(y)
 
And meanwhile my counsel would be don’t travel until you are are within 3500 as it will invalidate your insurance were you to be involved in an accident!
 
pandas said:
And meanwhile my counsel would be don’t travel until you are are within 3500 as it will invalidate your insurance were you to be involved in an accident!
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I’ve never heard of anyone having an accident and having to have van weighed for insurance haas anyone any experience of this?
It would be hard to prove it was overweight especially if van was badly damaged and Bits missing .(y)(y)
 
Speve said:
I’ve never heard of anyone having an accident and having to have van weighed for insurance haas anyone any experience of this?
It would be hard to prove it was overweight especially if van was badly damaged and Bits missing .(y)(y)
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Suppose it depends on severity of accident.If it involved a fatality they would weigh it somehow,,Is it worth it. Dont know about fine for motorhome but when in business my wife and i who were partners in the business were fined £400 each for allowing!!! an Escort van we owned to be driven whilst exceeding its gross weight..It was being driven by an employee.BUSBY:(:(
 
busby said:
Is it worth it
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I certainly wouldn’t drive overweight and no it’s not worth it, just interested in hearing if anyone experienced it.(y)(y)(y)

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Providing that there aren't accidents to complicate matters DVSA will only give the OP an ear bashing and not a FPT so long as the weight doesn't exceed 5% overweight ie in total, 3675 Kgs

PS I'm not condoning driving overweight but the only difference in these circs between being legal and illegal is the numbers on the VIN plate (Assuming he hasn't put an elephant in the room.)
 
Blimey! How much beer do you carry?? We've got a 2018 T7 with the 150 hp motor and with the two of us in board, 75‰ fuel, 4 dots of fresh water, one lab sized dog (30kg) 2 terrier sized ones at 10 kg each, 2 deckchairs, large table, tiny table (for the mini oven) a cadac, a mini oven, extending ladder, awning, 2 x 11 kg Repsol propane cylinders, bike rack, clothes and all our booze, food, dog food and dog beds and other junk in the garage. Our last weigh in was 3380 total, 1540 front axle and 1840 on the rear axle, which gave us 119kg head room.
 
Not wishing to thread high jack, but does your 12v switch on your control panel turn off any 12 v circuits? All ours does us turn off the panel and nothing else!
 
Speve said:
I’ve never heard of anyone having an accident and having to have van weighed for insurance haas anyone any experience of this?
It would be hard to prove it was overweight especially if van was badly damaged and Bits missing .(y)(y)
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It would be a usual part of an accident investigation if a vehicle went into the back of another vehicle resulting in a fatality. It would invalidate the insurance if it were. Plus it is totally irresponsible and a potential risk for other road users. Suprising how many funsters on previous posts on this weight subject were not too bothered. A pity.

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pandas said:
It would be a usual part of an accident investigation if a vehicle went into the back of another vehicle resulting in a fatality. It would invalidate the insurance if it were. Plus it is totally irresponsible and a potential risk for other road users. Suprising how many funsters on previous posts on this weight subject were not too bothered. A pity.
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I just wonder how many vans drive around unknowingly overweight and how many drivers over 70 do not know about the need to have a medical etc to drive over 3500kg vans..Have met a couple on my travels that through ignorance were illegally driving.BUSBY.
 
Crazylegs said:
Absolutely not true.
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pandas said:
In your opinion
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You could both be right! It would depend whether the overweight vehicle cause the accident and if the extra weight compounded/made it worse ... not sure if it could be proved or not but if it was a very serious accident I wouldn't put it past the authorities to weight the vehicle in the process or preparing a prosecution.
 
It would depend on what the protagonists (above) regard as '"Insurance'"

There is no doubt that, in the case of an accident, the Insurance Co. have a liability to provide cover in accordance with the Road Traffic Act but............................................ What else? Cover the overweight vehicle driver for repairs?, onward travel? etc etc. That is where the arguments begin. And remember, they can keep their hands in their pockets and you, with a wrecked 'van, possibly a long way from home, even worse, perhaps abroad, have to try to organise someone to prise open their wallet.

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Speve said:
I’ve never heard of anyone having an accident and having to have van weighed for insurance haas anyone any experience of this?
It would be hard to prove it was overweight especially if van was badly damaged and Bits missing .(y)(y)
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When I was a weighbridge operator the police brought a crashed vehicle in for weighing as it was involved in a death and they wanted to work out its speed at the time of collision .
 
I understand the bit in my insurance that says I am only insured if my license covers the vehicle. So if I haven’t got C1 I wouldn’t be insured in a vehicle with a revenue weight over 3500kg. However the driving license restrictions only seem to apply to what the vehicle is registered as, not whether it is overloaded which is a different offence. I have not seen anything in my insurance documents relating to invalidating insurance by overloading. This seems to be consistent with the official DVSA advice on vehicle overloading, which talks about non endorseable fines for minor overloading offences. Am I getting this wrong?
 
This is from an SVtech published document.
If your licence restricts your vehicle weight. (i.e. Licence after 1997 with B category only, or over 70 without medical.) and you are found to be exceeding your vehicle weight, the offence commit is two- fold, a vehicle overload and a driver licencing issue.
The later offence being far more serious, as this will carry penalty points in addition to a fine.
Where a driver is exceeding his driving licence entitlement, it is treated the same as driving a vehicle without the appropriate licence i.e. Driving without a licence.
This carries a 3 to 6 penalty points endorsements and up to £1000 fine.
In addition to this, the police can pursue the offence of your insurance being invalidated. This would be through contact with your insurer and if your car insurance is deemed invalid, this will result in an extra 6 to 8 penalty points placed on your licence (on top of the 3 to 6 for driving without a licence) plus an increased fine.
 
@pandas I have read the svtech document but it seems to be at variance on some points with the DVLA and DVSA documents, that appear to tie the driving license issues to the registered weight of the vehicle, not its weight in use. Obviously overloading is still an offence and should be avoided. It is clarification of these different interpretations that is really behind my question.

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