New van registration has arrived! (1 Viewer)

[bellabee]

The registration of our new Belgian import came through yesterday . We brought it over on 8th Sept, so it's taken more or less 6 weeks, which is about par for the course. Many thanks to those Funsters who gave me help and encouragement when I was needlessly panicking. (You know who you are .)
So, yesterday, we went out and got the plates and fitted them to the van in the torrential rain.
Today, we packed the van full of everything, as though we were going away -bikes, barbie, furniture, clothes, books, dog, half a tank of water etc. Then we nervously set sail for Budget Gas at Telford, with the intention of trying out our new Alugas system. We'd never used refillables before and were feeling a bit uncertain.
To say that Budget Gas offer good customer service would be an understatement. They came out and gave us a full lesson on how to fill and use the bottles safely, doing the first fill for us. 'Thank you, Budget Gas, you're fantastic and have gained some new, loyal customers.'
After that we went and filled up with diesel - then off to the weighbridge .
The result is, we'll be uprating to 3850. We're plated at 3500, and were 40kg over in total. The good news is that the rear axle came in at 1740, so we'll have 260kg to play with there, once it's uprated. Only 200 extra on the front, but that'll be plenty, particularly if I go on a diet .
Only problem now is that we've waited 6 weeks to get the registration, and the weather forecast is foul. Maybe we'll get away for a few days next week .

 

[Theonlysue]

@Snowbird

 

[Podney]

Good travelling,enjoy your first trip.

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[DavidG58]

I am easily confused but don't understand your maths on the weights

just re-reading before I post, if you are currently under on the front that makes sense I first read it that you thought you would get an extra 460kg by uprating by 350Kg, but hey it is Friday and a few gins have passed my lips tonight

but only half a tank of water, do you really travel half full? and you don't mention how much diesel?

enjoy your first trip, don't take too much beer

 

[bellabee]

@DavidG58, a few glasses of Red have passed my lips, so I hope this makes sense . If we uprate by 350kg, this will allow us a total extra of up to 310Kg (bearing in mind that we're already 40Kg over at 3540.) We can distribute this as we wish - up to 260 Kg extra on the rear and up to 200Kg extra on the front, but in total, not exceeding 310Kg. In fact, we won't need the full 310Kg, but any extra will most likely go on the rear axle, as we have a large garage. (We can store the extra beer there .)
We have a full tank of diesel. We do travel with the water tank half full.

 

[Bobby22]

Be aware that if you load your extra. Kgs behind the rear axle it will greatly reduce your allowance and you won't be able to put in anything like 260kg there.

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[Lenny HB]

What is your rear axle rating?
We upgraded our last van which was an Exsis I and only gained 150kg due to rear axle loading, axle only rated at 2000kg and not possible to store anything extra up front.

Should be a bit easier in your DL as the water tank is central (was behind the rear axle in the Exsis) and the large under floor storage box towards the front can take 90 kg.
Adding extra batteries shouldn't be a problem as they are mounted towards the front.

 

[Alistair33]

Today, we packed the van full of everything, as though we were going away -bikes, barbie, furniture, clothes,
Only problem now is that we've waited 6 weeks to get the registration, and the weather forecast is foul. Maybe we'll get away for a few days next week .

If you’re taking Barbie, I wouldn’t worry, just stay on the drive !

 

[bellabee]

@ LennyHB. This is more complex than I thought . Like your exsis, the rear axle is 2000. But the thing is , even an extra 100 or 150 kg will do us, because when we weighed it, we had absolutely everything in it.
We just want some leeway
I'll phone SV Tech and ask them what they advise.

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[Feltwell]

If you're on Stoke/Staffs border, for gas then there are 2 options that are possibly more convenient than Budget Gas - and have longer opening hours. I drive an LPG converted car so know most of the local sites. Last time I looked at Budget Gas themselves their retail gas price was expensive.

Hilton Autogas, at the Esso petrol station just off junction 1 of the M54 (on the road through Featherstone between J11 of the M6 and J1 of the M54). Buy from them and you're indirectly buying from Budget gas, they use them as a wholesaler, I regularly see their tanker there on a Monday morning! Usually the cheapest place, cheaper than Budget themselves, and Billy and his team there are very helpful. I've got an account with them but you don't have to have one, go into the petrol station and you can get the key for the gas pump.

The petrol station (a BP I think) between J12 of the M6 and the Gailey island, so come off J12 and head for Telford on the A5, about half a mile from the M6.

If you really want to go to Telford then you can get an account with Countrywide Farmers which means you can fill up 24 hours a day at a site on the Stafford Park industrial estate. The account and key they give you are free but the gas is not the cheapest.

 

[bellabee]

Thanks for that @ Feltwell . From where we live, Halesfield Telford is the most convenient, and given the level of service we got, I think we'd go there, anyway. Couldn't tell you how much per litre it was, but we paid about 22 Pounds to fill both bottles. Always useful to know of other alternatives, though, particularly if we're heading up towards the motorway.

 

[Robert Clark]

@bellabee
How long did DVLA take to process your application?
I sent my form off on Wednesday and am on tenterhooks.
Just hoping they don’t send it back due to me getting the paperwork wrong.

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[Lenny HB]

@ LennyHB. This is more complex than I thought . Like your exsis, the rear axle is 2000. But the thing is , even an extra 100 or 150 kg will do us, because when we weighed it, we had absolutely everything in it.
We just want some leeway
I'll phone SV Tech and ask them what they advise.

If you want to upgrade the rear axle to 2240 your would need to fit air rear suspension, cheapest option is Gliderite semi air at £1475, VB full air around £3k. If you have 15" wheels you will need to change the tyres from 15 x 215 to 15 x 225, if you you have 16" wheels depending tyres they may be OK.

 

[bellabee]

We've got 16" wheels. Also remember a sticker in the garage which says you can load it up to 350kg with a possibility to increase to 450kg, which presumably would entail the adjustments which you mention.
Thanks

 

[Lenny HB]

We've got 16" wheels. Also remember a sticker in the garage which says you can load it up to 350kg with a possibility to increase to 450kg, which presumably would entail the adjustments which you mention.
Thanks

That is just the garage load rating nothing to do with the rear axle.
The 450kg is a factory fit option it involves extended chassis rails under the garage.

What is the load rating on the tyres?

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[bellabee]

@Robert Clark , I know what you mean about being on tenterhooks. I couldn't rest until I'd got the V5 in my hand, largely due to having read a thread by @Norman Jones, recounting the difficulties he'd had with registering his Campirama import. Then, by coincidence, we met Norman on an aire, the night before we went to Campirama, and he told us the story again, with lots of embellishments. He's an extremely good raconteur, but even the copious amounts of wine he plied us with, did nothing to calm my nerves. (I understand @Lenny HB later had a similar meeting with Norman on a different aire .)
The DVLA took about 3 weeks all together, but it could have been shorter, if they had not had to return the whole lot to me because I had mistakenly enclosed a cheque for £295 instead of £300! My fault, I know, for not double checking, but I did think that they could have just lifted the phone to me, saving about 4 working days of the process .
I'm sure yours will just sail through. I bet you're very excited. I saw the photos of your van, and it looks lovely .
Good Luck!

 

[bellabee]

If you’re taking Barbie, I wouldn’t worry, just stay on the drive !

@Alistair33 , you really must try to not let your fantasies run away with you, when you're reading internet forums . My barbie was most definitely lower case (although I had to be careful because autocorrect had the same ideas as you .)

 

[bellabee]

What is the load rating on the tyres?

No idea, Lenny, but they're Michelin Agilis Camper tyres.

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[bellabee]

Apparently, the load rating is 116.

 

[Lenny HB]

@Robert Clark
The DVLA took about 3 weeks all together, but it could have been shorter, if they had not had to return the whole lot to me because I had mistakenly enclosed a cheque for £295 instead of £300! My fault, I know, for not double checking, but I did think that they could have just lifted the phone to me, saving about 4 working days of the process .

Now I did warn you.

Apparently, the load rating is 116.

You will only need air assist to upgrade the rear axle tyres are OK (116=1250kg).