Payload Question And Others!

[Lizi]

hi we are looking to buy our first motorhome in the next few months and have been reading around a bit but have a few questions we wonder if anyone can help with ...

How you find out the payload before you buy? Do people ask dealer to drive you to a weighbridge? Or just trust that it will be ok? Then weigh it once you own it? Or ask for it to be weighed as a condition of sale?

Do people ask to see a habitation check to find out about damp before agreeing to buy?

How much generally can you negotiate off the price? If a motorhome is advertised at£33k would £30k be cheeky?

hope these don't seem like silly questions!

 

[pappajohn]

Hi Lizi,

Payload is like a piece of string....it could be anything.

If the van has had extras fitted...towbar, solar panels, extra battery etc it all counts as payload but is obviously unremovable...unlike things like water, waste water, food, clothing, passengers etc.

Theres isnt any real way to know how much payload you have without a visit to a weighbridge, either completely empty....no water or waste, no food, clothing or passengers or fully loaded as you intend travelling inc passengers and a full fuel tank, and its very unlikely a dealer will go to that trouble.

 

[icantremember]

Hi and welcome aboard

hi we are looking to buy our first motorhome in the next few months and have been reading around a bit but have a few questions we wonder if anyone can help with ...

How you find out the payload before you buy? Do people ask dealer to drive you to a weighbridge? Or just trust that it will be ok? Then weigh it once you own it? Or ask for it to be weighed as a condition of sale? .. Difficult as it needs to we weighed fully loaded. When you find one ask again on here if anyone has any info on the model.

Do people ask to see a habitation check to find out about damp before agreeing to buy? YES

How much generally can you negotiate off the price? If a motorhome is advertised at£33k would £30k be cheeky? ... Start at 28K & settle for 30K

hope these don't seem like silly questions!

No such thing as a silly question on FUN

 

[Flamenca]

hi we are looking to buy our first motorhome in the next few months and have been reading around a bit but have a few questions we wonder if anyone can help with ...

How you find out the payload before you buy? Do people ask dealer to drive you to a weighbridge? Or just trust that it will be ok? Then weigh it once you own it? Or ask for it to be weighed as a condition of sale?

Do people ask to see a habitation check to find out about damp before agreeing to buy?

How much generally can you negotiate off the price? If a motorhome is advertised at£33k would £30k be cheeky?

hope these don't seem like silly questions!

No, £30k would not be cheeky. Perhaps £25k would be

 

[f6c]

Welcome aboard

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[pappajohn]

Weighing fully loaded will tell you how much payload you have left.
weighing empty will tell you how much payload you have in total.....but then you need to weigh everything you put in up to the vans gross weight.

 

[Lizi]

Gosh these replies are quick! Thank you. the payload is still worrying me - not that we will take masses of stuff, as campers with no trailer we are used to travelling light-ish. But what if there was no room for real essentials like outdoor chairs, bikes, dog and bag of clothes each, plus ourselves! Or am I just worrying unnecessarily? There is only two of us plus dog.

 

[Badknee]

When we bought ours I half filled the fuel tank and half filled the water tank, one bottle of gas but grey and black tanks empty. It has a tow bar and bike rack fitted and air suspension.
It went over the bridge at 3200 which was a bit of a shock as rated at 3500kgs so very little payload but on checking it's actually rated at 3700kg so 500 kgs payload which is fine.

 

[Badknee]

Gosh these replies are quick! Thank you. the payload is still worrying me - not that we will take masses of stuff, as campers with no trailer we are used to travelling light-ish. But what if there was no room for real essentials like outdoor chairs, bikes, dog and bag of clothes each, plus ourselves! Or am I just worrying unnecessarily? There is only two of us plus dog.

You won't know until you find the one for you, then have it weighed as I did. It doesn't cost a great deal to have it uprated so you can carry more.

 

[dna]

For most vans you should be able to find the basic information on-line. That will give you an idea of the payload when the van was built. When we were looking, any van with a payload of less than 500kg made me cautious as we have 2 adults, a 19 year old and a 17 year old.
As others have said the ex-works weight is only a guide but helps knowing which vans to be wary of.

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[pappajohn]

Perhaps once you decide what van you like you could ask again giving van details.....there will be a few, if not many, members with the same van who can advise much better than guesswork.

If you do make the mistake of buying too 'light' it can usually be uprated to a higher maximum weight giving a higher payload, depending on your driving licence.

Test taken pre 1997 you should have category C1 which allows up to 7500kg
post 1997 you are restricted to 3500kg but can sit a C1 test to get the 7500kg entitlement.

You only get around 5 free forum posts so to continue posting you will need to subscribe and become a full member....really is worth ten quid and you will get much more in return with advise and discounts from some dealers on parts and accessories.

 

[daveandsan]

When we bought our Motorhome I didn't give much thought to payload until I joined motorhome fun and saw it mentioned on here a few times and then doubts started to creep in. So filled up with fuel and gas but no water and took off to the weighbridge with wife and dog, weighed in right on the limit 3500kg. It was either leave wife and dog at home or have it uprated, so for a quiet life I had it uprated to 3850kg.

 

[Badknee]

When we bought our Motorhome I didn't give much thought to payload until I joined motorhome fun and saw it mentioned on here a few times and then doubts started to creep in. So filled up with fuel and gas but no water and took off to the weighbridge with wife and dog, weighed in right on the limit 3500kg. It was either leave wife and dog at home or have it uprated, so for a quiet life I had it uprated to 3850kg.

Chicken!

 

[daveandsan]

Chicken!

I just couldn't leave the dog at home.

 

[veevee]

If you are seriously interested in a particular MH I would ask the dealer/owner to have it weighed in the exact condition it is sold in. The cost and amount of time for the seller to do this is minor to the time and cost of say advertising or even cleaning the MH and I guess that MH sellers of all types do both of these things without argument.

If you have to upgrade the weight of a 3500 kgs MH it will cost you a little more than £300, to have a MH weighed will cost the seller perhaps £10 - £15 pounds and may take all of 30 minutes. If you don't have a C1 license then the payload is critical to you as hardly any 3500 kgs MH's have a generous payload.

I think that it should be made mandatory to explain to the buyer if there is the capacity to carry passengers, pets, food, water and clothes, pretty basic bit of information to my mind. In the past as buyers we have accepted this lack of information, but with smart road systems being built it may become more important?

As a last resort if you have a difficult seller and are really interested in a MH you can always offer to pay the weighbridge costs?

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[Judge Mental]

Your thinking sensibly along the right lines...personally would not buy a used van without a weight ticket. Or getting an independent damp inspection ( a pro meter fine but you need to know where to look!) Better to lose a few quid and be able to walk away from the deal than end up with an expensive lemon!

What make of van you after....

 

[Emmit]

Gosh these replies are quick! Thank you. the payload is still worrying me - not that we will take masses of stuff, as campers with no trailer we are used to travelling light-ish. But what if there was no room for real essentials like outdoor chairs, bikes, dog and bag of clothes each, plus ourselves! Or am I just worrying unnecessarily? There is only two of us plus dog.

We're even quicker at answering MEMBERS questions.

Go On. Put your hand in your pocket and get that £10 spent.

Here endeth the Membership drive, This is Emmitdb, Yorkshireman (with a Scottish mother) for Motorhomefun.

 

[whoa]

Been registered on Fun for sometime, but only stumped up the cash to join recently, but I've had a lot of time to look at many questions and answers, so we got our van recently, Gross vehicle weight is only 3.100 tonnes or 3100kgs and we only had a 420kg payload, so first effort got things loaded and off to a weighbridge, fortunately still got a bit of payload left so we're happy, we went to a private company, as when I enquired at our local council household waste site, yes I could have it weighed, but no one or any animal could stay inside, and total weight only, no weighing individual axles, so defeats the object of what I felt I needed to do, and have answers to, because we had 3 different weight measurements it cost total of £15, £5 each throw, 83 pence a time for vat, I felt it was worth the peace of mind? I decided on this occasion not to go to the trading standards weighbridge, just in case we were over

 

[paul18]

If you went to TS or public weighbridge and you were over, would they report you? After all, you are doing the right thing aren`t you?

 

[Judge Mental]

If you went to TS or public weighbridge and you were over, would they report you? After all, you are doing the right thing aren`t you?

I very much doubt it.....

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[Deleted member 29692]

If you went to TS or public weighbridge and you were over, would they report you? After all, you are doing the right thing aren`t you?

No reason for them to know if you're over or not. They're just weighing it, you don't need to tell them what your plated weights are.

 

[nomadic]

Yes, we asked for a test drive to include a visit to a local weighbridge, at the dealers expense. Which they did.

Yes, check for damp, do you know a fellow m/h'er
with the knowledge were to test, and has a test meter. Also have a look on the roof, are there any area's were water could have collected, are the seals looking good.. are there any areas were cables have been routed through the roof, if so, carefully check the area inside.

also, open each cupboard a take a deep breath, can you smell any damp??

Listen to your gut feeling, and be prepared to walk away.

 

[paul18]

No reason for them to know if you're over or not. They're just weighing it, you don't need to tell them what your plated weights are.

Good point, had not thought of that, thanks. I`ve posted previously about this issue, and have been putting it off, but having just completed an 8 day, 500 mile tour through mid Wales and Shropshire, think I better bite the bullet!

 

[TheWM]

Me too.

I know I'll be overweight.

I have a tow bar, solar, satellite, air suspension on a Rapido

The problem is, I'm pretty sure given the suspension mods it's probably good for 4t+ so I'll be safe - but VOSA won't see it that way.

 

[whoa]

If you went to TS or public weighbridge and you were over, would they report you? After all, you are doing the right thing aren`t you?

In all honesty I don't really know, but local news a couple of weeks ago driver of a small van transporting goods was pulled over taken to a weighbridge and was found to be over weight not by a lot, but he appeared in court recently, I also have to say that this is not the first time for this person to appear in court for being over weight. As total newbies I've read on this site stories about vehicles being confiscated and large fines particularly in Europe, unless someone is trying to wind others up.