Towing Small Car (1 Viewer)

[Brian26]

I am looking for advice on the best way to tow my Aygo behind my motorhome. There seems to be a lot of fors and against using either an A frame or a small trailer so would like to hear Members experiences of using either of these. I shall not be going abroad so this would only be for use in the UK. I was going down the train of thought of using a trailer but feel it is open to be stolen on site as would would need to find somewhere safely to leave it. The A frame would be easier but of course my car would have to be adapted to fit it. Confused as to which is best is an understatement, hence the plea for help.
Thanks for your help.
Brian

 

[Xabia]

Hi Brian,

In the past I have towed a Smart car both by A frame and trailer. In my experience the A frame is much more practical. The towed vehicle is running on 4 wheels rather than 2 on a trailer and is more stable. Once on site you can fold the frame up and store it in the motorhome or boot of the car, a trailer takes up a lot of space both on site and at home.

My comments are made bearing in mind that use is to be limited to the UK, I had to stop A framing because of problems with the authorities abroad, particularly Spain.

Mike

 

[Speve]

Popcorn time again

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[pappajohn]

Oh goody....an A frame thread.

Been a while since we had one.

 

[Howard H]

Hello Brian , I am no expert at this car towing but I do tow a smart car . In this country I use a a frame because it's quick To hitch up and disconnect but I dread the day I have to reverse with it . Abroad I use a smart car trailer because I can reverse it but it it is a faff to secure the smart on it and on some of the small pitches there isn't a lot of room for a trailer/car /mh / and awning so i guess you pays your Money and make your choice i am lucky because I I have two choices .

 

[Stealaway]

Why did you sell the caravan if you want to take a car with you?

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[Silver-Fox]

Cider in hand and waiting with baited breath

 

[gus-lopez]

Hi &

 

[Steve and Denise]

We A frame a small car in UK only works for us but if I went abroad it would be car hire or taxi if to far to walk.

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[Brian26]

isold my caravanbecause it haddamp just thought i would come on this forum just trying to get some advice on towing behind a motorhome

 

[BGB]

I tow an AYGO with an A frame from TOWBARS2TOWCARS....great service from the company, easy to fit and remove, easy to tow on the road. You may gather from some of the preceding and no doubt subsequent comments that the topic has been mentioned lots of times before on this site.......some motorhomers do it and others dont like it, good job we are a diverse community where everyone is entitled to an opinion and can have their say without being cried down by others!!!

 

[Podney]

Yes,lots of info on the subject on this excellent forum. But,yes,I've often wondered why those who tow do not choose to caravan.
Without wishing to divert the OP thread,any views on this may be interesting. Or not.

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[davidbaldam]

Hi and welcome to FUN, to tow or not is one of those issues which get plenty of differing views.

 

[Bailey58]

Question Time's got the two numpties on so I'm glad to tune into a good A-frame thread.

 

[tonyidle]

I trailer a Smart car. I chose the trailer because I can reverse it and it may have other (non-holiday) uses. It is a Bantam trailer designed for the Smart. Stability is never an issue when towing around a tonne behind a 3500Kg+ motorhome and it may as well not be there in terms of effect on performance & handling. Using wheel lashings takes around ten minutes and parking on site has not, in two years of continuous use, ever been a problem. It goes where a caravanner would park his car. If room is tight I park the Smart on the trailer otherwise behind or alongside the MH. I have not as yet needed to park the trailer away from my pitch. My van is Hymer B584 so not huge.

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[Mousy]

Firstly welcome to motorhomefun.

We tow my yaris on a A frame. It's quick to attach and works well. We only use it in the UK to explore new areas that we couldn't reach by cycling.

I have MS and we decided to tow last year when I was poorly. It cost us £1,000 to adapt my existing car.
We've never owned a caravan but I believe there is a significant about of faffing around with them, unlike a motorhome which we love. We believe we have a great set up for us now. How often we tow we will find out this year.

I don't understand the negativity that pulling a car behind a motorhome attracts. If you are happy and can manage without using a car Good for you. If it's of no interest then why comment?

I've noticed nobody seems to get it in the neck for keeping a scooter, what's the difference?

 

[Theonlysue]

All the Aires will be available to motor homes but not caravans.
And I would have thought mh more stable on the road and easier to set up on arrival.

 

[Sheldon C]

Always a trailer for me, no worry or risk of not having the transmission correctly set in neutral and destroying the gearbox, Smart does not have a spare wheel, so could be a problem in event of a puncture whilst on A Frame, the trailer has its own spare, which incidentally are a fraction of the cost of a new Smart Tyre, so I could replace every year if minded to and no need to run them to the fabric like some tightwads do and the stability issue in event of a puncture is IMHO 'a red herring'.

The Smart on its own A frame behind the Moho is almost invisible to the rear view mirrors, on the trailer I can see the marker lights both sides which is perfect for reversing and reassurance that its still behind me.
Infill panels for trailer bed means I can mix and match to suit the trip, e.g. use the landrover as tow vehicle to carry M/cycle or Quad as alternative to Smart and detachable sides make it good for runs to the tip with gardening waste.

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[Brian26]

thanks for your comments would like to still hear from people

 

[Derbyshire wanderer]

I have done both and IMV
The trailer needs extra space on site, extra security and most importantly eats into your train weigh and therefore can reduce payload. Also to consider is the time to load and unload and that it's all on one axle.
A frames are far more stable and easy to store when not in use. Less to maintain and different size spare wheels not required. The downside is that route planning is essential as reversing is almost impossible without possibly damaging either the tow bar, the frame or the car.
As you have seen, there are plenty on here that believe you are wrong to take a car with you. My view is that they are unable to think outside the box and see why it sometimes makes perfect sense.
Towing a small car whether by A frame or trailer means you can have a year round runabout that is cheap to run and yet have all of the benefit of a motorhome with additional options to get to places that a MH could not get to especially if the user has difficulty walking etc.
A caravan usually means running a fairly substantial tow car that is wasted most of the time.
The majority of our MH use is without the car but sometimes we want to go to a place for a week and usually would take the car for the convenience.

 

[Jaws]

Towing with an aframe is really easy.. Apart from going up hills and reversing you will forget it is even there..

IN THE UK !

If you intend going further than our shores ( as an awful lot of us do ) then use a trailer.
Having witnessed in person ( as opposed to stories that come from my aunties hardresser said she had a friend in the army who blah blah :-0 ) friends getting pulled up, fined on the spot and told to unhook before being allowed to proceed I would never chance a framing in other countries

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[Mickey1]

Mickey.

 

[Speve]

Been towing a car on a twin axle trailer for last two years take it down to Spain,Portugal over winter never had a problem with pitches easy to reverse and gives the freedom to go sightseeing shopping etc we also take our two dogs with us so hiring a car is not an option for us.
You are a larger vehicle towing a smaller trailer so not much effect on the van hardly know the trailers there except climbing the Pyrenees.

 

[Peter A Forbes]

The trailer needs extra space on site, extra security and most importantly eats into your train weigh and therefore can reduce payload.

I may have got that wrong, but whether you tow by A-frame or trailer, the towed weight is part of the Gross Train Weight in both cases.

Towing a trailer is safer in my experience, we tow up to 3.5 tonnes in the UK and Europe with our display stationary engines, and while A-frame towing cannot work for us, I have seen incidents where the A-frame is a bit of a liability.

Our trailers are drawbar turntable types which do need slightly more in the way of reversing skills, but a front towbar soon establishes the correct skills.

Peter

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[Derbyshire wanderer]

I may have got that wrong, but whether you tow by A-frame or trailer, the towed weight is part of the Gross Train Weight in both cases.

Towing a trailer is safer in my experience, we tow up to 3.5 tonnes in the UK and Europe with our display stationary engines, and while A-frame towing cannot work for us, I have seen incidents where the A-frame is a bit of a liability.

Our trailers are drawbar turntable types which do need slightly more in the way of reversing skills, but a front towbar soon establishes the correct skills.

Peter
View attachment 156905

Yes they are a part of the train weight but the trailer weighs a lot more than the A frame hence uses more of the allowance when added to the car.
Out of interest, I always believed that dray trailers like yours required both a C+E licence and power brakes? Is this still the case?

 

[Steve and Denise]

Towing with an aframe is really easy.. Apart from going up hills and reversing you will forget it is even there..

IN THE UK !

If you intend going further than our shores ( as an awful lot of us do ) then use a trailer.
Having witnessed in person ( as opposed to stories that come from my aunties hardresser said she had a friend in the army who blah blah :-0 ) friends getting pulled up, fined on the spot and told to unhook before being allowed to proceed I would never chance a framing in other countries

Was it your self that had a wheel bearing go in France on a trailer @Jaws and had all sorts of problems and left the trailer in France as it was to much cost to get it recovered ?