What is Towing Capacity and How is It Measured?

Sometimes you’ll be faced with some luggage that simply won’t fit into your car’s boot and you’ll have to hitch up a trailer. Whether you’re taking a load of garden waste to the dump, towing a horse trailer or heading off for a caravan holiday, there are some basics that you will need to know about what you can legally be allowed to tow.

Before you head off and start browsing cars for sale UK, you are better off working out what your own car can do – it may well be that it can already do everything you need.

📌 What is towing capacity?

What is Towing Capacity and How is It Measured? | What is towing capacity?

The towing capacity of your car is, quite simply, the maximum amount that your car can tow. This means that your trailer and all of its contents cannot exceed this figure.

However, there is more to it than that, as you will normally see two figures quoted. These are known as the braked towing weight and the unbraked towing weight. Again, the clue is in the name as to what these are – the trailer you tow can weigh more if it has its own brakes than if it doesn’t. This is because an unbraked trailer relies on your car to slow it down, whereas a trailer with its own brakes can contribute to the slowing process.

Fundamentally, if a trailer weighs more than half a car’s kerb weight (more on that below) or more than 750kg then it must be fitted with its own brakes, so you can only tow relatively small unbraked trailers.

📌 How do I find out what my car’s towing capacity is?

What is Towing Capacity and How is It Measured? | How do I find out what my car’s towing capacity is?

There are several ways to work out how much your car can tow, and one of them is really simple – take a look in the manual as it should be listed in there. However, it isn’t always as easy as that. You might have lost the brochure, or your car might have a different level of specification which means it weighs more or less.

No problem though, you could also find out the towing capacity by looking at your car’s VIN (Vehicle Identification Number) plate. This contains lots of handy information on your car and is often located on the car’s body around the passenger door frame or at the bottom of the windscreen, normally on the passenger side.

There will be four weights listed on the VIN. First is the gross vehicle weight, which is the maximum amount that a vehicle can weigh when it is fully loaded with people, fuel and luggage. Then there is the gross train weight, which is the maximum amount that a car and trailer combo can weigh. The other ones on there are the maximum axle loads for the front and rear axles.

To find out your car’s towing capacity, simply subtract the first figure – the gross vehicle weight – from the second – the gross train weight.

📌 Who can tow a trailer?

Anyone can tow a trailer, even if you have only taken a standard car test and hold a category B license. If you passed on or after 1 January 1997 then you can tow a trailer weighing up to 3,500kg. If you passed your test before then, then you can drive a car (or van) and trailer combo weighing up to 8,250kg.

Of course, this is the legal maximum, and you are still restricted by your car’s individual towing capacity.

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