Towing a car with a Motorhome

I’m with EuroT. Save your money and save yourself the hassle.

If you hire make sure you get insurance for hire car damage as the car rental companies are sharks in waiting.

We hired a number of times through Enterprise, but our last hire was an ""education". They kept £1000 on the credit card for a month then We were charged over £500 for a minor ding, probably caused by some one opening a door onto the side of the car.  

Had we of known the ding was there, we would have taken an extra days hire and got it fixed for less than £100.  Probably  l could have sorted it with a rub of cutting polish and a wax.

This experience is making us think that towing a car would be better option than hiring.

rgds

You're correct. Smarts are automatic,  but as discussed here many times as tow cars, there are different flavours of automatic. Smarts use a manual gearbox with automated controls ie electrickery 'presses' the clutch & then changes gear & even though Mercedes cover their backsides by saying you can't tow a Smart because it's an auto, there are many Smarts that have been towed many a mile on the back of a motorhome/etc. 

'Proper' torque converter autos are typically restricted to being towed about 30 miles at a max speed of around 50mph before you break them.

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All interesting reading........

We have just changed one of our family sized cars for a Pug 108, which we think will be adequate as a second car.  I looked at the cost of having it adapted for an A frame which is around £2k from both of the companies offering electronic braking, so have ordered a single axle trailer, which appears to be adequately rated, and is cheaper than the A Frame cost but allows me to swap the car willy nilly and I will adapt the trailer to carry my motorbike instead of the car if desired. This gives us the flexibility to tour with the van solo, which we do regularly or with a bike or small car behind us.....

Not sure yet how it will work in practice, but I liked the theory of it and have managed to convince the OH so far......!

 

 

Your trailer sounds ideal, TT. As has been said, a correctly rated single axle trailer is adequate for a small car.

Your MH does need to have adequate towing weight allowance for the car and trailer combined weight but you’ll have avoided making mods to the car which could greatly affect its trade in price in future.

Be aware that not all club staff are aware that no extra charge is made on site for either the car or the trailer - at least, that was the case back when we did it.

Yes TW....

Trailer weighs 350kg, Pug weighs 840kg Total 1190kg

Autotrail rated to tow 1250kg so scrape within the limit.

I spoke to AT tech dept last week about nose weight limits etc....

I shall drive like Miss Daisy's grandmother when towing.....

No charge for either as long as it all fits within the confines of your pitch TW.

I had a warden try and charge me for my car last year, I know you couldn't make it up

JK

Sounds like you’ve got it covered, TT. 👍🏻

I had the call centre charge me an extra £2 p/n on a load of bookings, JK, then each had to be adjusted on site. One particular grumpy warden couple (now retired) argued the charge was right as it was another set of wheels. They only backed down when I said I was taking it up with HQ. It wasn’t the experience I needed on holiday.