Is down plating a possibility?

I've got a 2007 Abbey Vogue 470 which is plated to 1350Kg. but that is uprated from the original 1300Kg. You may find that would suit. The payload is reasonably generous by caravan standards although the two of us manage to use up all of ours somehow.

thanks I will take a look at that too. It seems there is a bigger choice than I thought. I suppose part of the problem is most of the listing sites (e.g auto trader) don't necessarily specify the MTPLM

I found a similar problem  - and the only site that appears to allow search by MTPLM, appears broken (if you try filtering by anything more than MTPLM)

However, I have found you can manipulate the URLs on both the Caravan Finder and Practical Caravan search to find those within your limit (best to set your other search criteria first though and then edit the URL as changing it can confuse subsequent filtering!)

For what it's worth, I did the B+E in one morning for about £400 and as far as I know this allows my wife to do some of the towing as well, as long as I'm the passenger (under a provisional learner entitlement).

I've never properly looked into it so not sure if you need to put 'L' plates on etc., so maybe check legalities before potentially invalidating your insurance

It would open up the whole market (within reason) to you and if a heavier caravan cost £400-700 less than a lighter one it pays for the B+E.

I doubt down plating is possible but given the lightweight caravans tend to have low payloads and you want a four berth which needs a decent loading allowance. I have to say settle for a lightweight caravan and when the car is replaced look carefully at weights and you will get more lattitude on the caravan weight.

For what it's worth, I did the B+E in one morning for about £400 and as far as I know this allows my wife to do some of the towing as well, as long as I'm the passenger (under a provisional learner entitlement).

I've never properly looked into it so not sure if you need to put 'L' plates on etc., so maybe check legalities before potentially invalidating your insurance

It would open up the whole market (within reason) to you and if a heavier caravan cost £400-700 less than a lighter one it pays for the B+E.

I'm 90% sure that you need 3 years experience (having passed B+E) to supervise someone driving B+E weights using L plates. 

For what it's worth, I did the B+E in one morning for about £400 and as far as I know this allows my wife to do some of the towing as well, as long as I'm the passenger (under a provisional learner entitlement).

I've never properly looked into it so not sure if you need to put 'L' plates on etc., so maybe check legalities before potentially invalidating your insurance

It would open up the whole market (within reason) to you and if a heavier caravan cost £400-700 less than a lighter one it pays for the B+E.

that is true, the £400-£700 could be saved on the cost of a caravan but it depends if I pass first time. 

Abinitio, looks like you're right! So, no matter if you have L plates or not, if you haven't passed your test 3 years prior your insurance will be invalid any way - good to know!!

Ash, regarding the test, the hardest part is not speeding but if you have a good instructor (and check out all the youtube training videos) you can't go too far wrong.

Another thing to consider is if you buy a caravan at just under your max permitted weight and a year later your car dies, you'll be restricted to the same car or lighter unless you also change your caravan, again limiting the available market you can look at. That's what happened to us, so I ended up having to do the B+E anyway only 3 months after buying our first caravan.

Better to budget £400 minimum for the test in advance than have a last minute bill you can't afford, otherwise your new toy is stuck on the drive!!

I recommend that you give up thoughts of down-plating a caravan as most have little enough payload as it is.  You need to concentrate on getting the right caravan.  I'm sure you will find one .  Good luck with your new hobby.

PS You could always try a trailer tent.

For what it's worth, I did the B+E in one morning for about £400 and as far as I know this allows my wife to do some of the towing as well, as long as I'm the passenger (under a provisional learner entitlement).

I've never properly looked into it so not sure if you need to put 'L' plates on etc., so maybe check legalities before potentially invalidating your insurance

It would open up the whole market (within reason) to you and if a heavier caravan cost £400-700 less than a lighter one it pays for the B+E.

I would second this post. My husband found it really easy , he did 5 hours of lessons (as that was the minimum they said he could do before taking the test) and then passed his test the next morning at a cost of bout £400. It deffinitely is worth doing and opens up your choices for buying

I went though this with my insurance company only a couple of months back. I passed my test in 1994 and also have psv so weight is not an issue. My wife passed in 2000 so she has not got the entitlement on her licence.

I spoke to my insurance (admiral) and they agreed that she could drive as a learner and would need to show L plates. ALSO she could drive on the motorways as she is a qualified driver - L plates are allowed for fully qualified drivers learning a different licence.

I could only find that car learner drivers are not allowed on the motorway on L plates in the highway code.