Newbie weight questions - again!

im not a caravanner but AFAIK all this stuff about 'personal effects payload' cant be any more than a guide...its a (IMHO, useless) 'term' bandied about in MH brochures, too...

the only weight that matters is that you dont breach the MTPLM..

..any/all of the 'personal effects' can be put in the car....

if the towing ratio is fine, and the tow hitch weight is also OK, then as long as you're below the MTPLM you should be fine.

unlike a MH, you have other places to spread your stuff around

good luck.

It's my understanding that if you get checked they look at the plated weight as well as if you're overloaded. 

It's something that I'd like a definitive answer to. 

We are plated to tow 3500kg so it's not an issue for us but I would like to know for the future. 

Have a look here, for all the towing info you need: www.towcar.info/towing.php

The Club also have an outfit matching service for you to check out.

BB is correct above; the only legal limit you must not exceed, is the MTPLM. i.e. Never let the 'tail wag the dog'

Your towcar has won awards for its abilities as a tow car, so providing you get the weights right, you should have no problems.

Enjoy

You need to be clear with your figures - find the kerb weight, towing limit, maximum authourised mass (MAM) and Gross Train Weight of your Skoda.

Forget about the MIRO of the caravan, it's the MTPLM you need to consider.

The caravan MTPLM is recommended to be 85% or less of the car's kerb weight, this isn't a legal requirement, but your car may struggle if you exceed this 'rule'.

The payload has nothing to do with what the occupants might take with them (some vans have ridiculously small payloads), it's simply the MTPLM minus the MIRO - the figures above suggest that the van you looked at should have a payload of 218kg, but if 'extras' have been fitted (motor mover for example) the weight of these need to be deducted, so that might explain why they are quoting a payload of 178kg.

The law only considers the plated MTPLM, not whether you haven't used all your payload, so if your car has a plated towing limit of 1,400, you can't legally tow a van with a 1,435kg MTPLM.

The plated MAM of the car plus the plated MTPLM of the van can't exceed the car's plated GTW (but car towing limits should take this into account).

The law only considers the plated MTPLM, not whether you haven't used all your payload, so if your car has a plated towing limit of 1,400, you can't legally tow a van with a 1,435kg MTPLM.

 was not aware that the cars tow limit was on the plate. Just the max train weight, car axle loads and max car weight from my recollection. 

If a caravan is over 85% it does not mean tow vehicle will struggle. Depends more on the BHP.

Not sure of OP's exact model.

What EasyT says .......  Though a car might very well have a max towing weight of less that the car's kerb weight (like mine)

Not true. irrespective of the MTPLM (plated weight)) of the trailer, if the actual weight is within the tow vehicle towing limit it is legal subject to driving licence requirements.

As a former Skoda owner I wouldn't want to tow anything bigger than the 1366 kg I have now and Towed with the Octavia ordinary the better with the Scout version.  I now have a Mitsubishi Outlander and it copes much better.  Incidentally they sold me a Skoda Fabia as suitable for a similar sized caravan which was complete rot, but I quickly switched to the Octavia.  The Fabia pulled ok but was quite unstable.  

First of all, the car's towing limit isn't plated. Its GVW and its gross train weight is, as are the maximum axle loads.

Secondly, you can legally tow a caravan weighing 1435kg if the manufacturer's towing limit is 1400kg so long as the noseweight is equal to or exceeds 35kg - which I hope is the case. This is because the car is not towing the full weight of the caravan, but only its axle load, so you have to deduct the noseweight from the total weight of the caravan to know what the actual towload is.

Finally the gross train weight is not the sum of the car's GVW and the MTPLM of the caravan. The car's GVW includes the noseweight, but so does the MTPLM of the caravan, so if you add the two together, you'd be counting the noseweight twice.

Gross train weight is the sum of all axle loads.