OK. I think I'll buy a caravan but being practical I best fit a towbar to my car (2005 Ford Galaxy Silver 1.9 TD 85kW[115ps?]) Well I went down to the local garage Turns out I needed to check my driving licence to check the towing capacities and MAM and ... and ... and ... and came out confused! Well to save confusion and I've checked the forum and to no avail anyway. 1 - Your licence Seems that on 1st of January, 1997 things changed with regards to cars (category 'B') and towing trailers (category 'E'). Here is a useful link. Turns out I've got B, BE, B1, B1E, C1, C1E, D1, D1E. And from what I can gather this means I can drive a vehicle with a trailer not exceeding a MAM (Maximum Arthourised Mass) of 8.25 tonnes in weight. Few first hurdle down I can at least tow a trailer above 700kg. 2 - The car Acording to information I found on the V5C. This has a Mass in Service of 1736 kg (1.7 tonnes) and Maximum Permissible Mass (exc. m/c?) 2510 kg and a Technical permissible maximum towable mass of 700kg for an unbraked trailer and 2000 kg (2 tonnes) braked. Few, seems I'll be within the MAM figure with the family and "luggage" on board. Just need to adjust tyre pressure! 3 - The Caravan \ trailer Looking at the Mass of some of the caravans they appear to be over 700kg. Also found this on my spidering the web. Seems any caravan would be ok. Have a look here. So my questions: Are they braked? If so, how? Do I need a special tow bar for these caravans over 700kgs? Any suggestions for the selection of towbar?
