When you are buying a motorhome or caravan, it pays to find out exactly how much it weighs … as Dianne D found out the hard way. Here, she explains exactly what happened.
When I purchased my used motorhome, it was stated it could be driven on a car licence which meant the Gross Vehicle Mass (GVM) must be below 4.5t. The compliance plate showed it was 4.495t, just under the maximum allowable weight.
I had a feeling that it was too big and heavy to comply with the 4.5t limit and, not knowing what is taken into account when the weight limit is applied, I decided to take it over a weighbridge. With empty water tanks, very little fuel and no tools or gear packed in for travelling, it was 4.960t … overweight when almost empty and therefore illegal to drive on the road and also not able to be driven on a car licence.
As a professional driver, I had a Heavy Rigid licence anyway but I didn’t want to run the risk of being caught driving an overweight vehicle or, worse, be involved in an accident and not have the insurance cover. With full fuel and water tanks, tools, house and camping gear packed in, there would be a lot of extra weight but also if I wanted to tow a car behind I was concerned about the Gross Combination Mass (GCM).
I contacted the agent and told them they could either refund my money or pay to have the vehicle re-complianced by an engineer. They chose the latter. The new GVM is 6.200t and the GCM 7.300t so I have no worries if I want to add extra solar panels, batteries, tool box or tow a small car. The downside is that the registration almost doubled and it now needs a driver with a light truck licence!
My advice would be to ask for a weigh note on the vehicle before purchasing any motorhome or caravan, either new or secondhand. From what I’ve been told the manufacturer’s GVM is the weight of the vehicle as standard when they have finished the build and sometimes that is very close to the maximum. They try to keep the GVM down as a vehicle is much easier to sell if it can be driven on a standard car licence.
Once you start adding anything extra like bullbars, heavy duty rear bumpers and towbars, extra fuel and water tanks, tool boxes, and solar panels, that’s all adding to the gross mass and will easily send some vehicles over their limits.
This can also apply to caravans as a friend of mine bought a brand new large caravan and he too decided to take it over a weighbridge and it was overweight. The van was sent back to Melbourne where the company made some changes to make it compliant.
The larger reputable RV dealers will check the weights of any used vehicles they trade and re-compliance them if necessary before re-selling, but for people buying privately they need to be aware of the max weight for a car licence and they need to ask for a recent weigh note on the vehicle they’re looking at.
