Before having a towbar fitting we would advise it’s best to find out first what your vehicle towing weight is.
Or put another way it’s a question we get asked a lot: how much towing weight can my vehicle tow.
For obvious legal and safety reasons, you should know your vehicle’s maximum towing capacity or weight.
The towing weight is specific to each individual vehicle, there are various ways to find it.
How to find the towing weight of my vehicle
You can find the towing weights of vehicles in their owner’s handbook, the manufacturer’s website and such like but are only a guide.
VIN Plate
The genuine, correct, and only towing capacity value that should be used as confirmation for your vehicle is the one imprinted on the Vehicle Identification Number Plate (VIN plate).
The VIN plate is normally located under the bonnet or on a door pillar, and the owner’s manual will provide information on where to look. The plate will be either an alloy plate fastened to the body or an adhesive sticker.
VIN plates display either three or four lines of weights, which the authorities use to evaluate if your vehicle is overloaded.
How to read the VIN plate for towing weights
In our example it has 4 lines of numbers:
The top line shows 2510kg.
This is the Gross vehicle weight, the Maximum Allowable Mass (MAM)
of the vehicle including occupants, fuel and payload.
The 2nd line shows 4205kg.
This is the Gross train weight, the Combined Maximum Allowable
Mass of the vehicle and trailer.
The 3rd and 4th lines show 1255kg & 1305kg.
This is the maximum axle loads front and rear respectively.
For any vehicle the manufacturer’s recommended maximum towing capacity is the gross vehicle weight subtracted from gross train weight.
So in our example it is 4205kg – 2510kg = 1695kg.
The figure of 1695 kg is the towing capacity.
Some vehicles are not approved for towing
Believe it or not there are some vehicles not suitable for towing. The known types of vehicles like this are certain high performance cars, some electric and hybrid cars.
So before even thinking about a towbar fitting it is very important to check these things out.
We have a post explaining about can a towbar be fitted to any car.
Of course as part of our towbar fitting service we are happy to do all this for you. Just simple phone us and complete our enquiry form. We do this for you along with giving you much more advice that will help you choose the right towbar for you.