Tow Vehicles For Horse Trailers

[Dougall]

Hi all. We are looking at moving to France when we retire in a few years and we are starting our research. What are the favoured cars in France for towing horse floats? Also what are the best horse trailer makes. We currently tow an extended two horse straight load with a Mazda BT-50 (same as Ford Ranger) in Australia. I also noticed a lot of horse trucks at horse shows last time we were there. Is there a reason for this such as cheaper registration, etc? Want to do research on prices etc. Thanks.

[nomoss]

I thought maybe one of the horse owners on here might have contributed by now, but as no-one has replied, apart from your choice of vehicle, there are general rules for towing trailers in France which you should consider.

First, all trailers with a laden weight (PTAC) over 500kg must be registered, so must have a Carte Grise, and for this they must be homologated in the EU.

Homologation documents are provided by the manufacturer, and may sometimes be obtained retrospectively, but take care when buying second hand.

Apart from the car manufacturer's figure for the weight which a car can tow, the driver must also hold the appropriate licence, as set out here: [url]https://docplayer.fr/4214357-La-reglementation-sur-les-remorques-et-caravanes.html[/url]

PV = poids vide, PTAC = poids total autorisé en charge, PTRA = poids total roulant autorisé

A trailer with a PTAC over the specified value may not be towed if the conditions are not met even if it is empty.

[alittlebitfrench]

Yes yes yes Nomoss, but nobody seems to care in France about any rules regarding driving, towing or anything else really.

Skoda Yeti is what you need as a towing vehicle.

Just so happens I ave one for sale.

[nomoss]

[quote user="alittlebitfrench"]Yes yes yes Nomoss, but nobody seems to care in France about any rules regarding driving, towing or anything else really.

Skoda Yeti is what you need as a towing vehicle.

Just so happens I ave one for sale.[/quote]

I don't think the OP is looking for a bagnole[:D]

[Dougall]

Thanks for the replies. I will be buying my float and car locally to make sure everything complies and I currently have a heavy rigid licence in Australia so would not foresee a problem with gaining the relevant licence.

I have seen some popular float names through other questions and will use those to research prices.

We have a lot of research to do as we need to decide if it is worth bringing all my workshop equipment over in a big container (and changing the electrical plugs over) or buying everything new. I need to also find the names of tool shops etc. so that I can research those prices. With inlaws in England it sounds like that might be the place to get my power tools.

What about tow vehicles.? I lean towards something four wheel drive as we like to go skiing.

Cheers

[andyh4]

If you are dragging a horse box down muddy lanes and into fields, I would definitely recommend 4WD. It is an added plus when driving into the mountains for skiing. And for the winter sports I would factor in a spare set of wheel permanently set up with winter tyres (winter treads, not studs) and a full set of chains. Get to know how to put the chains on in the warm and dry - much better than finding out in a blizzard.

[BritinBretagne]

You will see a lot of familiar Japanese 4x4s in Europe but most European manufacturers do them these days. Land Rover? Mercedes? BMW? Volvo? VW/Audi Group (ignoring the Yeti)? Lamborghini? It depends how much you like your badges and how deep your pockets are.

[Dougall]

Thanks for the advice. We are regular visitors to the ski fields here and are familiar with chains. Love the challenge of driving in snow although my BT-50 (Ranger Clone) makes it quite boring as it goes around like it is on rails, even without chains.

[Dougall]

Thanks for that info. I notice that the 2.2 litre Ranger is popular and can't find the 3.6 litre for sale. Is there a premium for registration (road tax) or is it simply due to the price of fuel? Are there any other limitations in owning bigger cars? Would probably plan to have a big car for towing and skiing and a small runabout for everything else but it depends on costs of road tax, etc.

[BritinBretagne]

There is no road tax as such in France. Your initial immatriculation fee depends on the capacity, power and CO2 emmissions of your car and for the latter there is an additional payment that can be pretty big for high outputs. You will presumably be buying here so if buying second hand the CO2 payment will have been done and your only concern will be the immatriculation cost. You can work it out using a simulator; https://www.service-public.fr/simulateur/calcul/cout-certificat-immatriculation

That will give you an idea about the different cost of taxing a 2.2 or 3.6 engined car. You will have to find the puissance fiscal to use the simulator.

Ré 4x4s and snow, I drove Discoveries for many years to cater for a lifestyle that involved lots of towing and ski trips and I never had any problems with traction on snow or ice, even in icy car parks towing stuck cars where common sense said it would be impossible.