French Caravans

[Quillan]

Well now I have got rid of the old Disco I can't tow my old UK van any more so I am looking to buy one in France. So could sombody tell me the basics of restrictions in France. I was thinking along the lines of length, width, weight etc. I notice some people use vans to tow with, is this something to do with the caravan specifically (no stupid rasist or other comments please, it's a serious question). Are there limits to do with the number of wheels, two or four for instance.

I am specifically looking at a Hobby 610 which is 7.54M long to tow hitch and 2.5M wide and is twin axle.

Any information gratefully received.

[0BRIAN WOODHEADI,m here in franceddMMyyyy0Falseen-USI,m here in franceTrue]

Firstly 2 or 4 wheels it makes no difference in law but they are a lot more stable and can be loaded a little more due to the axle wight,the important thing to bear in mind is the gross train wight with such a large van(car plus van)anything over 3.5ton is classed like an hgv,hobby,s are on the light side I think.

ps,just a bit more the trouble with a twin axle in france is that some sites will not allow them on site it nearly happened to in Bergerac,it is to stop "travellers" so we were told but they let us on as it was just for one night,it,s the same in spain but if they like the look of you they tend to let you on,the site we used for many years had a sign that said no twin axles allowed but let us on year after year,the guide books normally detail which sites let them on.Hobby,s are light enough for a big van on a single axle,last thing italy it is not the same regs wise due to wight and length,not sure what they are cause I have a licence for all classes.

 

[Teamedup]

When I saw that title I simple thought, 'awful!'.

We had a spell a few years ago of looking at caravans. In France Hobby was certainly the best, but still with standard 'french' fittings wasn't a patch on just about any caravan we saw in the UK. To get one up to UK standard fittings were extras and were going to cost a fortune.

Holland is also better than France, but in my opinion still not as well fitted out as any brit caravan.

 

All the dealers know all the regs, well that was what we found.

[Boiling a frog]

The french regs are totally different from UK You are only allowed to tow a caravan up to a certain weight dependant on your towcar

The PTAC,found in your vehicle handbook,is the laden weight of your vehicle

The PTRA is the total overall weight of your vehicle ie the PTAC and whater ever you are towing You deduct the PTAC from your PTRA to find max weight of caravan allowed

As an example I have a Peugeot PTAC is 1920 kg PTRA is 3021kg Deduct one from another and my maximum towing weight is 1100 kgs

To add another complication

If your car plus caravan exceeds 3500kg then you need to have a permis E driving licence If under a permis B is sufficient

My book does not list Landrovers however a similar heavy 4 by 4  such as a Pajero needs a permis E driving licence for any trailer over 750 kg ie all caravans

I would strongly advise against a twin axle caravan as they are associated with travellers and most caravan sites in France have notices up saying no twin axle caravans