Towing

Originally Posted by bluethunder

Easy hand over money, my names goes on insurance I put my foot down, sorted! Its more of the case will my mum let me lose in her car

If your mum insures it herself then fair enough. Most fleet cars are insured by the business though. As you can imagine insurance for company cars is expensive(people don't care as its not their car) and there is usually an 'employees only' clause.

I've been lucky, all my company cars have been insured for me and my partner, regardless of our marital status. When my ex-wife passed her test in '91 I took her pass certificate to work an hour later and had them add her to the company insurance. From then on she drove my company Cavalier SRi everywhere, if we went out.

I taught my eldest to drive in my company Impreza 2.0 litre Sport on private ground when she was 16 back in '97. She now has me named on her Accord Type S estate lease car insurance, but she never lets me drive.

Silly employers.....thats more expensive for them.

Bluthunder, does you licence allow you to tow?

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring...les/DG_4022564


Just read the regs, and you should be ok, but still check you DVL

[embee]

I tow an Ifor Williams P6 trailer with my 1.0L Yaris. I've had an SV650 in it and it handles that with no problems. That gets up fairly near the permissible towing weight for unbraked trailers. The Yaris engine is very flexible and torque spread is quite good (VVT), you just need to use suitable gears and don't expect startling performance.

It's worth reading through the regs for towing just to be sure you don't break any rules. There's some useful info on this site

Tow bars fitted to "recent "cars must be approved items, though you can fit it yourself. I fitted mine (genuine Toyota, but made by "Brink" with a detachable neck). My neighbour had a mobile towbar fitter come round recently to put one on his Honda Jazz, about ?160, good job done. With the vagaries of some modern car electrics it's hardly worth bothering to DIY.

[Richie]

Originally Posted by plowsie

I have a picture of richies car at AR07 with i think 3 people in it, a jambo badge, tim in belgium side skirt trying to hold it back and it struggled but moved lol. More to the point it pulls his bike and the car IIRC is an old peugot 206 or summit like that.

It's a 205 1.8TDi.... and it was held back by 5 people on wet grass...
The Pug of Love is a battlebus...

Originally Posted by embee

I tow an Ifor Williams P6 trailer with my 1.0L Yaris. I've had an SV650 in it and it handles that with no problems. That gets up fairly near the permissible towing weight for unbraked trailers. The Yaris engine is very flexible and torque spread is quite good (VVT), you just need to use suitable gears and don't expect startling performance.

It's worth reading through the regs for towing just to be sure you don't break any rules. There's some useful info on this site

Tow bars fitted to "recent "cars must be approved items, though you can fit it yourself. I fitted mine (genuine Toyota, but made by "Brink" with a detachable neck). My neighbour had a mobile towbar fitter come round recently to put one on his Honda Jazz, about ?160, good job done. With the vagaries of some modern car electrics it's hardly worth bothering to DIY.

Thx that help so my car should manage then! I was thinking of doing as alternative this year to buying a van, it should work out cheaper then I can save a bit of money, though I'll see what folks say about using their car.

Where do plug/tap into power for a tow bar? It can't be that hard to attach and wire can it? I running on what you call a low budget so if I can do it myself I will.

That funny about the 205, my first was box shape fiesta 1.1, that car went everywhere! I manage to a full film kit, lights ect plus my crew when I was shoting a film in college, that car was ace, but evetually died in 2003 costing alot to keep on the road, but it did nearly 100000 miles!

[embee]

Originally Posted by bluethunder

Where do plug/tap into power for a tow bar? It can't be that hard to attach and wire can it?

It depends. If it's straightforward wiring then it's a case of tapping into all the relevant wires at the rear of the car, being aware of the extra current draw for the trailer especially if there's a common earth.

L/R indicator, L/R tail, stop, fog, earth = 7 wires in a std socket.

You need a warning buzzer for the indicators, either as a replacement relay or as an add-on unit (buzzes if trailer indicators are working, doesn't buzz if they're not, or buzzes once then stops).

It all gets complicated if the car has bulb failure warning modules or can-bus wiring etc.

Its a 7 year old car, so it probally doesn't have that kind of thing, its quite a basic car as well, how would i find out if does have those things on it? Is like a warning system if one of bulbs failes? I know it doesn't have that, I only really have a basic knowlege about cars and bikes!

http://www.towsure.com/product/5158
http://www.towsure.com/category/7205-Towbar_Wiring_Kits

All you will ever need