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Does anyone have any experience good or bad of towing a small car with their motorhome? What are the extra costs with ferry charges etc and also what problems have you encountered? Do campsites charge extra and how do you go on about indicator lights etc. How do you get the indicators to work in conjuction with your motorhome on a towed car? Any tips would be welcomed.
We have towed a small car (Fiat Seicento) on an ‘A’ frame behind our MH for 3 years, and almost 10k miles, with zero problems. We would not go away without it, if only for the convenience of having transport small enough to park anywhere.
We have never towed in Europe, but I believe Ferry charges are based on length.
CC and C&CC sites have never charged extra for the tow car, but some commercial sites have.
The lights on our car are connected to, and powered by, the MH. A connector, permanently wired into car lighting system, plugs into the MH tow bar receptacle.
Be aware of the legal ambiguities regarding towing on an ‘A’ frame.
You said that you tow a car. Could you please tell me where you got the connector and tow bar receptable from, as we need to start doing the same thing.
Hi,
I towed my Panda with our previous Motorhome, and will do the same with our new one when I can sort out fitting a towbar.
I use a "Car-a-tow" A frame which are advertised in most of the magazines. A bracket is premernantly attached to the front of the car to be towed, to which the A frame can quickly be coupled to. The other end goes on to a normal tow ball on the back of the motorhome.
The way I connect my electrics is to wire a female 7 pin socket into the appropriate wires on the tow car, so that the original rear lights, indicators and brake lights work as normal. Then you just need a male to male link lead from the standard motorhome socket to the one in the towcar.
All that is left to do then is to put a pair of red triangles on the back of the tow car to show it is a towed vehicle (trailer) and the registration plate of the motorhome to cover the tow car plate. There are lots of ways to do this, Car-a-tow supply some nice brackets for this.
There are many differing opinions on towing cars in this way, I have never had any problems in the UK, but this method is not approved of by most of the continent.
The only legal way to tow abroad is with your car on a trailer. I can assure you, and any one else who trys the " its legal in the UK so it must be legal here" attidude, it doesn't work, as the guy I bought my Car-a-tow off told me. (His tow car was impounded and cost a fortune to sort out getting it home).
Hope this may help,
Colin
Personally I would only ever use a trailer, I have towed racing cars all over the UK and Europe and never had a problem except the odd puncture (hence 4 wheel trailers are safest). Also with atrailer you have additional braking.
I have used A frames for recovery purposes only and am not a fan of them. You also must check if the car weight requires you to have a braked trailer.
Yet I know some people are fine with with A frames it really is down to personal taste I even prefer my scooter on a trailer rather than on a rack it just feels better to me.
Be careful if you want to go abroad the Laws are different, they do not like A frames, as a mate once found out as he was departing the ferry port on his way into France.
We have a C3 which we tow on an A frame with a brake buddy.
MPG goes down by approx 4mpg.
On the ferry it's treated as a trailer and you can look at the difference on the Ferry websites. We looked at taking the car on separately and it was going to be more expensive.
Only problem we have had and it's well documented on here under towing on an A frame. Spain, both times we've been stopped and first time made to separate the car.
Be careful if you want to go abroad the Laws are different, they do not like A frames, as a mate once found out as he was departing the ferry port on his way into France.
and hundreds, including us, get off the ferries in France with 'A' frames every year and have no problem.
We did 3500 miles through France and Italy a couple of months ago with no problems. We were looked at by all kinds of police from local to Motorway and never stopped.
Watching this thread with avid interest but I'm still in the ' is it worth the bother' camp. Having just taken delivery of a y Toyota IQ it seems to be the ideal car to tow on a trailer or get an A Frame fitted to it.
I guess the advantages are only obvious if you intend to exclusively use campsites as base camp ,which I try very hard not to be honest i.e leave the motorhome where it is and use the car to explore . If this is the case then logic tells me I should have bought a caravan and saved myself a buddle of cash .
As for towing abroad again is it worth it since a lot of aires would be too small or at best more navigationally difficult to handle a 7.5 mt motorhome plus trailer i.e would it be a lot more hassle.
Given the manouvering / storage challenges a trailer would give an A frame tow solution is the obvious half way house answer should I decide I need to tow a car ( assuming I don't go to Spain of course ) but then I'm given to understand that fitting an A Frame might void my 5 year IQ warranty , does anybody know if it would ?
I'm sure forumite towing experts can tell me if its worth the bother or not , are the downsides really worth it I wonder ?
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Spain
y Toyota IQ it seems to be the ideal car to tow on a trailer or get an A Frame fitted to it.
