Towcar matching: the easy way to match car and caravan

Towmatch: the easy way to match car and caravan

Are you considering buying a new car or caravan? Match it up to your current car or caravan with this simple guide to caravan towcar matching.

Choosing a caravan and towing it to your perfect campsite is a great adventure. But, you need to make sure your car can safely tow the caravan. Tow car matching is an important step in buying the right caravan. You need to make sure your car is heavy enough to tow the caravan.

But, how do you find out the weight of your car? And, how do you know the weight of the caravan?

Trying to find this information might sound difficult. Don't worry! It is easy to find and we can help with your caravan towcar matching in a few steps.

Try our Towmatch tool now to instantly see a comprehensive list of caravans you can safely tow!

When choosing a caravan all you need is:

The kerbweight of your car
The maximum braked tow limit of your car

If you’re new to towing, your caravan’s Maximum Technically Permissable Laden Mass (MTPLM) should weigh no more than 85 per cent of your car’s kerbweight. (Don't worry - we will help you find out the MTPLM later in the guide).

Why is this important? If you are towing a caravan which is heavier than your car, it could cause an accident if you have to brake hard. The heavier caravan would try to push your car out of the way, in effect.

If you’re an experienced caravanner, the all-up weight of your caravan should never exceed the kerbweight of your towcar.

Occasionally a car will have a max braked tow limit that fewer kilos than its kerbweight figure. In those rare cases you should use that max braked tow limit figure in the calculations below, instead of the car's kerbweight.

The calculation:

Car kerbweight (kg) x 0.85 = max caravan weight (kg)*

*When you're looking at caravan brochures or listings in Caravan magazine, the figure you need to refer to is the MTPLM figure. This is the caravan's maximum weight when fully loaded.

Experienced caravanners can tow a slightly heavier caravan, but the car kerbweight should never be lower than the MTPLM of the caravan.

When choosing a towcar all you need is:

The MTPLM (max loaded weight) of the caravan. You can find the MTPLM in the brochure that came wit your caravan, or on the caravan's weight plate (usually alongside the door).

The calculation:

Caravan weight (MTPLM)/0.85 = minimum car kerbweight (kg)*

Some examples:

		At 85%: Tows up to 1169kg (MTPLM)
AUDI A3 – 1378kg (kerbweight)
		Tows up to 1275kg (MTPLM)
FORD FOCUS – 1501kg
		Tows up to 1405kg (MTPLM)
FORD MONDEO ESTATE – 1654kg
		Tows up to 1517kg (MTPLM)
LAND ROVER FREELANDER 2 – 1785kg
		Tows up to 1606kg (MTPLM)
HONDA CRV – 1890kg
		Tows up to 1756kg (MTPLM)
KIA SORENTO – 2067kg
		Tows up to 1895kg (MTPLM)
LAND ROVER DISCOVERY – 2230kg