There’s been a lot of recent media coverage on a fatal caravan crash in NSW that is now pending prosecution in NSW courts.
Part of the outcome of the investigation found that:
- caravan exceeded weight of towing arrangement
- caravan exceeded its specified max laden weight (ATM)
A key message being promoted by relatives of those involved in the accident is that the risks are very real, and consequences potentially deadly.
Beyond the serious safety aspects, being overloaded may also invalidate your insurance cover on both your vehicle and van, and leads to excessive wear and tear on all mechanical components.
We offer a full caravan ATM upgrade service here at RV Service Centre Toowoomba – where we can legally increase the ATM and/or GTM of your caravan, to ensure you van is legal. (We also offer a similar GVM upgrade service for tow vehicles).
On the van side, the actual process varies depending on what we start with.
We weigh your van in our workshop, where we get individual wheel weights and ball weight, and inspect all the critical components like chassis, suspension, axles & drawbar.
From there, the process is sometimes straightforward – we find the existing setup is capable of being rated higher than the current ATM, and no modifications are required. We complete our engineering process, and install a QLD Mod Plate stating upgraded ATM figures.
Often we find the draw bar is the limiting factor, and it needs to be reinforced in order to comply. And, sometimes, it requires entirely new suspension / running gear to bring the ATM up to customers requirements.
In almost all situations, we are able to offer an affordable path to a fully legal ATM/GTM upgrade for your caravan. Whether its single axle, tandem or triple axle, on-road or off, we have a solution!
We also offer a free inspection / report on what your options are to get your van legal.
Contact us today if you’d like to book in for a free ATM upgrade inpsection.
