Spotlight on overweight caravans in Victoria

One of the first in-depth looks at the growing problem of overweight caravan rigs, is being conducted in Victoria.

Peak industry body Caravan Industry Victoria has joined forces with government authority VicRoads to get a clearer picture of the extent as well as severity of the 'overweight caravan epidemic' on Victorian roads.

CIV CEO Rob Lucas said the association will be supplying data to VicRoads collected from 200 caravan safety inspections held at Victorian caravan shows over the past three years, as well as another 400 additional caravan inspections to be conducted in 2020.

“We’ve been given a grant by VicRoads to undertake a caravan weights project across the state, so every one of our caravan shows we’re collecting data including weights of the tow vehicle and caravan,” Lucas said.

“We’re doing it right across the state of Victoria, and we’ll do about 400 inspections (over the next 12 months). As well as the inspections at shows, the project will take us into dealers' yards, and we’ll be looking at (the weights) of both new and used caravans.”

Lucas believes one of the leading causes of overweight caravans is owners getting aftermarket equipment like generator slides, extra solar panels, and bike carriers fitted after purchase, which then reduces the payload and amount of food, clothes and other gear they can legally carry on a trip.

“You start adding aftermarket product to the caravan, it changes the whole weight of the van and consumers often don’t take that into account,” he said.

Based on the data collected so far, he said an associated problem where a manufacturer indicated an incorrect Tare weight on the build plate (often much lower than the actual weight of the unloaded van), is only a minor issue affecting around 5-10 percent of caravans.

“What we’ve already found through inspections is that by and large the weights of the vans as manufactured are pretty close. We’ll admit there are a couple (of manufacturers doing the wrong thing), but generally they’re pretty close.," he said.

Overloaded tow vehicles are another serious issue, he said, with many owners unwittingly increasing the ‘kerb’ weight of their tow vehicle with aftermarket add-ons, leaving insufficient payload for passengers and their gear, not to mention the weight of the caravan on the towball.

“The worse case we’ve seen is the car was about 400kg over (the rated GVM)," he said. "Even after filling the tanks, it’s all the other things they’re carrying like tools, generators, slide-out fridges, roof racks, bull bars – all sorts of things that when you bought the car weren't on it."

Lucas is sceptical of increasing evidence that suggests as many 50 per cent or more of caravan rigs are overweight. He said less than 10 per cent of the caravans inspected by the CIV were overweight in any way.

He said one of the best ways to reduce the number of overweight rigs, and improve road safety, is better education of consumers.

“There’s not enough education for consumers to understand what they can and can’t put in the van," he said. "Forget payloads, it’s what they’re putting in, in addition to other things that have already been added at a later stage, that’s an issue many consumers don’t understand well.”

Lucas said once the data is collected and analysed, the results will be used to “conduct education programs for consumers and industry, whether it's flyers or workshops or websites, we’ll be doing all sorts of things (to get the message across).”

“But ultimately it will be about telling the consumer to just stop and think about what you want to do with that (caravan) product, and let’s get you the right product from the start, so you can live your lifestyle in a safe way.”

Also read:

Overweight caravan epidemic spreads

Overweight vans caught in blitz

The truth about overweight caravans