Practically Classics Forum

I don't know if anyone can elaborate on this, but whilst looking to buy a car trailer to cart a classic around on, I came across a comment from an advertiser that warned that home made trailers could soon be illegal. I had, oddly enough , previously noticed on ebay that bids on home made car transporter trailers seemed to be suddenly dropping away, and I had a quick trawl of the internet to find out more.
What appears to be happening is that from October 2012 trailers need to be subject to some kind of type approval, which will normally be demonstrated by their having a chassis number related to a manufacturers plate that will confirm unladen weight, carrying capacity, etc. as well as needing to comply with certain standards for lighting, brakes, etc.
The actual detail is a little vague on most sites, and I am not entirely sure whether this relates to new trailers or existing as well. The latter does however seem to be the case and it might be that those of us who own a non proprietary trailer, could find that it is scrap after this time next year.
Can anyone elaborate on this? If true, it could affect a lot of people in the classic car fraternity.

I've not heard anything about it but it could be they are planning to introduce the Australia/NZ type system whereby trailers have their own registrations and have to have a roadworthiness test every year. As for the chassis plate approval, I can only see this happening for new trailers. There are just too many trailers out there that have been made years ago by Joe Public that would in effect be scrap metal overnight, I can't see people standing for that. One of my dads trailers is a towavan that has no chassis plate.

It's only NZ that has annual roadworthy test for trailers. In every other state its every three years or none at all. There is a related thread on this subject in the tech section.

Cheers,

bnicho wrote:It's only NZ that has annual roadworthy test for trailers. In every other state its every three years or none at all. There is a related thread on this subject in the tech section.

Cheers,

Yeah, I was about to say I think there is another thread like this.

I did post this on the tech section thread by I make trailers to transport racing karts and they are bringing in type approval for trailers. A design has to pass TA and the manufacturer has to prove that all will be built to the same design plus make sure they are plated with the relevant info. Any bespoke trailers built can go through a individual test. Obviously the difficulty will be on proving the date of build for unplated trailers BUT thats the new law.

Having read and participated in the other thread about this I would say that this law will be very difficult to enforce on home builders. It will be pretty much a manufacturer law and not a home DIY law. How can they prove that a trailer is brand new when you claim it is 20 yrs old and has simply had a fresh coat of paint?

It will be yet another stupid law!

I would think this will only apply to a trailer of a weight that requires brakes. (750kg..?????)

How can they prove that a trailer is brand new when you claim it is 20 yrs old and has simply had a fresh coat of paint?

........I was watching one of those Police,Stop!/roadwars/traffic cops/motorway cops/interceptors (delete as appropriate they're interchangeable) shows and they had a day enforcing trailer law- they were sat outside a tip and running stuff over a portable weighbridge. They must have made a fortune in fines! Mine is around 10 years old now but it still has a plate giving max weight, etc. I've lugged it well over the weight limit loads of times, when I was building my extension, and never been pulled up, but I don't think I could fool a switched on traffic cop that it was really ancient!

I've seen that happen here too, it was on the only road into the tip. Because we don't need to register small trailers here people make them out of tinfoil and don't maintain them properly. The police fined loads of people that day for inoperative lights, missing numberplates, bald tyres, cracked chassis and other defects on their trailers.

For little trailers that don't have to be registered we have the choice of buying an extra numberplate with "Exempt Trailer" on it from VicRoads, or painting/writing/making our own. It really makes me boil when I see friends/neighbours using trailers still showing the painted-on number of a car they sold ten years ago. But the chances of being pulled over for that are virtually nil.

My 1991 manufactured car trailer has a TARE weight of 450kg on the registration papers, but I've no idea really what the max limit is, as there is no details on the trailer or the papers. It's only single axle but has brakes, so I've put 1100kg cars on it before.