Is your car overloaded?

With the summer holiday season approaching, many people are getting ready for a camping trip, either at home or across the channel. Car camping can be a great low cost family holiday, but it’s easy to get carried away when it comes to packing your vehicle. With many sights offering electric hook-up and a wealth of camping gadgets on the market it’s all too easy to overload your vehicle.

Overloading can seriously affect the vehicles handling and braking capabilities, as well as putting stress on the suspension and wheel bearings. The police will be on the lookout for overloaded cars and, while they are generally fairly lenient for minor overloading, can give a fine of £60 and three penalty points on your license. You could also be forced to leave some items at the roadside and have to return to collect them. You could also find your insurance compromised.

The maximum load for your vehicle is printed on the cars id plate and in the handbook. To be really sure, you could weigh all your luggage and passengers separately and add them up, but realistically a bit of common sense should be enough. You should see if the car is riding very low or if the steering feels odd, in which case you are overloaded.