# Max Size weight, license,issues (cross post)



## Alan1234 (Jul 20, 2005)

(Cross posted from Models tips American RV's)

Hi Everyone
Inching closer to Escape Day,
Constantly investigating AMRVS looking fo the perfect Ist time export starter rig.

Q1: What is the max width 8" or *8' '6"
The max weight on an ordinary Drivers Lic.
Max intelligent length
Experiences with double (side) slides (as a camper more than a driver) are they too much trouble?

What else should I beware of so that I don't get the; 
"Allo, allo, and just what's all this then" "don't you know you can't...(insert hidden snag here" 

right there on the dock at Southampton

Thanks for the replies so far Zaskar and Olley

Alan Poole


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## olley (May 1, 2005)

hi alan1234 
Q1 max width is 100.4" however my winnie is 102" its been passed by dvla so in their opinion iis legal.

The max legal length is somewhere about 38" but travelworld are bringing in monaco's at 41' and again the dvla are registering them, so again in their opinion they are legal.
I can't see the cps prosecuting you if the dvla have said your ok.

Just had a throught :idea: its not illegal to go bigger but everytime you go on the roads your supposed to inform the police, and maybe get an escort :lol:

The licence issue has been debated on here many times. The facts as far as I understand them is that no driver with a car licence driving a motorhome bigger than 7.5tons has ever been done, inspite of the dvla saying this is illegal. 
Must tell you something :lol:

olley


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## 88808 (May 9, 2005)

I bite my tongue :lol: :lol:


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## olley (May 1, 2005)

hey red dragon bus that must be painfull :lol: :lol: 

olley


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## Alan1234 (Jul 20, 2005)

Un-biteth thy tongue Red Dragon

(cps)? (dvia)? 

Do all of "Europe" reciprocally accept the registrations of each member country?

By that I mean; if some rig were squeezed by the beaurocracy in say Lithuania would UK have to accept an vehicle with their plates?
It was quite a tradition here in the US especially in the early days and uneven enforcement of "smog" to shop around for States to register non-compliant vehicules. eg. heavily modified, or vintage or collectors' oddballs or what have you. I wouldn't mind driving around Spain in a Slovenian registered Monaco with Poruguese insurance on a French license.

If you get my point. 


Alan


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## olley (May 1, 2005)

Hi alan
cps Crown Prosecution Service
dvla Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency 

olley


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## andyangyh (May 1, 2005)

We met a guy on an Aire in France who was half French and half South African (had dual nationality and a South African driving license) and was driving an RV which was registered in Jersey. He had it insured in Belgium. He was towing a car on an A-Frame and said that, although he had been stopped twice by French police, they took one look at the mass of international paperwork, shuddered, and waved him on his way.


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## Alan1234 (Jul 20, 2005)

*Just found the other thread!*

Goodgrief, just found the other thread!

You guys are so polite. To have missed something in this way would have gotten mass flames on other NG's

Thanks

Alan


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## 88926 (May 10, 2005)

Hi Alan
just imported mine and went through the whole process.Mine is a 38ft Fleetwood Revolution LE 101 inches wide and 39ft 5inches long ,and boy did i have fun with DVLA and the local Ministry testing station.technically its 1/2 inch too wide and 1inch too long but they deemed it ok for uk road use.They told me that they had already turned one RV away being longer than the 12 metre limit they didnt say what make but it was longer than a coach waiting for mot and that the bloke was gutted as he paid £250,000 for it.It will be interesting when these over length RVs go for their first mot,i know of one dealer selling a 40ft revolution LE which is 1ft over the maximum length i wonder where you stand if you get refused an mot 3 years after purchase
just my thoughts and experience on the matter


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## johnsandywhite (May 9, 2005)

8O There was a very long thread which discussed this very issue. George Telford quoted everything in the book and pointed to a court case brought by a couple who had bought an oversize Motorhome. They took the dealer to court on the grounds that the vehicle was not fit for the purpose it was purchased. They FAILED. 8O


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## olley (May 1, 2005)

Hi Jsw, the report i read said that cost's had not been awarded against either party, so nobody won or lost, (apart from the lawyers) and as this went to the high court they where considerable. I believe both party's had cost's in excess of £50,000

olley


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## Alan1234 (Jul 20, 2005)

*General conclusions so far, from this and "other long thread*

1)	Large USRV's may be driven on regular car driver's licences despite contradicting statutory size/weight definitions of a car, and even when the vehicle plainly shows it's genesis from a bus body or a truck/lorry frame because:

a) No one has ever been sucessfully prosecuted either here nor (it is believed) in Europe.
b) No insurance claim is known to have be denied on such grounds despite insurers' well know proclivity to deny whenever possible.
c) No US manufacturer has, or admits to, any knowledge of facts to the contrary, anywhere.

2)	Weight is irrelevent

3)	Max width in UK is 100.4" but members here have had vehicles allowed at 101" (probably at the personal discretion of a particular inspector)

4) Max Length is 39' 4.44" (12 meters) but 39' 5" has been allowed

5)	Vehicles one foot over 12 meters have been denied

6) Manufactures' designation eg. "38 foot model" is irrelevent. vehicles are re-measured at testing/inspecting facility.

Couple of questions:

1) What are the actual methods of measuring used. Did they include; spare wheel, ladder, awnings, wheel flare?

2) How does a toad affect max length?

3) What aspects of a USRV are considered non compliant,other than the obviously right looking headlights ( *)( *) the left looking versions of which I presume can be easily purchased and fitted, then replaced in the ferry parking lot?

4)	Has anybody had any experience re-registering USRV's in Europe? Could there be any advantages?

5)	Is the best bet for insurance still: Adrian Flux at Baker's through Norwich Union £485 for 12 months use abroad, with no mileage limitation.


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## 88974 (May 11, 2005)

We are far more relaxed here in Ireland, no M.O.T for motorhomes, I can see this happening in the future. As for registering it for the first time. We went to the local Vehicle Registration Office, parked about a five minute walk away, after going through our paper work the officer came with us to the camper van, had a look inside, counted the windows and doors and that was that. The same procedure is for trucks and lorries also. Friend registered his U.S R.V. in the same way. 
After going through the German system, it would be quite close to ours except for the M.O.T. bit.


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## 96583 (Oct 28, 2005)

Alan 1234 wrote 
3) What aspects of a USRV are considered non compliant,other than the obviously right looking headlights ( *)( *) the left looking versions of which I presume can be easily purchased and fitted, then replaced in the ferry parking lot? 

It is unlikely that you will be able to purchase Headlights that point the other way for US RV's

For UK MOT you will have to fit 
1/ Rear fog lamps
2/ Front Side lights (most yanks dont have them in their headlights)
3/ Also the rear brake lights wil need to be Orange not Red 
4/ Front and rear indicators are on all the time as running lights, this is not allowed.

Also for importing what you must never forget is the cost of.. 

Getting to the USA 
Staying in the USA 
Inurance both Medical(cheap) and for the RV (virtually impossible) 
Cost to get it to a port 
Cost for LPG empty certificate 
Cost of Shipping (approx $2-3 per cubic foot)(no guarantee of no damage) 
Marine Insurance 
Shipping agents extra fees 
UK Port Duty 10% of all costs added together 
UK VAT 17.5% of all costs plus port duty (yes tax on tax) 
UK MOT - Not cheap as you will have to sort out side lights at the front and orange lights at the rear plus fogs and all the new wiring (I have paid over £1000 befor to get all the UK legislation sorted MOT wise) 
Registration fee 
UK Electric 240/110v 

On top of that its a long way to go to find that the RV is not as described (been on the wrong end of that a few times) 

Better to see it in the UK and deal with the person that owns it, be they private or dealer, at least you are buying what is in front of you, not what you could potentially end up with at he port.


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## olley (May 1, 2005)

In march this year we looked at a brand new 30' Thor Hurricane which had just been registered, but no conversion had been done on it, it was just sitting in his front garden, I presume that he had just filled in the forms, nobody checked, and that was it.

Olley


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## 96583 (Oct 28, 2005)

If a vehicle is under 3 years old it does not require an MOT, so yes they will register them, however on its 1st MOT you will be hit with all the costs.


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## olley (May 1, 2005)

Hi edgie
Seems odd to me that you can register a vehicle that isn't legal on the road, mind you if it had to be, mine at 102" wide wouldn't have got into the country  

The actual width is about 100.75" plus a drip rail above the basement lockers which adds another 1.25"

Someone mentioned in a previous post about length and width problems on the mot, but these are not part of the mot test.


Olley


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## 88808 (May 9, 2005)

If you import a vehicle from the US it needs to go through a SVA test in order to get registered for use in the UK

http://www.vosa.gov.uk/vosa/carlgvo...ldingvehicles/singlevehicleapprovalscheme.htm

I know a few people who have imported brand new cars from the US and had alot of modifications to make to meet the lighting requirements.

Long live the loop holes thats all I will say lmao


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## 96583 (Oct 28, 2005)

Red_Dragon_Bus said:


> If you import a vehicle from the US it needs to go through a SVA test in order to get registered for use in the UK
> 
> http://www.vosa.gov.uk/vosa/carlgvo...ldingvehicles/singlevehicleapprovalscheme.htm
> 
> ...


Sadly this is not strictly true.....

Motorhomes do not require SVA
Motorhomes do require MOT if over 3 years old
so there is a big loophole which the unsuspecting purchaser of 2.5 year old RV is going to get caught in 6 months at its 1st MOT.

Cars under 3 years old have to have an SVA but all they check is that it meets the legislation in its country of origin, nothing to do with UK legislation...


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## 88808 (May 9, 2005)

Edgie said:


> Cars under 3 years old have to have an SVA but all they check is that it meets the legislation in its country of origin, nothing to do with UK legislation...


I know a few people who have imported brand new cars from the US and they had to carry out modifications to their cars to get their SVA certificate. They simply did not meet the requirements of UK legislation.

I understand that the SVA is not compulsory for motorhomes at the moment but as you say potential buyers of second hand vehicles should probably be looking for an SVA or MOT before purchasing such a vehicle.


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## 89213 (May 16, 2005)

I seem to remember that US headlights just dip, ie neither right nor left, just dip straight down. I had a dayvan that still had its original lights and it went through a few MOTs here no problem. That was about 5 years ago though, have they changed the MOT standard?
John


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