Towcars: coping with your caravan

There have been a number occasions when a Coast customer has mentioned to us that they’ve had a problem with their towcar. Although our advice is always to perform payload calculations before investing in a car, there are occasions when a caravan owner will get their new purchase home and find that there’s a mismatch between their towcar and tourer.

It’s not always the end of the world – it can just mean your progress is slower than if you had opted for a towcar with greater engine power or a manual gearbox – but there are a few things you can do to try and improve your performance on the road.

Firstly, try reloading your tourer if it’s over the towball weight limit. Sometimes overloading the rear can affect your leisure vehicle’s ability to be towed.

If you’re prepared to spend a bit of money on getting the balance right, uprating your towcar’s rear suspension will stop it sagging when your caravan is attached. You can also improve the torque of the vehicle by remapping its engine ECU.

A more expensive option would be to invest in a lighter caravan – although this might seem a little extortionate, it will more than likely prove cheaper than replacing the car you’ve just bought.

Coast’s touring caravan insurance has been specially designed to protect your leisure vehicle when it’s being towed on the road as well as when it is pitched at a campsite. For a competitive quotation, call us free of charge on 0800 614 849 or click here for an online caravan insurance quotation.