Ensuring that your caravan is within its legal towing limits is crucial for the safety of yourself and others on the road. In addition, you will have peace of mind that you will be covered by insurance in the case of an accident.
Use this handy caravan towing weight calculator (no spreadsheet required) to work out whether your set-up is over, under or within its maximum weight limits.
Find out where you need to shift weight from and where you’ve still got some payload allowance to spare.
You can also use this trailer towing weight calculator before purchasing a car or trailer to massage the figures until you come up with a combination that will work for your needs.
Weights to gather before using this calculator:
- Caravan’s FULLY LOADED Weight
- Caravan’s ATM
- Caravan’s TOW BALL WEIGHT
- Vehicle’s GVM
- Vehicle’s BRAKED TOWING CAPACITY
- Vehicle’s KERB Weight
- Vehicle’s FULLY LOADED Weight
- Vehicle’s GCM
If you’re not sure where or how to find all of these weights, keep scrolling past the calculator for step-by-step instructions. Some will be set by the manufacturer, while others will need to be manually weighed.
More on Towing Weights:
| To be used as a guide only, always do your own due diligence. If you’re not confident with working out your caravan towing weights, it’s recommended that you get a professional to weigh your set-up. This will ensure that you’re complying with all insurance and safety requirements. |
Caravan Towing Weight Calculator
How to Find Your Towing Weights
Below you’ll learn how to find all of the figures that you need for using the above caravan towing weight calculator.
Some weights can be found on your car or caravan VIN plates, while others will need to be obtained by taking your set-up to a public weighbridge.
Caravan’s Fully Loaded Weight
The fully loaded weight of the caravan includes absolutely everything that you pack into the caravan so that you’re ready for travel.
Think clothes, food, cooking equipment, personal items, bikes, full gas bottles, full water tanks, camping furniture, hoses, leads, chocks, levellers and so on.
How to measure the Caravan’s FULLY LOADED Weight:
- Ensure the caravan is packed for travel (luggage, food, water, gas bottles, gear & accessories)
- Drive the caravan onto the weighbridge and unhitch it from the car
- Drive the car off the weighbridge, leaving only the caravan on the scales
- Record the weight
| Caravan’s FULLY LOADED Weight: The actual weight of the caravan (packed and ready for travel) – UNHITCHED from the car |
Caravan’s ATM
The Aggregate Trailer Mass (ATM) is the maximum allowable weight of the caravan when fully loaded and unhitched from the tow vehicle.
You can find your caravan’s ATM stamped on the caravan VIN plate. VIN plates are usually located just inside the caravan entry door, or sometimes they can be in the front storage boot.
Caravan ATM:
- Set by manufacturer
- Stamped onto caravan VIN Plate
- Includes all accessories, luggage, full water tanks, gas bottles, toolboxes, bikes, gear etc.
| Caravan ATM: The maximum allowable weight of the caravan (packed and ready for travel) |
Caravan’s TBW
The TBW (Tow Ball Weight) is the amount of weight the fully loaded caravan puts onto the tow bar of the tow vehicle.
The accepted TBW in Australia is around 10% of your fully-loaded caravan or a maximum of 350kg, whichever is lower. If it’s over that limit, you’ll have to play with the load until you can reduce the tow ball weight.
NOTE: Your TBW will change every time you add, subtract or shift payload in your caravan.
Use one (1) of the following methods to find your Tow Ball Weight measurement…
How to measure the TBW at a Weighbridge:
- Drive only the car onto the weighbridge
- Leave the caravan hitched up, but make sure the caravan is not on the scales
- Write down the weight (Weight A) → This is the car’s weight including the tow ball weight
- Unhitch the caravan off the scales
- Drive the car only back onto the scales
- Write down the weight (Weight B) → This is the car’s standalone weight
- Tow Ball Download = Weight A (car weight) – Weight B (car weight with tow ball weight)
How to measure the TBW using Ball Weight Scales:
- Rest the caravan’s hitch on top of the scales
- Record the weight
For more on measuring TBW, here are the 3 ways to calculate Tow Ball Weight.
| Caravan TOW BALL WEIGHT: The amount of weight the caravan puts onto the tow bar of the tow vehicle. |
Vehicle’s GVM
The Gross Vehicle Mass (GVM) is the maximum allowable weight of the vehicle including passengers, luggage, accessories and Tow Ball Weight.
The reason that the GVM includes the Tow Ball Weight is that once the caravan is hitched up to the back, the TBW is relieved from the caravan and transferred onto the back of the car.
The GVM is set by the manufacturer, which states the maximum weight the vehicle can be at any given time and cannot be exceeded.
Vehicle GVM:
- Set by manufacturer
- Stamped onto vehicle VIN Plate
- Includes all passengers, accessories, luggage & Tow Ball Weight
| Vehicle GVM: The maximum allowable weight of the vehicle (packed and ready for travel) |
Vehicle’s Braked Towing Capacity
The Vehicle’s Braked Towing Capacity is the maximum weight that your vehicle can legally tow.
This figure is set by the manufacturer and can usually be found in the owner’s manual or the label on the driver’s door jam. Otherwise, you can check out the manufacturer’s website or Redbook.
Vehicle’s BRAKED TOWING CAPACITY:
- Set by manufacturer
- Find it in your User Manual or on Redbook
| Vehicle BRAKED TOWING CAPACITY: The maximum weight that your vehicle can legally tow |
Vehicle’s Kerb Weight
The Vehicle Kerb Weight is the weight of an empty vehicle with all of its fluids and a full tank of fuel, but no luggage, driver or passengers.
You can find your vehicle’s Kerb Weight using a public weighbridge.
How to measure the VEHICLE KERB WEIGHT:
- Ensure the car is empty of all luggage, passengers etc., but has a full tank of fuel
- Drive vehicle onto weighbridge (without caravan)
- The driver must exit the vehicle and get off the weighbridge
- Record the weight
| Vehicle KERB Weight: The weight of your empty vehicle (Full tank of fuel, but with no driver, passengers & luggage) |
Vehicle’s Fully Loaded Weight
The fully loaded weight of the vehicle includes absolutely everything that you pack into the car so that you’re ready for travel.
Included are the driver, passengers, luggage, full fuel tank/s, plus any after-market accessories that have been fitted.
How to measure the Vehicle’s FULLY LOADED Weight:
- Ensure the vehicle is fully loaded with full fuel tank, regular passengers, accessories, luggage etc.
- Drive the car onto the weighbridge
- Record the weight
| Vehicle’s FULLY LOADED Weight: The actual weight of the vehicle (packed and ready for travel) – UNHITCHED from the caravan |
Vehicle’s GCM
The Gross Combination Mass (GCM) is the maximum allowable weight of your car and caravan combined.
This total weight includes all gear, luggage, accessories, driver, passengers, fuel, water etc. throughout both the car and the caravan.
The GCM figure is set by the vehicle manufacturer and cannot be changed.
Vehicle’s GCM:
- Set by manufacturer
- Find it in your User Manual or on Carsales (search for your car & scroll down to the ‘Specifications’ tab)
Once you’ve got your overall towing weights sorted, use our Payload Calculator to figure out exactly how much allowance you have left for your ‘stuff.’
In conjunction with the caravan towing weight calculator, use the ‘weights’ column in the Caravan Packing List below to help sort out your payload.
Caravan Packing List
Never forget a thing with the ULTIMATE Caravan Packing List!
- Pre-filled with 600+ items
- 17 categories
- ‘Weight’ column (to organise payload)
- PRINTABLE – fully customisable
- DIGITAL – completely interactive
- Download once, use it over-and-over
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