Down rating trucks

[Justme]

Then they are not fit for the work you do.

[Dan]

8 minutes ago, Justme said:

Then they are not fit for the work you do.

The truck is a perfect fit for the work I do. It's just the paperwork that doesn't fit. 

[Vespasian]

9 minutes ago, Dan said:

The truck is a perfect fit for the work I do. It's just the paperwork that doesn't fit. 

I've a down rated Iveco tipper myself, I think its legal load is a ton..   ain't got an arb body on it mind..    a gypsy fella I know has  a downrated iveco tipper with an hiab on it...   dread to think what that legal load is..   all he says if I mention legal loads is what can you do, you have to keep going...   

 

I recon if you keep local and know were the police set up there traps and avoid those area's you should be OK...   its what I do if I suspect I might be a touch overweight...

[Matthew Storrs]

On 01/10/2018 at 07:38, donnk said:

On the flip side you will keep the original train weight so may well be able to tow 5+ tons on a pre-97 car licence.

Even if you only tow 3.5 ton. Surely it’s better to use a downrated larger truck than squeeze the life out of a 3.5t truck. I assume there is no need for any operators license etc either...

[monkeybusiness]

1 hour ago, Justme said:

Then they are not fit for the work you do.

No shit Sherlock! 

The law needs changing to make running heavier trucks straightforward (no O-licence etc). It’ll probably have to change when the additional weight of batteries are forced upon us mind.... 

[Dan]

Before this truck I had a toyota dyna, it could carry 1.3 ton legally. That was great, but still often over loaded. When it was time to replace the dyna I decided I'd rather get a truck with the suspension and breaks to handle the work safely.

I've got a 7.5t driver licence, but can't get an o licence for the yard and don't want to move yards. 

I also only do about couple of thousand miles in a busy year mostly around the little villages local to us. I haven't seen a copper for years so it doesn't seem to be such an issue. 

 

[Domino]

26 minutes ago, Dan said:

Before this truck I had a toyota dyna, it could carry 1.3 ton legally. That was great, but still often over loaded. When it was time to replace the dyna I decided I'd rather get a truck with the suspension and breaks to handle the work safely.

I've got a 7.5t driver licence, but can't get an o licence for the yard and don't want to move yards. 

I also only do about couple of thousand miles in a busy year mostly around the little villages local to us. I haven't seen a copper for years so it doesn't seem to be such an issue. 

 

I appreciate the idea of this 'downrated approach', finding the right arb truck setup is a tricky one for sure, and most setups in the 3.5t realm are obviously running overweight and or being run into the ground prematurely.  Hence I have considered this approach myself.....not really concerned about police/vosa checks round here, but the big worry for me is insurance, if anything goes awry and it was to be proven to be overweight i'm assuming the s..t would hit the fan at that point.

[Vespasian]

Might only be local to me but last week was talking to a couple of local scrap men..  asking how much scrap was a ton these days... got to talking about waste carriers licence an all that related stuff....  told me the police had a few spot checks when the law was first introduced but they haven't seen em since...

 

I wonder if cut backs are keeping em quiet or perhaps they're collecting enough money off em they don't want to give em added grief by checking the trucks as well as scamming money out of em...   who knows?..

 

As to insurance,  if you did have an accident I doubt the insurance company could argue you was over weight if you had the legal limit on the truck for what it was designed to carry..   I mean they might argue that to avoid paying out, but they couldn't argue that it was a contributing factor in an accident..  at least thats one thing in having a down rated truck in an accident..  the cops can't argue you was dangerously overweight and thats what caused the crash...   

 

 

 

 

 

   

 

[Justme]

7 hours ago, monkeybusiness said:

No shit Sherlock! 

The law needs changing to make running heavier trucks straightforward (no O-licence etc). It’ll probably have to change when the additional weight of batteries are forced upon us mind.... 

The battery issue has already been sorted for licences with a B  licence allowed I think 4250kg if its pure elec. Not sure that tacho and O licence gas caught up yet.

[Justme]

7 minutes ago, Vespasian said:

Might only be local to me but last week was talking to a couple of local scrap men..  asking how much scrap was a ton these days... got to talking about waste carriers licence an all that related stuff....  told me the police had a few spot checks when the law was first introduced but they haven't seen em since...

 

I wonder if cut backs are keeping em quiet or perhaps they're collecting enough money off em they don't want to give em added grief by checking the trucks as well as scamming money out of em...   who knows?..

 

As to insurance,  if you did have an accident I doubt the insurance company could argue you was over weight if you had the legal limit on the truck for what it was designed to carry..   I mean they might argue that to avoid paying out, but they couldn't argue that it was a contributing factor in an accident..  at least thats one thing in having a down rated truck in an accident..  the cops can't argue you was dangerously overweight and thats what caused the crash...   

 

 

 

 

 

   

 

They could argue that your licence / training was not up to the weight. Also some down plating does have a requirement to remove items to limit weight capacity. On C class trucks some bolts have to be removed.

Edited July 5, 2019 by Justme