Why can’t I exceed my GVM as my GCM is higher?

“If my GCM is 6000kg, I must be okay to exceed by GVM of 3000kg by only 200kg, I talked to my insurance company and they said no. Unfair!”

This is the gist of a conversation relayed to me a few days ago.

To illustrate why this is faulty reasoning I suggest the following experiment:

1. Find three adults willing to participate in some practical research.

2. All four of you drive to a large hardware retail chain warehouse.

3. Find a large trolley. Have your three adult helps stand on the trolley. This represents your car’s GCM limit.

4. You push the trolley, with three adults loaded, around the aisles. Try going from Garden, past Tools, to Storage, and through Plumbing.

5. When you have completed your journey, assuming you’ve not been thrown out, have the adults dismount from the trolley.

6. Now you lean forwards, place your hands on your knees.

7. The three adults will now climb on your back. This represents your GVM.

8. Now carry those adults on the same route you did previously.

Of course this is a thought experiment and I hope nobody would even contemplate such an activity as actually carrying it out would be a terrible idea for a number of reasons…but I hope it explains the point. Still, if I ever run a towing course again I’m definitely using a shopping trolley as a prop!

Also…your insurance company is not the arbiter of what is safe or roadworthy. All they say is ‘maintain your vehicle in a roadworthy condition’ and it’s on you to figure that out. A hot tip is that virtually every document you could ever want or need is available online and all you need to is read them.

However…being regulatory documents figuring out what the rules are can be difficult, especially as most of them are not reader-tested. But that’s why you follow this page, and why you’d buy my Towing Book!