Club owned towing vehicles

[Ralph Coton]

Can any branch give advice on how to insure/register vehicles owned by a branch. Until now Calshot branch have relied on members with 4x4s to tow our club boats, we are now thinking of buying our own but quotes for insurance seem very high. Any advice would be appreciated

[nickjaxe]

Can any branch give advice on how to insure/register vehicles owned by a branch. Until now Calshot branch have relied on members with 4x4s to tow our club boats, we are now thinking of buying our own but quotes for insurance seem very high. Any advice would be appreciated

Just being nosy, why would your club want there own 4X4.


Nick.

[Edward Haynes]

Ralph

Insurance (IMHO) shouldn't be a problem; any of the major insurance companies will give you a quote.

The issue you will have to sort out first is:
Under what name will the Branch register the vehicle with DVLA?

Company vehicles are registered under the company name, but a "responsible" person has to sign the paperwork.

Might be worth speaking to someone at DVLA before you go much further

Edward Haynes

[Ralph Coton]

:=Can any branch give advice on how to insure/register vehicles owned by a branch. Until now Calshot branch have relied on members with 4x4s to tow our club boats, we are now thinking of buying our own but quotes for insurance seem very high. Any advice would be appreciated

Just being nosy, why would your club want there own 4X4.


Nick.
We have 2 RIBs one is too heavy to be towed behind a ordinary car. Until recently we had a number of members with 4x4s who could tow the big boat but for various reasons we now only have two. We feel that it is unfair to try to pressgang them into towing alternate weekends. Nobody else wants the outlay of running an expensive vehicle so we thought a clb tow truck would be the best solution.

[terryh]

We have 2 RIBs one is too heavy to be towed behind a ordinary car. Until recently we had a number of members with 4x4s who could tow the big boat but for various reasons we now only have two. We feel that it is unfair to try to pressgang them into towing alternate weekends. Nobody else wants the outlay of running an expensive vehicle so we thought a clb tow truck would be the best solution.:=

Forget car go for transit.

The Mk4 (smiley front) Trannie can be bought for as little as
a grand, but good versions (W plate) can go for 5/6k.

Larger engined 2.4D versions have massive torque for towing
and go for a SWB 120/150 version for a load carrying capacity
of 120k/150k. Ground clearance far better than a 4x4.
Under 5k and its third party, commercial vehicle insurance
(any driver about ?300 pa.).

Want to carry passengers? Side loader with/without a window +
row of seats gives you space for 6x divers, full kit all the boat gubbins and you can tow the RIB.

Only downer? Avoid 80/100 versions. Too light.

TerryH

[Edward Haynes]

Only one additional comment to a Transit with seat or trailer. Check you have people with the licence to drive.

Over 9 seats, read the link

Over 3.5 Tonne gross train weight requires a C1+E licance.

CAR DRIVING LICENCE FIRST OBTAINED SINCE 1 JANUARY 1997
on this page
<a href="http://www.dvla.gov.uk/drivers/dl_towing_trailers.htm" >http://www.dvla.gov.uk/drivers/dl_towing_trailers.htm</a>

Edward

:=We have 2 RIBs one is too heavy to be towed behind a ordinary car. Until recently we had a number of members with 4x4s who could tow the big boat but for various reasons we now only have two. We feel that it is unfair to try to pressgang them into towing alternate weekends. Nobody else wants the outlay of running an expensive vehicle so we thought a clb tow truck would be the best solution.:=

Forget car go for transit.

The Mk4 (smiley front) Trannie can be bought for as little as
a grand, but good versions (W plate) can go for 5/6k.

Larger engined 2.4D versions have massive torque for towing
and go for a SWB 120/150 version for a load carrying capacity
of 120k/150k. Ground clearance far better than a 4x4.
Under 5k and its third party, commercial vehicle insurance
(any driver about ?300 pa.).

Want to carry passengers? Side loader with/without a window +
row of seats gives you space for 6x divers, full kit all the boat gubbins and you can tow the RIB.

Only downer? Avoid 80/100 versions. Too light.

TerryH

[terryh]

Only one additional comment to a Transit with seat or trailer. Check you have people with the licence to drive.

Over 9 seats, read the link

Over 3.5 Tonne gross train weight requires a C1+E licance.

CAR DRIVING LICENCE FIRST OBTAINED SINCE 1 JANUARY 1997
on this page
http://www.dvla.gov.uk/drivers/dl_towing_trailers.htm

Edward


Ok good info, but a bit of overkill.

The Transits I mentioned were SWB 120/150 models, which max
out at 3500kg. This keeps it in the PLG catagory and class 7
(not plated) for MOT's.

One row of seats gives you 6x spaces and with kit (2 cylinders
each) no chance of going over a 1.5k max load.
Go for a LWB 190 and two extra rows (possible 10 seats) and
with kit (even if you had the room) you would be well over the
1.9kg max load.

That's why big engined SWB are the dogs danglies. Loads of
power/carrying capacity. No chance of overloading and all on a
basic car licence.

TerryH

[nickjaxe]

Ralph

Insurance (IMHO) shouldn't be a problem; any of the major insurance companies will give you a quote.

The issue you will have to sort out first is:
Under what name will the Branch register the vehicle with DVLA?

Company vehicles are registered under the company name, but a "responsible" person has to sign the paperwork.

Might be worth speaking to someone at DVLA before you go much further

Edward Haynes

Does your branch make it worth while for the 4X4 owners to tow the club boats and not loose out.

Nick.

[Edward Haynes]

Fine with all that.

Once you but a boat on the back, weighting over 750 kg the driver requires a 'E' licence. Pre 1997 tested drivers have one by default, since then it's an extra test.

Can't be taken at the same time as the car test.

Edward

[Steve Neighbour]

We have our own 'Club Tow Vehicle' it's a 10yr old Nissan Serena 'people carrier' and tows our club rib quite well. our rib weighs in at almost 1.5 tonnes. As far as insurance we have insured with one member with a all user type policy for around ?300.

It seem to work ok at the moment. We shy'd away from the 4x4 idea, as the temptation would be there to reverse in to the sea etc with all the inherent salt corrosion problems !

The vehicle is kept full of fuel, and the 'group' using it returns it full, and share the costs, this is how we run the rib also.
If a member tows with their own vehicle (as I often do, as I have a 4x4) fuel is reimbursed at the rate of 10p/mile, this is split between ALL divers in the group for the day/weekend, as is boat fuel, launch fees, and each diver also pays ?1.50 to club funds for each dive, so an averagre w/e consisting of 4 dives over 2 days would incurr ?6 dive fees + share of tow and boat fuel, which can work out as little as ?10-15 per head for the whole w/e.

[Ralph Coton]

Thanks to everyone for their input.
We are going with the 4x4 simply because we are getting it at trade in price from a Member who is emigrating. we know the vehicle, its history, and that it will cope with the worst slips in the area. When we have to replace it we will look at the transit.

Have spoken to DVLA who have no problem with vehicle being registered to the club.

For many years we have operated a system whereby towers did not pay the fee for the days diving (currently ?10 - ?12 depending on site). On reflection as the cost of motoring has risen I think our towers have probably not had a fair deal in recent years. The going rate for mileage is about 40p per mile for a 2 litre car which means that a 90 mile round trip to a dive site costs at least ?36. When towing a heavy boat the cost is probably more. There is the arguement that the tower has to travel to the dive site anyway but I think at the moment the other club benefits more from our current arrangement.
Regards
Ralph Coton

[Geoff Oldfield]

We have a similar problem with one 6.5 mtr requiring a 4x4 to tow it, mainly because of the weight of the trailer (twin axle!) towers of this boat get 20 pence a mile. Our smaller 5.8 mtr RIB on a single axle trailer is easier to tow with a normal family saloon and they get 15p per mile. Boat levy per day is ?6 per person with the fuel and towing levies slit amongst all the divers. We have been using these rates for some years now and all seems to work out well. There may be a need to up the towing rate because of increases in insurance / fuel etc but we'll look at that at the end of this season.

Geoff Oldfield