What size caravan should I buy

When it comes to caravan size there are two main factors, can my family fit in it, and can my car tow it.

You need to consider the MAM and GTW of your vehicle, these define the weight you can actually tow and stand for Maximum Authorised Mass and Gross Train Weight, they should be written on your vehicles VIN plate or freely available to find on google, once you know how much you can tow, you know what weight of caravan you can buy, most good caravan sales will note this on the listing, if your buying privately you can see it on the chassis, ask the owner to point this out to you, caravanning people are really helpful!

The second consideration for what size caravan, is how many beds you will need, a family of 5, two adults and 3 kids, would require a 5 berth caravan, typical examples for a family setup are bunk beds at the back, a side table that converts to a single bed, and the front end that is either two singles or converts to a double bed.

However having a smaller car and a big family is not uncommon, if you need a lighter caravan but still want to take a big family camping you can consider an awning, this is great for the warmer months, unfortunately it can get pretty cold if your going out all year round so that's something to consider.

Your MAM and GTW can be found on the Vin plate of your car, if your unsure you can ask your garage or search google for your specific model of car. Your GTW or Gross Train Weight is the combined limit of weight.

What you can tow is dependant on a few things, check your VIN plate and find the GTW (Gross Train Weight) and the MAM (Maximum Authorised Mass) a simple calculation to work this out would be (GTW - MAM) so if you MAM is 2500 and you GTW is 6500 (6500 - 2500 = 4000) you can town up to 4000KG, other factors such as length come in to play as well, if your MAM us 3500KG or less you need to keep your caravan under 7M.

The simple answer is, look for BE on the back and see if you have a valid from date on there, if you do, you should be good to tow a caravan within your vehicles limits with the caravan MAM being under 3500KG