Does towing capacity include the caravan's weight?
Yes, all of it.
The rating covers the whole trailer: the van itself and everything packed in it.
The towball limit, GVM (Gross Vehicle Mass) and GCM (Gross Combination Mass) apply at the same time.
Updated . 7 min read • Technical Guide
Yes. Braked towing capacity applies to the caravan's full loaded weight, its ATM (Aggregate Trailer Mass). Comparing the tare figure understates the van.
Everything packed in the van counts toward that figure: water, gas and gear included.
- Compare - the van's ATM against the braked rating (ATM is the loaded maximum, so it covers anything you pack within it)
- Ball weight - also counts against the car's payload (it presses on the towbar, so it counts against the car's GVM (Gross Vehicle Mass))
- GCM - caps car and van together (often lower than full GVM plus the full tow rating at once)
What braked towing capacity measures
Braked towing capacity limits the whole trailer as it travels. That includes the van's chassis, walls and furniture, the water in the tanks, the gas in the bottles and everything in the cupboards. The rating itself is the heaviest braked trailer your car's manufacturer allows it to tow.
Some people read the rating as an allowance for cargo only, but the caravan's own weight is the biggest part of the figure. The packing rides on top of it inside the same ceiling.
The unbraked rating on the same spec sheet is a separate, much lower figure for trailers without their own brakes. In Australia a trailer over 750kg GTM (the most its own axles may carry) must have brakes. Most caravans are over that, so the braked figure is the one that matters here.
The towbar and towball have their own ratings. Where either is lower, that is your limit.
New to the weight terms?
ATM, tare, payload and ball weight each have a precise meaning, and the sums between them are short.Caravan weights explained walks through all of them with real numbers from real vans.
Tare is the weight you will never tow at
Brochures often lead with tare, the van's weight as approved, with its water tanks empty and nothing packed. You will never tow the van at tare.
ATM, Aggregate Trailer Mass, is the maximum the loaded van is rated to weigh, set by the manufacturer and stamped on the compliance plate. That is the figure to hold against your car's braked rating, because it is the loaded worst case. If the ATM fits under the tow rating, packing within it keeps you under that one limit. Your ball weight and your combined weight still change with what you pack. Our towing check calls a van over 80% of the rating, or a ball weight over 90% of the towball limit, Close to the limit. Both are our rules of thumb. The legal limits are the published ratings. What counts on the road is what the loaded van actually weighs, and a weighbridge tells you. On ranges that publish both figures, the gap typically runs around 630kg.
The same van, both numbers
- Austrack Campers Gibb 16 Couples, tare
- 2,370kg
- The same van, ATM
- 3,000kg
- The difference your car has to cover
- 630kg
A car whose braked rating falls between those two numbers is over its rating once this van is loaded to its ATM. Comparing against tare is how that mistake gets made.
Where the ball weight goes
Ball weight, the downward push of the van's coupling on your towbar, is already part of the van's loaded weight. It sits inside the ATM, so you do not add it on top of the figure you compare against the braked rating.
It counts a second time on the car's side of the hitch. Once the van is hooked up, the ball weight presses on the car. It comes out of the car's own payload, the gap between its kerb mass and its GVM. A few hundred kilograms of ball weight is a few hundred kilograms the car can no longer carry in people, accessories and luggage.
So the ball weight sits inside the van's ATM for the towing comparison, and against the car's GVM for the carrying one. Both have to work at once. It also has to fit under the car's towball limit, the towbar's label and the towball's stamp. The lowest applies.
The combined limit that sits over both
GCM, Gross Combination Mass, is the maximum the loaded car and the loaded van may weigh together. It applies no matter what each is rated for on its own. On many vehicles, full GVM plus the full braked towing rating adds up to more than the GCM. The car cannot then be fully loaded and towing at its maximum at the same time.
The practical sum is GCM minus what your loaded car weighs. Whatever is left is the real ceiling for the van, and it is often lower than the headline tow rating. Do that subtraction with a weighbridge ticket rather than a brochure figure.
Let the site run the sums for you
Pick your car and Can I tow it? checks its braked rating, ball limit and GCM against every checked range at once. The tow calculator does the same for one van at a time.
If the car in your driveway is a RAV4, Tucson, Forester or similar, read what a mid-size SUV can tow. It works the tow rating, towball limit and GCM through that class and lists the vans that fit.
Towing capacity questions, answered
Does towing capacity include the weight of the caravan itself?
Yes. The van's own structure, water, gas and everything packed inside all count toward the one figure. Compare the van's ATM, its rated maximum fully loaded, against your car's braked towing capacity.
Is towing capacity measured against tare or ATM?
Compare against ATM, the loaded maximum the manufacturer sets, because you will never tow the van at its empty tare weight. If the ATM fits under the tow rating, packing within it keeps you under that one limit. Your ball weight and your combined weight still change with what you pack. Our towing check calls a van over 80% of the rating, or a ball weight over 90% of the towball limit, Close to the limit. Both are our rules of thumb. The legal limits are the published ratings.
Does towing capacity include what is packed inside the caravan?
Yes: water, gas bottles, food, bedding, tools, bikes and the annexe are all part of the trailer's weight. Every litre of water weighs one kilogram, so a pair of large tanks can add well over a hundred kilograms.
Does ball weight count toward towing capacity?
Ball weight is already part of the ATM you compare with the braked rating. It also has to fit under the car's towball limit, the towbar's label and the towball's stamp, and it comes out of the car's payload.
My car's towing capacity is higher than the caravan's tare weight. Is that enough?
No: tare is the one weight the van will never travel at. Compare the van's ATM against the car's braked towing capacity, then check the combination fits under the car's GCM once the car is loaded.
See what your car can tow
Start from your car and see every checked range that fits its limits, or read the weight terms end to end first.