Caravan registration plates

[alanw]

I was wondering if anyone could give me some advice. I am about to buy a new car which will tow our Sprite Alpine 4. I intend to keep our current Nissan Terrano as a second tow car. Does anyone have any suggestions for transferring 2 different car number plates onto the caravan. I have been told that Velcro attached to the van and plates will work, but was wondering if anyone knows of something more permanent to attach to the caravan. I would not want to screw anything to the van as it is only one year old and I do not want to invalidate the warranty. Any advice or comments gratefully accepted. Thanks. Alan.

[Dickers]

Hi alanw, and welcome to the Forum.

As for your question? Mmmmm! Tricky one!

Firstly, the number plate on the caravan must be yellow and the same as the number plate on the towing vehicle. If the number plate on the towing vehicle has the blue panel on the left hand end with the EU symbol, the plate on the caravan has to have it too. If you buy a caravan plate without the blue panel and the car plate has one, you could be in trouble with the boys in blue. So, it follows that, if you are going to use two different cars to tow your caravan, all the number plates would have to have exactly the same general configuration. Obviously, the actual registration numbers would be different.

Now then, as to fixing the number plate to the caravan in a manner which allows easy replacement when you swap cars, Velcro would be the obvious solution. However, this arrangement, while extremely simple and convenient, lends itself to vandalism in the form of having the plate stolen. The adhesive pads used by the motor industry to fix plates are very strong and not meant to come off. In fact, it is extremely difficult to remove plates attached with adhesive pads and, for your purpose, not practical. You could have a look on the internet and see if there are any "slot-in" plate holders, but the "easy to steal" caveat prevails unless you can find some arrangement with some form of locking.

This leaves us with a choice two solutions:-

1. Fix the plate to the caravan using screws. It is suggested that you use some sort of hollow wall fixing with threaded screws rather than twinfast woodscrews or self tapping screws because the constant changing over of the plates would cause the screws to destroy any grip they had in the thin wall of the caravan.

2. Dedicate all towing duties to one car so that only one plate with the appropriate number and general configuration is required.

Not really a solution to your question but the best I can do.

Best regards,

Dickers.

[Trooper]

Hi, welcome to the Forum.

I have never used them but you can get 'Number Plate' holders like some on this web site - www.trailertek.com/acatalog/registrationr_plate_holders.html the holder could be stuck to the rear of the van using the number plate pads that can be bought. I am not recommending these holders or the web site but its worth looking into.

Trooper

[alanw]

Many thanks for the replies. Sounds more complicated than I first thought, especially making sure the number plates match the cars. I will definitely look on the web to see if any holders exist. I will let you all know if I find anything. It may also help someone else in the future. Time to get the van out of storage and sort out the first trip of the year! Thanks again all. Alan.