Towing 101: The terms you should know

Over the years Tows 2 Go have gone from strength to strength, growing our fleet of trucks and services to offer our Gold Coast customers the very best towing service. As well as being dedicated to reliability, professionalism and honesty, we like to educate our customers about safe towing. So, to help you improve your towing knowledge, here are some simple towing terms and what they mean.

Towing

Towing refers to pulling an item or other vehicle behind a tow vehicle, typically with tow ball hitch trailer or another similar device.

Conventional towing

Conventional towing refers to towing utilising the tow ball on the back of a vehicle in compliance with the tow vehicle’s weight limitations as opposed to unconventional towing methods (such as tethering to the tow’s vehicles chassis or body).

Towing capability

Before towing a heavy load, you should always check how much your vehicle is capable of towing. To calculate towing capability, check the specified value from your vehicle’s manufacturer (it is usually featured on a sticker inside the driver’s door or in the owner’s manual).

Curb weight

Curb weight is the weight of your vehicle without any added liquids, supports or additions. In other words, the minimum weight of your vehicle.

Payload capacity

A payload refers to the maximum weight that your vehicle can handle internally, including your curb weight, passengers’ weight, and cargo weight.

Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (GVWR)

Your Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (or GVWR) is the opposite of your curb weight and refers to the maximum amount your vehicle can weigh while remaining operable. This weight includes all passengers, fluids, accompaniments, cargo and the tongue weight of the trailer (between 9 and 15 percent of the gross trailer weight).
If you aren’t sure if you can tow an item or vehicle, don’t risk it! If you need something towed, then contact Tows 2 Go. With years of experience and a large fleet at our disposal, we offer a range of Gold Coast based towing services, including machinery towing, car carrier towing, prestige car towing and interstate towing.