Contact us

Weight Information

Important information on vehicle weights

Owning a motorhome gives you the fantastic opportunity to travel whenever you wish. When choosing and configuring your motorhome, in addition to selecting the right layout and an appealing design, you should also take into account the factors that affect how you can use your vehicle — and weight plays a key role. In particular, you must ensure that the motorhome has sufficient payload (i.e. the remaining available weight for personal luggage, etc.) so that, depending on your individual needs, you can take friends, family, optional equipment, accessories and extras with you and enjoy your journey safely.

Below, we provide some important information to help you understand:

  • why the weight of your motorhome is so important;
  • how you should take vehicle weight into account when making your purchase decision;
  • how you can enjoy travelling in your motorhome without exceeding legal limits.

Please note: The type-approval technical data for the models offered for sale are provided for guidance only, as these data may vary depending on the vehicle variant/model you choose, as well as the optional equipment and packages you wish to have installed in your motorhome.

Our authorised dealer and importer network has the expertise required to advise you when making your selection according to your individual needs. If in doubt, dealers and importers are also in direct contact with the manufacturer’s technical departments.

Important: The actual payload available in your vehicle (and therefore the remaining available weight for personal luggage, etc.) depends directly on the intended use and the weight of the planned load — including the actual number of passengers (adults or children). For your own safety, this weight must be distributed appropriately according to the layout of your vehicle and must never result in the technically permissible maximum laden mass (TPMLM) for which type approval was granted being exceeded (see detailed information below).

UNDERSTANDING WEIGHT AND TECHNICAL TERMS FOR MOTORHOMES

1. Technically permissible maximum laden mass (TPMLM)

The TPMLM is the maximum permissible total weight of the motorhome specified by the manufacturer. This figure can be found in the technical data (e.g. 3,500 kg, 4,250 kg, 4,400 kg). The TPMLM must not be exceeded while driving. Otherwise, fines may be imposed in many European countries, including Germany. As the driver, you are responsible for ensuring compliance with the TPMLM. We therefore recommend checking your vehicle before setting off and, if in doubt, having it weighed.

2. Mass in running order

The mass in running order stated on the Certificate of Conformity (CoC) is determined as follows:

  • the unladen weight of the vehicle, including bodywork and operating fluids such as lubricants, oils, coolant and exhaust after-treatment fluid;
  • standard equipment: all equipment items included as standard in the vehicle’s factory specification;
  • the fresh-water tank, filled to 100% for driving in accordance with the manufacturer’s specifications (i.e. 10 l or 20 l);
  • one aluminium gas cylinder weighing between 6 kg and 20 kg;
  • the weight of the fuel tank and the fuel it contains, filled to 90% of its capacity;
  • the statutory driver weight, set at 75 kg.

Information on the mass in running order established during the type-approval procedure can be found in the technical data for the relevant vehicle. Please note that after completion of the manufacturing process, this mass in running order may vary by -/+ 5% from the nominal value stated in the CoC (maximum permissible production tolerance). As these variations affect the vehicle’s remaining payload (i.e. the remaining available weight for personal luggage, etc.), the possibility of legally permitted deviations must already be taken into account when configuring the vehicle and selecting packages and optional equipment.

Naturally, we continuously monitor our manufacturing processes in order to keep any production-related deviations — resulting, for example, from weight fluctuations in individual components or weather conditions (e.g. humidity) — as low as possible. Despite all our efforts, however, production-related deviations cannot be completely ruled out. For this reason, the actual mass in running order of every motorhome we manufacture is checked at the end of the production line.

3. Mass of passengers

The number of belted seats (including the driver) is determined by the manufacturer as part of the type-approval procedure. A statutory weight of 75 kg is assigned to each passenger. When calculating the mass of passengers, the driver’s mass is not included because it is already included in the motorhome’s mass in running order.

Example: For a motorhome with four belted seats (including the driver), the mass of passengers is 3 × 75 kg = 225 kg.

Please note that choosing certain equipment packages and optional equipment may reduce the number of belted seats or require an increase in the vehicle’s permissible maximum mass (where possible).

4. Optional equipment

Under the applicable legal provisions, optional equipment means any equipment that is not part of the motorhome’s standard basic specification and that is installed by the manufacturer at the customer’s request (e.g. solar panel, awning, oven, satellite system).

The weight of such optional equipment offered for sale by the manufacturer is listed in the technical data.

However, this optional equipment does not include additional equipment items (accessories) that are either offered for sale by your local dealer or fitted to the vehicle by you. Please also note that the weight of these additional equipment items also reduces the vehicle’s remaining payload (the remaining available weight for personal luggage, etc.) — see section 6 below.

5. Actual mass of the vehicle

The actual mass of the vehicle is not the same as the motorhome’s actual measured weight.

Rather, it refers to the mass of the vehicle in running order plus the mass of the optional equipment ordered by the customer and installed in the motorhome by the manufacturer.

Please note that the actual mass of the vehicle stated in section 13.2 of the CoC is a calculated value derived from the relevant type approval and not the individual vehicle’s weight. It should also be borne in mind that the vehicle’s actual measured weight may differ from the mass in running order due to possible production-related weight tolerances (see section 2 above).

6. Payload and minimum payload

Payload refers to the maximum load that a vehicle can carry. It is calculated by subtracting the following from the TPMLM:

  • the mass in running order;
  • the mass of passengers;
  • the mass of packages (optional equipment) and additional equipment items (accessories) — see section 4.

When defining the design characteristics of a motorhome, the manufacturer must distribute the TPMLM across the vehicle’s axles. In this context, motorhomes must have and distribute a legally required minimum payload (MP), determined as follows:

MP in kg ≥ 10 (n + L)

Where:

  • “n” = the maximum number of approved seats including the driver;
  • “L” = the total length of the vehicle in metres.

The minimum payload is the legally required remaining free weight in a motorhome that is available for individual loading, such as personal luggage, clothing, food and equipment.

Example: For a motorhome measuring 7 m in length and with 4 seats approved for travel (i.e. 3 passengers plus the driver), the minimum payload is 10 kg × (4 + 7) = 110 kg.

When selecting optional equipment, care must therefore be taken to ensure that the sum of the mass in running order, the mass of passengers and the mass of optional equipment:

  • does not exceed the technically permissible maximum laden mass (TPMLM);
  • does not reduce the available payload below the minimum payload.

Example: For a vehicle 7 m long, with 4 seats approved for travel (i.e. 3 passengers plus the driver), a technically permissible maximum laden mass of 3,500 kg and packages/optional equipment weighing 100 kg:

(a) the minimum payload is 110 kg (10 kg × (4 + 7));

(b) the vehicle’s remaining payload (i.e. the remaining available weight for personal luggage, etc.), with no production-related deviation in the mass in running order, is:

  • 3,500 kg — technically permissible maximum laden mass
  • minus 2,910 kg — mass in running order
  • minus 225 kg (3 × 75 kg) — mass of passengers
  • minus 100 kg — mass of packages / optional equipment
  • = 265 kg — remaining payload (remaining available weight for personal luggage, etc.)

(c) the vehicle’s remaining payload (remaining available weight for personal luggage, etc.) with a production-related deviation of +3% in the mass in running order is:

  • 3,500 kg — technically permissible maximum laden mass
  • minus 2,997.3 kg — mass in running order (with a production-related deviation of +3% within the permitted tolerance of -/+ 5%)
  • minus 225 kg (3 × 75 kg) — mass of passengers
  • minus 100 kg — mass of packages / optional equipment
  • = 177.7 kg — remaining payload (remaining available weight for personal luggage, etc.)

7. Conclusion

When configuring and planning your motorhome, you will need to make compromises with regard to vehicle weight.

The combination of optional equipment that you can order for each model variant of a motorhome can theoretically be determined on the basis of the nominal type-approval values as follows:

Example: For a vehicle 7 m long, with 4 seats approved for travel (i.e. 3 passengers plus the driver) and a technically permissible maximum laden mass of 3,500 kg:

  • 3,500 kg — technically permissible maximum laden mass
  • minus 2,900 kg — mass in running order
  • minus 3 × 75 kg (225 kg) — mass of passengers
  • minus 110 kg — minimum payload (see calculation in section 6)
  • = 265 kg — maximum permissible mass of packages and additional equipment items

Finally, when selecting optional equipment, please note that the mass in running order may be subject during the manufacturing process to permitted variations of -/+ 5%. Such a variation therefore affects the vehicle’s payload and thus the remaining available weight for personal luggage, etc., and may reduce the maximum permissible mass of optional equipment.

The actual weight of a completed motorhome can also only be determined by weighing it at the end of the production line. In exceptional cases, such a weighing may show that the vehicle’s actual payload (remaining available weight for personal luggage, etc.) is below the minimum payload due to permitted deviations of -/+ 5% in the mass in running order. In such a case, before delivery of your motorhome, we will carefully assess together with you and your dealer whether your vehicle should be uprated, the number of approved travel seats reduced (provided the type approval allows such a change and you are licensed to drive such a heavy vehicle), or optional equipment removed.

With all this information regarding motorhome weight and permissible maximum mass, you are now ready to configure your motorhome with the help of your local dealer and set off safely on your next motorhome journey.

Note: Since June 2022, weight information and checks for motorhomes have been governed by EU Implementing Regulation No. 2021/535; previously, the provisions of EU Implementing Regulation No. 1230/2012 applied.