Who loves heading away on a holiday with the family? There is nothing quite like locking the house door and finally realising you’ve fed the cat, watered the pot plants and packed the car. Now you turn to face your pride and joy, fully laden with three teenagers in the back, your beautiful wife in the front passenger seat, and the boot and roof rack packed to the hilt; let’s not forget Fido the dog squeezed in under your youngest teenager’s feet who, by the time you have rounded the first corner, has made his presence felt requiring the opening of the rear windows. This, my friends, is holiday journeying at its finest. However, what is important to think about at this point is what the manufacturer says your vehicle’s gross mass limit is. It might be the safest and wisest option to take a trailer and not only put pooch in the trailer but the luggage on the roof. A vehicle’s gross mass, as nominated by the manufacturer or road authority, is the total permissible mass for your vehicle when it is fully equipped, including occupants, luggage and roof rack load.

The abbreviation for Gross Vehicle Mass is GVM, and is a limit that needs to be adhered to so that oncoming traffic, and you and your occupants are not put in unnecessary danger. Overloaded motor vehicles are dangerous on the road. A motor vehicle is much more likely to become out of control if driven beyond the gross vehicle mass limit.We hope that helps answer the question ‘What is What is Gross Vehicle Mass?’!

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