[piggy]

they offered that but I still couldn't tow the van & I wouldn't be covered by insurance.
holden had it as a GVM of 3150, they dropped it to 2820, the car was rated to tow 3 tonne but the ball weight of my van (only 214kg's) took the car over its legal carrying weight.
Holdens reduction recall reduced the carrying capacity down to 604kg max from stock standard ( & this go's for their new Trailblazer aswell).
they way they work it out for the 7 seat wagon is.
320kg = seating capacity for car (4 x 80kg gives you an average for a 7 seater wagon)
214kg = ball weight of van.
15kg = tow bar.
75kg = fuel (full)
so far that's 624kg (20kg over) without any luggage, roof rack, awning, fridge, dual batteries, bulbar, spotlights ect ect.
They tried to work out ways for me to keep the car & be legally covered by insurance, they came up with :-
# How often do you need 4 people in the car when towing.
# can I take the 3rd row of seats out (saving 20kg's) & leave them out.
# can I load the van so all weight is at the rear to lighten up the ball weight.
# can I put all luggage in the back of the van & not the car.
# can I remove the spare wheel from the car & put it on the back of the van.

I asked Holden how they did it with their Add on TV, where the little kid was sitting in the back of the Colorado 7 wagon towing a big tandem wheel Jayco van across creeks, up hills & out on the HWY overtaking vans saying Bloody caravaners. ?? Because that particular van's ball weight was 20kg more than mine..... 2 days later that add was removed from TV & the new add only shows towing a light boat.
It was a long fight that took about 6 months. At the end of the day I lost out due to Holdens mistake. they only offered to pay me what I had paid for the car & what I had receipts for accessories, with price rises the accessories had gone up by $2000 over the total amt I had on the car & the replacement car had also gone up by over $8000. I managed to negotiate rather than a pay out on the car that they swap me a new top of the range Colorado because I could get $6k more as a trade in on the Ford as I would have got as the car pay out.
So now I have a new Everest that is a blank canvas waiting for the ARB catalogue to be thrown on it.