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Hi everyone.

Is it compulsary to have a spare wheel for your caravan whilst in France ??

Cheers

...Alot of cars dont even seem to have them these days,new Galaxy,New Zafira,Tourans to name some.

Havn,t a clue about vans though.

Oh my Gawd...the thought of going anywhere without a spare wheel for both car and caravan (or in my case, trailer tent) sends shivers down my spine. If you don't have a spare wheel and you get a blow-out, what on earth would you do?????

Apart from that when the very nice RAC man turned up to change our TT wheel for us last year (we were being lazy about unpacking the whole car to find the jack after the tyre blew) he said that under most non-caravan/trailer cover, if your car broke down and was uinrepairable on the roadside they would tow both car and trailer/van home. But if your trailer/van broke down and was unrepairable and you didn't have specific van/trailer cover then you would have to arrange rescue of it yourself. As we had a spare wheel he changed it for us in nanoseconds, then directed us to a tyre company twenty miles away so we could pick up a new spare asap. If another tyre had gone in that twenty miles we would have been up the proverbial s**t creek.

Be sensible...just take a spare. You know it makes sense!!

for all the cost

its not worth the risk

We had a blowout last year - and were very glad indeed that we had a spare. We changed the wheel ourselves, and saved ourselves a fortune.   Our roadside assistance wouldn't have covered us for a blowout on the van - as mentioned above, and the call-out and recovery fees would have been enormous.

DON'T EVEN THINK OF GOING TO FRANCE WITHOUT ONE!

Why wouldn't anyone have a spare?

We couldn't even buy a new tyre for our van anywhere from Burgundy north.  No-one had the required size in stock - and couldn't get one for us before our ferry, so we just carried on - and hoped that the spare would get us safely home.

Don't risk it.  I've put a photo on my gallery of the damaged tyre - not a pretty site and no way any gel or 'puncture prevention' could have helped!

It's not a legal requirement to carry a spare for anything whether on a motorway or not. However if you carry a spare it must be legal and ready to use.

Personally the thought of travelling without a spare is mind blowing.

As a point of interest, 13 inch tyres are not a standard size in France, they are special order only, usually being sent out from the UK.

As someone else said, we don't have a spare wheel for our car - new Zaffira. I must say it does worry me if we were to get a blow out - I doubt if the foam (supplied by vauxhall with the car) would repair it - so would have to be towed off somewhere.

However when camping we really don't have the space to put a spare in the boot.

Certainly when we buy our next car I will make sure it comes with a spare wheel.