How to Prepare Your Caravan for Interstate Towing

An interstate move takes a lot of planning. While your removal company manages your home's contents, you also have to work out how to get your vehicles across the country. Your car may not be a problem if you decide to drive to your new home, but your caravan may be more of an issue. You may not want to tow your caravan on an interstate move, or you may already plan to put a trailer behind your car to hold personal and valuable items. To make things easier, you may have booked interstate transport with a local towing company.

While the company can get your caravan to your new home, you can't just have it picked up and driven off. Before you hand your caravan over, you need to make it ready to tow across states. What do you need to do?

Remove Problem Items

States all have different rules about what you can and can't bring in from other areas. This most often applies to anything that is dangerous. Some states also have specific rules on whether you can bring in certain types of food and plants. So, to be on the safe side, go through your caravan and remove the following:

• Anything that is flammable, such as gas canisters or aerosols.
• Any plants you have in the caravan.
• Any food you store, whether it is fresh or in cans or jars.

Your caravan will be on the road for a while, so it's also worth taking out anything that is financially or sentimentally valuable. Towing companies take good care of their vehicles, but there is still a small risk that someone may break in if they get the chance.

Make the Exterior Safe

To avoid damage, remove any accessories that you've added to the caravan. For example, take off aerials and antennas. Then, make sure that all your windows and doors are firmly closed and locked where possible. And finally, if your caravan is a bit dirty, wash it. Then take photos of it from all angles. This may help if anything happens later to damage the vehicle. Photos of a clean caravan give you a clear record of its condition before it was towed off. If anything were to happen, you can use these photos to prove that damage was caused in transit.

Towing companies may have extra rules about preparing vehicles for an interstate move. To make sure you get everything right, check with the transport service you've decided to use.