Towing Car Trailers - Towing Capacity - Trailer Licence - BE Licence -

Towing Car Trailers

Before you hit the road towing a car trailer, you should satisfy yourself that your driving licence covers you to drive your combination of towing vehicle and trailer. Here , we show you how to learn of your vehicles towing capacity and how to determing the max trailer you can legally tow

Stay legal with our Easy 2 Step online trailer weight calculator.

We have created this online towing calculator so you can easily figure out what you are allowed to tow with your vehicle, with your B or BE Licence.

VIN Plate

Locate your towing vehicle’s VIN Plate…usually located on the door pillar or in the engine compartment.

DGVW…….This is the top figure ….Kg (Design Gross Vehicle Weight )

DGCW……This is the second figure …..Kg from the top (Design Gross Combined Weight)

Enter these two figures in the form below , DGVW & DGCW so you can determine what trailer DGVW you are allowed to tow with your licence.

5 Examples


Small Car : Mini

When we input DGVW @ 1510 & DGCW @ 2210 in the form’s top fields , we are given a Trailer DGVW max allowance of 700 Kg…This is the Max Trailer for either a B or BE licence that can be towed with this car.


Medium Car: Nissan Qashqai

When we input DGVW @ 1955 & DGCW @ 3405 in the form’s top fields , we are given a Trailer DGVW max allowance of 1450 Kg…This is the Max Trailer for either a B or BE licence that can be towed with this car.. See more details on this here.


VW Caddy Van

When we input DGVW @ 2161 & DGCW @ 3650 in the form’s top fields , we are given a Trailer DGVW max allowance of 1489 Kg on a BE licence and 1339 Kg on a B Licence that can be towed with this van. See more details on this here.


Large Car : Volvo XC 90

When we input DGVW @ 2740 & DGCW @ 4990 in the form’s top fields , we are given a Trailer DGVW max allowance of 2250 Kg on a BE licence and 760 Kg on a B Licence that can be towed with this car.

Large Car : VW Touareg

When we input DGVW @ 2945 & DGCW @ 6445 in the form’s top fields , we are given a Trailer DGVW max allowance of 3500 Kg on a BE licence and 550 Kg on a B Licence that can be towed with this car.

Many people would assume that you can tow a 750Kg single axle trailer on a regular B licence. However , here we see that on a B licence , the max trailer DGVW that can be towed with a VW Touareg is 550 Kg

On many vehicles, this black sticker showing the towing weights is located on the centre door pillar on either side of the vehicle which is very accessible. However, in the case of this VW Touareg, it is located on the rear bulkhead of the engine compartment.


You are not limited to a single axle 750Kg trailer on a B licence

As you can see from the examples above, the primary determining factor in what you can tow on your licence…is the towing vehicle’s capacity……This key information is on the vehicle’s VIN plate. Enter the VIN plate details of your car in the form above to see what you can tow.

Trailer’s VIN Plate

Each trailer also has a VIN plate attached, signifying its DGVW. The trailer you attach to your towing vehicle should not have a DGVW (Design Gross Vehicle Weight) in excess of what your towing vehicle and licence combination will allow you to legally tow.

There is a misconception that on a B licence, you are limited to towing a 750 Kg Single axle trailer. As you can see from the examples above, with many vehicles you can tow much more than 750 Kg on a B licence. ….If for example you were allowed to tow 1400Kg……you could choose a single axle or double Axle trailer up to a DGVW of 1400 Kg.

Trailer DGVW

This DGVW (Design Gross vehicle weight ) is a very important term and is the KG figure on the trailer’s VIN Plate.

If you are allowed to tow a trailer of DGVW 1400Kg…..you can tow a trailer which has its VIN showing a DGVW of up to 1400Kg………whether the trailer is completely empty or laden with a full load bringing its total weight (empty trailer weight + its load ) up to 1400Kg……..You cannot tow a trailer with a DGVW shown on its VIN plate over 1400Kg…even if it is empty !

We can supply all Saris trailers in a range of DGVW’s to suit your vehicle and licence combination, so you are towing legally. We can fit the appropriate VIN plate to your new Saris trailer and issue you with a corresponding Certificate of Conformity.

Saris DV 2000

For example, we can supply a Saris DV2000 , Twin axle , 8’4″ x 4′ 4″ braked trailer with a Vin Plate of DGVW anywhere in the range of 1100Kg to 2000Kg ( at 50 Kg intervals ) to suit your particular towing vehicle.

With a B licence, you can legally tow this trailer with many vehicles.

Disclaimer

This online weight calculator is intended to help you in determining what trailer you can tow legally. We have made every effort to ensure that its results are correct. However it is your responsibility to ensure that its result is in accordance with the road traffic regulations.

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