What You Can Tow on a Car Licence (and the Limit Your Car Sets)

• A car licence passed from 1 January 1997 covers a trailer of up to 3,500kg maximum authorised mass, with vehicle and trailer together capped at 7,000kg.
• The train figure on your car’s VIN plate caps the loaded car and trailer together, and GOV.UK says a car with no train figure on the plate should not tow at all.
• Towing cuts the speed limit to 50mph on single carriageways and 60mph on dual carriageways and motorways.

The Licence Sets One Limit and Your Car Sets Another

Pass the car test from 1 January 1997 and your category B licence takes a trailer rated up to 3,500kg maximum authorised mass (MAM). MAM is the trailer’s mass at its heaviest permitted load, printed in the owner’s manual and usually on a plate or sticker fixed to the trailer or the vehicle. The same rule says the combined MAM of your car and trailer must not exceed 7,000kg.

That 7,000kg ceiling does real work for drivers of zero emission cars. A category B licence from 1997 covers a petrol, diesel or hybrid car up to 3,500kg MAM, but electric and hydrogen cars can reach 4,250kg MAM. A car plated at 4,250kg leaves 2,750kg of trailer under the combined ceiling (7,000 minus 4,250), not the full 3,500kg.

The licence decides what you are permitted to drive. What your car can pull is a separate question, answered by the car itself. Most cars have a maximum tow load, usually listed in the handbook or the specification sheet. Treat the 3,500kg on your licence as the most the law lets you hitch up, and let the handbook say what your car can take.

Your Pass Date Changes the Rule

The licence you hold decides the first limit, and the pass date is the deciding detail.

Drivers who passed before 1 January 1997 usually hold a different entitlement: a car and trailer together up to 8,250kg MAM. Note the shape of that rule. It caps the pair as one combination, where the later rule caps the trailer alone at 3,500kg. These drivers can also take a minibus towing a trailer above 750kg MAM. GOV.UK says to check your driving licence information for the entitlement, and the word usually in the rule leaves room for exceptions. Take an example car with a 2,000kg MAM (an invented figure): 8,250kg combined leaves 6,250kg of trailer on paper. That is a licence allowance, not a tow rating, and the next section explains why the car ends that argument.

Drivers who passed from 1 January 1997 hold the 3,500kg trailer entitlement described above. The GOV.UK guidance calls it category BE, and says that if BE is missing from your physical licence, DVLA adds it the next time you renew.

Then there are older B+E test holders, whose limit follows the BE valid-from date printed on the licence. A date before 19 January 2013 opens the door to a trailer of any size. A date on or after 19 January 2013 brings the cap back to 3,500kg MAM. Both versions of the rule carry the same condition: the trailer must sit inside what the towing vehicle is rated to pull.

Why Your Car’s Train Figure Can Beat Your Licence

The vehicle’s own train figure is the second limit, and it can sit far below what your licence allows. GOV.UK defines it in one sentence: “The gross train weight is the weight of the fully-loaded car plus fully-loaded trailer and must not be exceeded.”

Look for it on the VIN (vehicle identification number) plate, normally found in the engine bay or inside the driver’s door. The plate or sticker can show it as GTW, a figure also sometimes labelled GCW. The handbook or specification sheet is the other place to look.

Here is how it works with an example. These are invented numbers, not a real model. Say the VIN plate lists a train figure of 3,300kg and your fully loaded car comes to 2,100kg. That leaves 1,200kg (3,300 minus 2,100) for the fully loaded trailer. Your licence would let you hitch up a 3,500kg trailer. The car’s plate says the whole outfit stops at 1,200kg of trailer. The train figure must not be exceeded, so the plate wins.

Two details sharpen the check. First, MAM is the mass with the heaviest load the vehicle is rated to carry on the road, so it is a ceiling figure, not what the trailer holds today. Second, a vehicle can be down-plated, which means its plate carries a lower figure than the maker’s potential maximum. GOV.UK describes this for vehicles that will rarely work at full stretch. Read the figure on the plate of your own car and trailer.

The line from GOV.UK that closes the argument is blunt: “If your VIN plate does not list a train weight, you should not use your vehicle for towing.”

Size and Speed Limits Once a Trailer Is Behind You

Mass is not the only measurement. Every trailer, behind any vehicle, is capped at 2.55 metres wide. Behind a vehicle rated at 3,500kg MAM or less, which covers most cars, the trailer can run to 7 metres long. That length is measured without the A-frame, the part that connects your car to the trailer. Heavier towing vehicles, a zero emission car plated above 3,500kg among them, get more room: a 12 metre trailer, 18 metres for the whole combination, and a load that can hang 3.05 metres past the rear of the trailer, whatever the trailer’s length.

Speed limits drop the moment a trailer is attached. A car on its own can do 60mph on single carriageways and 70mph on dual carriageways and motorways. A car towing a caravan or trailer is held to 50mph on single carriageways, 60mph on dual carriageways and 60mph on motorways. That is 10mph off each national limit (60 to 50, 70 to 60, 70 to 60). In built-up areas nothing changes: 30mph in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, 20mph in Wales, with or without a trailer. Breaking a limit brings penalties, and how long penalty points stay on a licence varies by offence.

Councils can also set their own local limits, provided they are clearly signed, so a 50mph sign on a stretch of bends replaces the 60mph national figure. A signed limit still has to be valid to stick, and drivers fined under an invalid limit have routes to challenge the fine. Even the correct limit is only a ceiling: GOV.UK says “The speed limit is the absolute maximum – it does not mean it’s safe to drive at this speed in all conditions.”

Vans follow a different table. Most run to goods vehicle limits for their class, below the car figures. A goods vehicle of up to 7.5 tonnes laden is held to 50mph on single carriageways and 60mph on dual carriageways, and drops from 70mph to 60mph on motorways when it pulls a trailer. Two classes can match the car limits: the car-derived van, at 2 tonnes or less laden, and the dual-purpose vehicle, at 2.04 tonnes or less unladen. A van at those masses can qualify, so find out which class yours sits in before you hitch up.

When a Car Licence Is Not Enough

A combination heavier than your licence allows means stepping up to a lorry entitlement. The sequence is a provisional licence for category C1+E (a medium-sized lorry with a trailer), then the lorry theory test, then the C1+E practical test. Pass all three and the ceiling rises to 12,000kg MAM for vehicle and trailer together. C1 vehicles run from 3,500 to 7,500kg MAM, and C1E adds a trailer above 750kg, still inside that 12,000kg total. Drivers who earn a living mainly at the wheel of a medium-sized lorry take further Driver CPC (Certificate of Professional Competence) tests as well.

Learning to tow well does not need a lorry licence. GOV.UK lists three routes to safe towing courses, caravans and horse boxes included: the National Register of LGV Instructors, the Safe Towing Scheme and Skills for Logistics. The guidance leaves the course content and the fee to each provider and publishes no price, so ask both questions before you book.

The routine before any trip comes down to three lookups. Read your licence information for the pass date and any BE entry. Read the car’s VIN plate or handbook for the train figure and the maximum tow load. Read the trailer’s plate for its MAM. If the numbers fit and the plate shows a train figure, the limits to hold are 50mph on single carriageways and 60mph on dual carriageways and motorways. Anyone caught just over a limit can be offered a speed awareness course, which carries its own cost.

Reviewed by Preetam Gadekar

Sources

• GOV.UK: Towing weight and width limits
• GOV.UK: Towing with a car
• GOV.UK: Driving licence categories
• GOV.UK: Speed limits

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