Trailer License.

McP2011

Not sure if this is the right section but anyways, do you have to do a test in order to be able to pull a trailer with a car/van? Its not marked on my license so what do I have to do in order to get it?

Thanks.

slimjimmc

It very much depends on the size of trailer. For a trailer that weighs less than 750kg (fully loaded) your normal EB category licence is fine. Any bigger and you need to do the test with a trailer.
link

guil

EB is for a trailer, anything under 750kg gross you can pull on a B but anything over 750kg gross needs EB

dougie-lampkin

slimjimmc wrote: »

It very much depends on the size of trailer. For a trailer that weighs less than 750kg (fully loaded) your normal EB category licence is fine. Any bigger and you need to do the test with a trailer.
link

No. EB is also the full trailer licence.

guil wrote: »

EB is for a trailer, anything under 750kg gross you can pull on a B but anything over 750kg gross needs EB

And no. I can pull a 900 kg trailer on a B licence with my Punto. And if I happened to own a Transit or similar sized van I could pull a 1500 kg trailer on my B licence.

http://www.rsa.ie/en/RSA/Your-Vehicle/About-your-Vehicle/Example-of-non-Dup/Trailers-/Technical-Trailer-Requirements-/

guil

haha i always forget about the second bit but you're right

McP2011

Ill get a look at those links when I'm home, its a twin axle transporter I'm pulling with probably a berlingo.

somefeen

dougie-lampkin wrote: »

No. EB is also the full trailer licence.



And no. I can pull a 900 kg trailer on a B licence with my Punto. And if I happened to own a Transit or similar sized van I could pull a 1500 kg trailer on my B licence.

http://www.rsa.ie/en/RSA/Your-Vehicle/About-your-Vehicle/Example-of-non-Dup/Trailers-/Technical-Trailer-Requirements-/

So take an Isuzu D-max or Landrover Defender which I think are both rated to tow about 3.5ton.
Say the vehicle unladen weight is 2tons. Does that mean I could load the jeep up with a 1.5 ton and tow 3.5ton on the trailer with an EB licence even though the total weight of jeep + trailer is 7tons?

CiniO

slimjimmc wrote: »

It very much depends on the size of trailer. For a trailer that weighs less than 750kg (fully loaded) your normal EB category licence is fine. Any bigger and you need to do the test with a trailer.
link

I think you meant "normal B category licence"... Not EB.

CiniO

dougie-lampkin wrote: »

And no. I can pull a 900 kg trailer on a B licence with my Punto.

That's most likely right. (I said most likely because I'm not sure if Punto is designed to pull 900kg trailers, but licence-wise you are allright).

And if I happened to own a Transit or similar sized van I could pull a 1500 kg trailer on my B licence.

For the above to be true, you would need to have a transit with GVW (Gross vehicle weight) of 2ton. I thought most transit would be way over that.

CiniO

somefeen wrote: »

So take an Isuzu D-max or Landrover Defender which I think are both rated to tow about 3.5ton.
Say the vehicle unladen weight is 2tons. Does that mean I could load the jeep up with a 1.5 ton and tow 3.5ton on the trailer with an EB licence even though the total weight of jeep + trailer is 7tons?

With EB licence (car + trailer) you surely could.
With normal B car licence, you can't.

dougie-lampkin

somefeen wrote: »

So take an Isuzu D-max or Landrover Defender which I think are both rated to tow about 3.5ton.
Say the vehicle unladen weight is 2tons. Does that mean I could load the jeep up with a 1.5 ton and tow 3.5ton on the trailer with an EB licence even though the total weight of jeep + trailer is 7tons?

You can tow a trailer with a DGVW less than the unladen weight of the towing vehicle, once the combination weight doesn't exceed 3.5 ton. So if the jeep weighs 2000 kg you can only pull a trailer with a max DGVW of 1500 kg. If the jeep is rated to tow 3500 kg you could load 1500 kg less the GVW of the trailer into the jeep itself. So if the trailer weighed in at 750 kg with your load on it, you could still carry another 750 kg in the jeep. This is all with the standard B licence.

The EB covers you to tow any trailer with a DGVW up to 3.5 ton once the actual GVW doesn't exceed the rated towing capacity of the car/jeep.

CiniO wrote: »

That's most likely right. (I said most likely because I'm not sure if Punto is designed to pull 900kg trailers, but licence-wise you are allright).

The Punto is rated to pull 1000 kg braked, even though it weighs in or around 950 kg (I could be wrong, I don't have any NCT reports for the car which would show the unladen weight). So an EB licence would only let me pull an extra 50 kg or so (and then the trailer can have any DGVW once the actual weight is below 1000 kg).

CiniO wrote: »

For the above to be true, you would need to have a transit with GVW (Gross vehicle weight) of 2ton. I thought most transit would be way over that.

I looked up a random transit unladen weight when I posted that, and it said 1400-2000 kg, so I just picked a random number. If you had a standard B licence, ideally you'd want a transit with an unladen weight of 1750 kg (one of the HR or LWB combinations?), allowing you to tow a trailer with a design weight of 1750 kg, and still leaving room for whatever the transit is rated to carry in the back :pac:

CiniO

dougie-lampkin wrote: »

You can tow a trailer with a DGVW less than the unladen weight of the towing vehicle, once the combination weight doesn't exceed 3.5 ton. So if the jeep weighs 2000 kg you can only pull a trailer with a max DGVW of 1500 kg. If the jeep is rated to tow 3500 kg you could load 1500 kg less the GVW of the trailer into the jeep itself. So if the trailer weighed in at 750 kg with your load on it, you could still carry another 750 kg in the jeep. This is all with the standard B licence.

The EB covers you to tow any trailer with a DGVW up to 3.5 ton once the actual GVW doesn't exceed the rated towing capacity of the car/jeep.



The Punto is rated to pull 1000 kg braked, even though it weighs in or around 950 kg (I could be wrong, I don't have any NCT reports for the car which would show the unladen weight). So an EB licence would only let me pull an extra 50 kg or so (and then the trailer can have any DGVW once the actual weight is below 1000 kg).



I looked up a random transit unladen weight when I posted that, and it said 1400-2000 kg, so I just picked a random number. If you had a standard B licence, ideally you'd want a transit with an unladen weight of 1750 kg (one of the HR or LWB combinations?), allowing you to tow a trailer with a design weight of 1750 kg, and still leaving room for whatever the transit is rated to carry in the back :pac:

It's all nearly correct, but you are making one small (but very important) mistake.

According to what you are saying, limitations on B licence are as follows:
1. trailer gross weight (with load) must not exceed unladen vehicle weight.
2. total combination weight of unladen vehicle + gross trailer weight must not exceed 3.5tonnes.

Point 2 is incorrect, as it should be as follows:
2. total combination of gross vehicle weight and gross trailer weight must not exceed 3.5 tonnes.


So you are assuming, that with transit of unladen weight 1750kg you can tow 1750kg gross weight trailer. That's not true.

Assume you have vehicle which unladen weights 1500kg, while his max gross vehicle weight is 2500kg. In that case max trailer you can tow is 1000kg, as combination of max gross vehicle weight and max gross trailer weight is 3500kg in that case which is maximum.

Only exception to tow a set which GVW is greater than 3500kg is when you tow a 750kg trailer. That kind of trailer can be towed even by vehicles with GVW of 3500kg, so the total set gross weight is 4250kg.


Here's appropriate law:

7. (1) A combination of vehicles which consists of a drawing vehicle and a trailer shall, for the purpose of these Regulations, be regarded as a vehicle -


(a) in category B, where the drawing vehicle is in category B and the design gross vehicle weight of the trailer does not exceed the unladen weight of the drawing vehicle and the total design gross vehicle weight of the combination does not exceed 3,500 kg,


(b) in category B, C1, C, D1 or D, where the drawing vehicle is in category B, C1, C, D1, or D, respectively, and the design gross vehicle weight of the trailer does not exceed 750 kg, or

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/2006/en/si/0537.html



Obviously we are talking about using B licence, as with EB there isn't limitations like that. Only limit is a max trailer weights specified by towing vehicle manufacturer.