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Motoring
Driving motorhomes
Are you thinking of buying or hiring a motorhome (motor caravan) to get to your holiday destination? Or maybe you want to import one from another country. Before you decide you'll need to check the categories on your driving licence and the size of motorhome you are going to drive.
Check your driving licence before you drive
Maximum authorised mass
Total weight of a vehicle plus anything it can carry safely
You'll need to make sure your driving licence has the right vehicle category, for you to drive a motorhome.
Category B
With this category on your driving licence you can drive vehicles with a maximum authorised mass (MAM) of up to 3500 kilograms (kg), with eight passenger seats, and with a trailer no heavier than 750kg.
It’s also possible to tow a trailer heavier than 750kg if the MAM of the vehicle and trailer together is no more than 3500kg. The trailer must also be lighter than the vehicle towing it.
To tow a heavier trailer than mentioned above you'll need category B+E.
Category C1
With this category you can drive vehicles with a MAM over 3500kg but less than 7500kg with a trailer no heavier than 750kg. To tow a heavier trailer you'll need category C1+E.
Category C
With this category you can drive vehicles with a MAM over 3500kg with a trailer no heavier than 750kg. To tow a trailer that weighs more than 750kg you'll need category C+E.
The size of the motorhome
The biggest motorhome you can drive in Great Britain is 12m long and 2.55m wide. There is no height limit but if the motorhome is over 3m tall the height must be on a notice visible to you as the driver.
If there is a need for you to measure the vehicle there are some parts that you don't need included in your measurements.
When measuring the length don't include the:
- driving mirrors
- rearward projecting buffers made of rubber or other resilient material
When measuring the width don't include the:
- driving mirrors
- lamps
- reflectors
- distortion in tyres due to loading
More useful links
In this section...
- Driving a minibus
- Driving larger goods vehicles (LGV) on a car driving licence
- Driving passenger carrying vehicles (PCV) on a car driving licence
- How to add higher categories to your driving licence (staging and upgrading)
- Information codes on your driving licence
- Minibus and community bus permits
- Vehicle weights explained
- Vehicles you can drive and how old you must be to drive them
- Your driving conduct for larger vehicles, minibuses or buses
Additional links
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