Towing a trailer with a van on a category B licence

On a category B licence you can tow a trailer of 750 kg GVW at most — or more, if the whole combination stays under 3,500 kg. A 3.5-tonne van uses up that ceiling on its own. Code 96 takes you to 4,250 kg, a BE licence to 7,000 kg. Everything turns on those three figures.

What can I tow on a category B licence in Belgium?

A 750 kg GVW trailer, always. Beyond that, only if tractor and trailer added together stay under 3,500 kg GVW. Those are the only two cases, and the second one is what catches van owners out.

The rule comes from European directive 2006/126/EC on driving licences, transposed into Belgian law. Category B covers a tractor unit of up to 3,500 kg GVW, hitched to a trailer of up to 750 kg GVW. The directive adds a second option: a trailer heavier than 750 kg is allowed as long as the GVW of the combination does not exceed 3,500 kg.

That word, combination, changes everything. It is not the real weight of the convoy on the day of the check, but the sum of the maximum authorised masses written on both registration certificates. An empty van is still a 3,500 kg GVW van in the eyes of the law.

The number that counts: a Ducato, a Master or a Sprinter type-approved at 3,500 kg GVW takes up the entire category B ceiling on its own. Nothing is left for a trailer under the second option — so you fall back to the first one, 750 kg and not a kilo more. FEBIAC, the Belgian automobile and cycle federation, sets out the same rule for commercial vehicles.

A city van flips the picture. A panel-van Berlingo or Kangoo sits around 2,100 to 2,300 kg GVW depending on the version: on a 2,200 kg basis, 1,300 kg of trailer GVW is left before hitting the 3,500 kg ceiling. Enough for a loaded flatbed trailer, on a plain category B licence.

Is code 96 worth anything with a van?

Under a 3.5-tonne van, no. Under a city van or a small MPV-based van, yes, and by a wide margin. This is the point neither driving schools nor dealerships explain, because it takes a subtraction.

Code 96 is an endorsement added to a category B licence after passing a practical test. It lifts the combination ceiling from 3,500 to 4,250 kg, with the trailer allowed to exceed 750 kg. That is the official definition published by Autocontrôle, an approved test centre.

Now do the subtraction with your own vehicle.

That last row is the one costing self-employed tradespeople money. A tradesperson who owns a 3.5-tonne Master and wants to tow a 1,300 kg site trailer is regularly advised to get code 96. He will sit eight hours of driving school and a test for a right strictly identical to the one he already holds. The only useful route for him is the BE licence.

When do you need to move up to a BE licence?

As soon as the combination exceeds 4,250 kg GVW, or as soon as the trailer exceeds 750 kg under a 3.5-tonne van. A BE licence allows a trailer of 750 to 3,500 kg GVW, for a combination capped at 7,000 kg.

For a commercial vehicle, that is nearly always the right answer. A large van plus a plant trailer, a medium van plus a 2-tonne flatbed, a pick-up plus a 1,500 kg caravan: all three fall outside code 96 and into BE territory.

Above 3,500 kg of trailer you move into C1+E, a different matter altogether — professional competence, medical examination, tachograph depending on the use.

How much does the BE or code 96 test cost in Belgium?

€36 at the test centre, plus driving school hours. That is the national rate in force since 1 January 2026, and it is the same for code 96 and for BE — both sit the same practical test.

The detail appears in the schedule of fees published by Autocontrôle, applicable at every test centre in the country.

For comparison, the category B practical test costs €46 and the category B theory test €19. The trailer fee is therefore the cheapest on the scale after mopeds — which is never the expensive part. The real budget is practice: an approved driving school must provide a minimum of eight hours to prepare for the test, and from the third attempt onwards its vehicle becomes compulsory.

There is an alternative: the model 3 provisional licence lets you practise with a supervisor, without going through a school. The first test cannot take place until a month after the provisional licence is issued, and driving is banned between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and the eve of public holidays. On a trailer, my view is clear: the eight school hours are worth their price, because reversing a trailer round a curve is not something you improvise, and that is where the test is won or lost.

What does the trailer practical test involve?

An off-road part, then a run on public roads. Passing the first conditions access to the second, and that pass remains valid for one year.

On the private ground: five manoeuvres and one check — preliminary vehicle checks, reversing in a straight line, reversing round a corner, parking alongside a kerb, reversing up to a loading bay, and hitching and unhitching the trailer. That last one surprises candidates most: it is not about driving, but about showing you can couple and uncouple properly, breakaway cable included.

On a real job site, the mistake we saw most often was not a driving error but a sloppy hitch — breakaway cable not routed, electrical plug hanging loose, jockey wheel left down. A roadside officer spots it at a glance, and so does an examiner.

GVW, train weight, towing capacity: what does my registration certificate actually say?

Three different figures, three ceilings to respect at once, and the lowest one always wins. The licence tells you what you are allowed to tow; the manufacturer tells you what the vehicle can take.

GVW (maximum authorised mass) is the ceiling for the loaded vehicle alone. The GVW of the combination, or gross train weight, is the ceiling for tractor and trailer added together — a type-approval figure specific to the version, not a simple addition of two GVWs. Towing capacity is the manufacturer's technical limit, split into braked and unbraked.

All four appear on the registration certificate and on the manufacturer's plate. They do not always appear in the sales brochure, which happily quotes the figure from the best-equipped version.

A concrete example. Toyota Belgium quotes the Hilux at 3,500 kg braked towing capacity on its diesel versions. That is mechanically true. Administratively, a 3,210 kg GVW Hilux hitched to a 3,500 kg trailer makes a 6,710 kg combination: outside category B, outside code 96, and only just inside BE. The brochure figure and the licence figure are not talking about the same thing, and it is the second one that earns you a summons.

What we would avoid: mentally adding the van GVW to the trailer GVW and assuming you have the gross train weight. On many commercial vehicles the type-approved combination figure is lower than that sum, because the manufacturer caps axle loads or cooling capacity. The only valid source is the vehicle's registration certificate, not a calculator.

Do you need a tachograph or a transport licence to tow?

Not for a tradesperson carrying his own kit with a combination under 3.5 tonnes. Above that the question arises, and the answer depends on the use rather than on the vehicle.

A tachograph becomes compulsory for road haulage as soon as the combination GVW exceeds 3.5 tonnes in hire-and-reward transport, and 7.5 tonnes in own-account transport since the mobility package revision. A self-employed tradesperson moving his own kit between two sites therefore stays outside in the vast majority of cases — but a van-plus-trailer combination climbs to 6 or 7 tonnes GVW quickly, and the threshold is closer than people think.

Transport licensing follows the same logic: it targets hire-and-reward transport, not moving your own tools. For a borderline case — subcontracting, invoiced deliveries, hiring out the vehicle with a driver — the FPS Mobility and Transport is the source to check before buying the trailer, not after.

What do you risk by towing without the right category?

Far more than a traffic fine. Driving a combination without holding the required category is not an on-the-spot matter: it is a criminal offence.

The text provides for a fine of €200 to €2,000, to which statutory multipliers apply — €1,600 to €16,000 in practice — together with a possible driving ban imposed by the police court. The public prosecutor, and since 2014 the police themselves in certain cases, can order an immediate licence withdrawal.

The real risk lies elsewhere. Insurance. A driver without the required category falls outside the terms of the policy: the insurer compensates the victim, then seeks recovery from the driver. On a personal-injury accident involving a 2-tonne trailer, the bill bears no relation to a traffic ticket.

Add the practical consequence: a non-compliant combination is immobilised at the roadside until a qualified driver comes out, or the trailer is unhitched and left there. Half a day lost and a job pushed back.

Our verdict

In twelve years of fleet management, trailers were where I saw the most decisions taken back to front: buy the flatbed, then discover the licence. The useful reflex takes thirty seconds — pull out the tractor unit's registration certificate, read the GVW, subtract from 3,500 and then from 4,250. The result tells you whether you need a test, and which one.

For a self-employed driver in a city van who tows occasionally, code 96 is a good investment: €36 of fees, eight hours of practice, and 750 kg of extra trailer for life. For a 3.5-tonne van or a tradesperson's pick-up, there is no question: it is BE or nothing, and better to know before signing the order form. If you are still choosing the vehicle, the van comparator sorts on real payload and volume, our guide to payload on a category B licence covers weight carried rather than towed, and the Belgian van guide places city vans, medium vans, large vans and pick-ups side by side.

Sources: directive 2006/126/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on driving licences; Autocontrôle — approved test centre (conduct of the BE / B + code 96 practical test, and schedule of fees in force since 1 January 2026); FEBIAC — Belgian automobile and cycle federation (what licence do I need to drive a commercial vehicle); FPS Mobility and Transport; Toyota Belgium (Hilux braked towing capacity, consulted on 19 August 2026). The vehicle GVW figures quoted are orders of magnitude by body size: always check the value on your own vehicle's registration certificate.