{"id":10295,"date":"2017-11-02T16:01:54","date_gmt":"2017-11-02T16:01:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/?p=10295"},"modified":"2017-11-22T17:50:58","modified_gmt":"2017-11-22T17:50:58","slug":"uk-van-and-pickup-speed-limits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/archives\/10295","title":{"rendered":"UK van and pickup speed limits"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_10270\" style=\"width: 660px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-10270\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-10270\" src=\"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/zipcar-petrol-vw-01-sm.jpg\" alt=\"Zipcar petrol-powered VW Transporter in London\" width=\"650\" height=\"389\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/zipcar-petrol-vw-01-sm.jpg 650w, https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/zipcar-petrol-vw-01-sm-300x180.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/zipcar-petrol-vw-01-sm-624x373.jpg 624w, https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/zipcar-petrol-vw-01-sm-50x30.jpg 50w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 650px) 100vw, 650px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-10270\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Did you know that the speed limits for a standard rental van like this one are lower than for a car?<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Most drivers know the speed limits for cars, but how many occasional van drivers realise that van speed limits are lower than for cars?<\/p>\n<p>With <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/archives\/9584\">speeding fines on the up<\/a>, it doesn&#8217;t pay to get caught out &#8212; ignorance is no excuse in the eye of the law.<\/p>\n<p>You can find speed limits for all types of vehicle at\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.gov.uk\/speed-limits\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/speed-limits<\/a>, but we&#8217;ve provided the main limits* needed for vans and pickups below.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The UK van speed limits for the majority of vans are:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Single carriageways:\u00a0<strong>50mph<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Dual carriageways:\u00a0<strong>60mph<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Motorways:\u00a0<strong>70mph<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>These speed limits apply to almost all vans.<\/p>\n<p>Certainly all standard &#8216;Transit&#8217; type vans are covered by these limits. So are most smaller models, such as the Volkswagen Caddy\/Ford Transit Connect\/Citroen Berlingo.<\/p>\n<h2>Are there any exceptions?<\/h2>\n<p>Under UK law, two types of vehicle are exempt from these limits:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Car-derived vans<\/li>\n<li>Dual-purpose vehicles<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Speed limits for these vehicles are the same as for cars:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Single carriageways: 60mph<\/li>\n<li>Dual carriageways: 70mph<\/li>\n<li>Motorways: 70mph<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>But how do you know if you&#8217;ve got this type of vehicle?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Car-derived vans:\u00a0<\/strong>Very few vans qualify as car-derived vans anymore. According to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/publications\/car-derived-vans-and-dual-purpose-vehicles\/car-derived-vans-and-dual-purpose-vehicles\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">gov.uk<\/a>, a car-derived van must:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Weigh no more than two tonnes (2,000kg) when fully loaded.<\/li>\n<li>Be based on a car design or built on a platform that was developed to be used for cars.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>As a general rule, the only vehicles which qualify as car-derived vans are models such as the Ford Fiesta Van, Vauxhall Corsa Van, etc.<\/p>\n<p>There are some other van models built on car platforms, but in many cases their maximum laden weight is more than 2,000kg, so they don&#8217;t qualify.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Dual-purpose vehicles:\u00a0<\/strong>These fall into two main categories &#8212; <strong>pickups<\/strong> and <strong>crew vans<\/strong> (also known as kombi vans or double-cab vans).<\/p>\n<p>The definition that applies to <strong>all<\/strong> dual-purpose vehicles is:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>They must weigh no more than 2,040kg when\u00a0<em>unladen<\/em>.<\/li>\n<li>They should be designed to carry both passengers and goods<\/li>\n<li>They must have <strong>either<\/strong> four-wheel drive <strong>or<\/strong> at least one row of seats behind the driver, complete with side and rear windows.<\/li>\n<li>This is technical: the vehicle must have the correct ratio of passenger space to load area. For details on this, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.legislation.gov.uk\/uksi\/1986\/1078\/regulation\/3\/made\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">see the official government website.<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>As a general rule, most pickups and crew cabs vans qualify as dual-purpose, so they can be driven at car speed limits.<\/p>\n<p>But there are a lot of grey areas here. For example, some vehicles weight more than 2,040kg when unladen. If in doubt, check your vehicle&#8217;s specification and measurements carefully. Seek advice from the DVLA if you&#8217;re unsure.<\/p>\n<p><em>Article last updated: 2 November 2017<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>*Disclaimer:\u00a0<\/strong>All information was correct to the best of our knowledge at the date shown above. But speed limits and vehicle classifications may change. Please do your own research if unsure.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Our guide to van speed limits, including car-derived vans, pickups and crew vans.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10270,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[8],"tags":[2106,145,1678],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10295"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10295"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10295\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10367,"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10295\/revisions\/10367"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10270"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}