Before choosing a van, you’ll need to get a good understanding of how much weight you’ll be carrying on a day-to-day basis. The individual and combined weights of the vehicle and the trailer (if you have one) are among the most important things you need to know. Exceed them and you’ll be breaking the law. Be careful not to confuse the gross vehicle weight (GVW) with the gross train weight (GTW): The GVW is the maximum permitted weight of the vehicle (plus any load it is carrying), while the GTW is the maximum permitted weight of the vehicle plus any trailer being towed and its respective load.

A full UK driving licence (category B) entitles you to drive conventional, rigid-axle vans or pick-ups that weigh up to 3.5 tonnes. In short, that means you can drive most normal, light vans with a car licence.

The date you passed your driving test also has a bearing on the types of vehicle you can drive. If you passed your test before January 1997 then you may automatically be able to drive larger, heavier vehicles weighing up to 7.5 tonnes (the back of your driving licence will tell you for sure). If you passed the driving test after that date you might need to pass an additional test in order to drive vehicles heavier than 3.5 tonnes.

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