7.5 ton trucks

7.5 tonnes is the laden wieght , so the truck actually weighs 3 or 4 tonnes. Go over this weight and you need an HGV licence.

steve the grease

I assume you're intending to use this as a course of business.

1) You can only drive it on a car licence if you passed your test BEFORE 1997. Otherwise you need to take a Categoy C1 test. 2) You'll need an operators licence for business use of any kind even if it is for your own use and not hire and reward. This requires applying for one. There's alot involved and you'll need a Certificate of Professional Competency or employ someone who has one as a Transport Manager. 3) Payloads are around 4 tonnes. 4) If you add a trailer it is subject to the same limit as a car licence, i.e not over 750kg. YOU MUST NOT EXCEED 7.5 TONNES COMBINED TOTAL WEIGHT FOR BOTH THE 7.5t and trailer.

You can't just buy one, tax and insure it and run it. There's alot of hoops to jump through.

The Isuzu trucks are particularly light so you can carry more weight in the back than most (any?) other 7.5 tonner.

Steer well clear of Japanese trucks, they cost an absolute fortune to fix when they go wrong, which is quite often!

eg, £400 for a piston (yes a single piston, not an engine set)

About 3-4 Tonnes

On a car licence*, max train weight (i.e total of truck and trailer max gross weights) would be 8250kg.

*assuming you passed before 1997

You cant really go wrong with something like an Iveco 75E15 or a Daf 45. Cheap and cheerful, easy and cheap to maintain.

You didn't say what you intend to do with the truck, as Conor has pointed out there are legal requirements with running an truck such as operating licence etc. depending on what use the truck will be put to.

Try here........

What about the people who buy them as use them as a horse box.

It would only be used for moving my stuff about and for carrying other peoples goods so not a business as such.

I need to moved a few shipments of goods from Felixstowe. Not many but a few times a year so I thought this might be cheaper than paying the haulage.

Large and bulky so a transit van is out.

Sorry that should have read not for moving other peoples goods. No delivering of goods either.

If you are moving the goods in connection with any business, you will need a restricted operators licence, which allows you to transport goods for your own company.

If the goods you are moving are purely personal items, and not in connection with any business, you will not require an operators licence at all.

See here........

Then you're in. Buy one and register it Private HGV, I think that's what it's called now. You'll be exempt O licence, I don't think you're exempt tacho ( I am, mine's a recovery vehicle), but you may as well use the tacho anyway, then you can prove you weren't speeding come the accident:-)) If you do have a tacho liability, it will have to be calibrated which I believe costs about £50-60 +VAT. It can be done at most truck repair places.

And the annual test will have to be done at your nearest ministry test station, applying at least 6 weeks in advance if you want any choice at all about your appointment date/time. You have to go with it for the test to press the brakes, turn the wheel etc, but it's not anywhere near as bad as some would have you believe. At least you know they're not failing it to get the repair work!

Steve

The message from "David Cawkwell" contains these words:

If you're moving it about as part of a business even if it's your business then I'm fairly sure you still have to jump through all the hoops.

Horse Boxes are exempt from alot of things such as tachographs etc. There's a list of exempted vehicles including dustcarts etc.

In which case its not for personal use if you're carrying other peoples stuff.

As long as it is PURELY FOR PERSONAL USE NOT CONNECTED WITH ANY BUSINESS IN ANY WAY then you're OK.

Beware though that you're likely to get pulled into a Ministry checkpoint at any time though when out on the road. If one is open you can bet you'll get pulled in so you'd better be cosher.

Whether or not you need to keep records with the tacho, if its fitted and in use as a speedometer, it must be sealed and callibrated. It is an MOT fail if you dont have the calibration stackers in place.

Bear in mind that the ministry inspectors generally expect you to bring your vehicle to pass the test, not to fail then carry out rectification work for a retest. They take a dim view if you have not prepared it properly for the test.

No. mine is not sealed because I changed the cable, cutting the seals off in the process. When they spot the seals are missing, they just ask if it's exempt, that's if they haven't already discussed it. Then they just check that the lights inside it are working. If it's exempt it's a speedo. I know of one with an actual speedo. I'd have one myself if I could find one.

IME they don't much care either way. If it fails they get a retest fee. In fact they had a dispute a couple of years ago when they were ordered to increase the number of failures. I fell foul of this, getting a failure for king pin lift, which was distinctly marginal and would normally only have got an advise. The testers are human and usually can be reasonable. Mine have always been ok about going round the back, adjusting stuff and coming back in for a PRS (pass, rectified at station), including the time when testing the lights I put my foot on the brake, the brake lights came on and wouldn't go off, they stayed on for the rest of the test until I sorted the switch out. PRS.

Steve

Turn up with a dirty pile of crap with the underside covered in engine oil and I can guarantee you they'll not even test it.

Well maybe.

What the regs say is that the parts which need to be inspected must be sufficiently clean to be inspected. An annual visit to the jetwash the day before the test is what mine gets. A little common sense is all that's required.

When I said they don't care either way I meant that the outcome of the test is a matter of indifference to the tester.

Steve

do they still go round with that little hammer? they failed one I took for having one bolt sound loose on the prop retest fee rather than me asking if I could nip it up :(