I could do with a few pointers or opinions guys, s’il vous plait!
I’m a 30 year old with a passion for 80’s & 90’s wagons. I trawled all over the continent with my dad as a youngster, and although I am not in the industry, and have no desire to follow in his footsteps, I’d love to have my own tractor unit to mess around with & take out occasionally/shows etc…
I have been on the Ford RS scene for many years, and know a great deal about restoring vehicles, however I’d appreciate any advice from those in the know about owning and operating such a vehicle. I’d like to start with a running project - somthing MOT’d & capable of passing the next with only a little work required. I have only a car licence and passed my test at 17 yoa, so I understand that entitles me to drive goods vehicles up to 7.5 tons (and have been doing ad-hoc as a second job).
Things I’ve considered are the daft fuel costs, finding a suitable facility to store it (farmers barns have been suggested…) insuring (anybody heard of any classic commercial policies out there?) it and a years road tax - it sounds like I think I’ve got things figured out, but I tell you I’m a total novice! Anybody fancy giving me a few pointers? Any help would be much appreciated!
I suspect the biggest problem will be storage, no pun intended. As for your other questions, why not pick up a copy of Classic & Vintage Commercial magazine, you’ll get a lot of info from it…and it’s a good read.
fuel costs shouldn’t be much of a problem as its only a toy that you run at weekends, should get 6 or 7 mpg.
you need to do your test but don’t need cpc or taco if not driving commercially, not sure how the o-license works? If your never going to pull a load you can get them down rated to reduce tax.
You’d need a cat. C licence (or C+E obviously if you intended to tow anything with it). However, you wouldn’t need a tacho or driver CPC, and providing you never use it to carry any commercial goods, you wouldn’t need an O-licence. You might even be able to keep it at your house subject to space and local byelaws - I know of one enthusiast around here who does exactly that - much to the dismay of the neigbours though, I’m sure!
Well I have the catagories C1 and C1E (am I correct in the assumtion that I can drive goods vehicles upto 7.5t?), so, would tractor units be light enough? If so, then, that’s that issue out of the way.
Further, taxing…? What would the rates be - there would never any situation for using the thing to do work, towing or otherwise. Would this need re-plating? does anybody know of the excise rates/catagories?
Wouldthe fith wheel ave to be removed/dissabled?
Fuel consumption isn’t too much of an issue - I’m used to getting 18mpg from my ■■■■■■
Please keep the advice a’commin, its so helpful having people in teh know to advise me!
Slater & Son:
Well I have the catagories C1 and C1E (am I correct in the assumtion that I can drive goods vehicles upto 7.5t?), so, would tractor units be light enough? If so, then, that’s that issue out of the way.
Yes that’s correct, you’re OK up to 7.5t. All the tractors I’ve looked at are around the 8t mark, but I reckon if you look into it you’ll find older ones which are light enough for you to drive.
Slater & Son:
Further, taxing…? What would the rates be - there would never any situation for using the thing to do work, towing or otherwise. Would this need re-plating? does anybody know of the excise rates/catagories?
Everything you need to know is on the Direct.gov website. I think you’ll be in band B, at #200 a year.
Slater & Son:
Wouldthe fith wheel ave to be removed/dissabled?
Nope, this one is a myth.
Regarding the tacho mrpj, I can’t find me books at the moment but I’m fairly sure you’re right . Not enough sleep!
Slater & Son:
Well I have the catagories C1 and C1E (am I correct in the assumtion that I can drive goods vehicles upto 7.5t?), so, would tractor units be light enough? If so, then, that’s that issue out of the way.
Yes that’s correct, you’re OK up to 7.5t. All the tractors I’ve looked at are around the 8t mark, but I reckon if you look into it you’ll find older ones which are light enough for you to drive.
Slater & Son:
Further, taxing…? What would the rates be - there would never any situation for using the thing to do work, towing or otherwise. Would this need re-plating? does anybody know of the excise rates/catagories?
Slater & Son:
Further, taxing…? What would the rates be - there would never any situation for using the thing to do work, towing or otherwise. Would this need re-plating? does anybody know of the excise rates/catagories?
Slater & Son:
Well I have the catagories C1 and C1E (am I correct in the assumtion that I can drive goods vehicles upto 7.5t?), so, would tractor units be light enough? If so, then, that’s that issue out of the way.
Yes that’s correct, you’re OK up to 7.5t. All the tractors I’ve looked at are around the 8t mark, but I reckon if you look into it you’ll find older ones which are light enough for you to drive.
remember it’s gross weight not actual weight
Ah… does that mean the total weight that the vehicle can carry? If thats the case, then this would be 38 t. That would render tractor units out of the equation wouldn’t it? Can they be re-classified or re-plated, and if so, what’s the proceedue?
I’d looked into this several years ago, but couldn’t get a definitive answer. I spoke to the folks at the Vosa test station near me.
Intially they agreed that a tractor unit with the 5th wheel removed could be driven on a car licence ,assuming you passed your test prior to 1997, and it weighed less than 7.5 tonnes. however they then disagreed on what the position would be if you decided to fill in the chassis.
The sticking point seemed to be a phrase they used which was capable of bearing a load. With a 5th wheel removed a tractor is obviously incapable of bearing a load, the load being the trailer,however with the chassis being filled it is then capable, though obviously still not a trailer. Though I suppose you could downplate a tractor to 7.5 tonnes.
The safest option they decided was to get a C licence, that way there is no need to remove the 5th wheel or mess about trying to downplate anything.
There’s nothing stopping you downplating a tractor unit to 7.5t, as long as it weighs less than that with a full tank of fuel and a couple of people in it. This will allow you to drive it on a C1 licence but has the big disadvantage that you can’t then legally tow any trailer with it.
I would assume you would be safer with a C Licence, it would be tricky to find a nice tractor light enough?
Slightly offtopic, I fancy a T Series Scania as a project to soup up and for running to do’s at the weekends, I presume the same applies to them, £185 tax and no ‘O’ Licence required.
