Can your car tow a trailer lift or mini excavator?
The vehicle registration certificate and your driving licence decide. Here is how to check whether you can collect yourself, with the weights of our lifts and machines.
You can save on transport by collecting the equipment yourself, but two things must add up: the car must be able to handle the weight, and your driving licence must allow it. The licence is where people most often get caught out.
1. The car: check the registration certificate
The registration certificate states the permitted braked trailer weight. The trailer and whatever is on it cannot weigh more than that. Also check the permitted gross train weight, which is the car and trailer combined.
2. Your driving licence: the rules
- Class B: you can tow a trailer with a permitted gross weight of no more than 750 kg, or a heavier trailer if the car and trailer combined have a permitted gross weight of no more than 3,500 kg.
- Code 96 on your driving licence: the car and trailer can have a combined permitted gross weight of 4,250 kg.
- Class BE: the trailer can have a permitted gross weight of up to 3,500 kg.
What people don't know
What counts is the permitted gross weight stated in the registration certificate, not what is actually on the trailer. A plant trailer registered for 3,500 kg requires a BE licence, even if all it carries is a small mini excavator.
Trailer lift
Our trailer lifts weigh from 950 kg (10 m) to 2,590 kg (21 m). If the smallest lift is registered for 950 kg, the car can have a permitted gross weight of up to 2,550 kg with class B. That covers most passenger cars. The weight the lift is registered for is stated in the lift's registration certificate. From 13 metres upwards, most need a BE licence.
| Lift | Weight |
|---|---|
| Trailer lift 10 m | 950 kg |
| Trailer lift 13 m (Omme) | 1,650 kg |
| Trailer lift 13 m (Dino) | 1,765 kg |
| Trailer lift 16 m | 2,195 kg |
| Trailer lift 18 m | 2,380 kg |
| Trailer lift 21 m | 2,590 kg |
Mini excavator on a trailer
The mini excavator sits on its own plant trailer. A 1.9-tonne machine comes to around 2.7 tonnes with the trailer, and a 2.7-tonne machine to around 3.5 tonnes. When you book, ask which trailer the machine is on and what it is registered for.
Just a trailer
We also have trailers from 750 kg, which anyone with class B can tow, and up to 3,500 kg. See trailers for hire.
Work it out
The Norwegian Public Roads Administration (Statens vegvesen) has a trailer calculator. Enter the car's registration number and the trailer's weight, and you get the answer. If it doesn't add up, we deliver: a pickup with trailer costs NOK 890 per hour excl. VAT.
Questions and answers
Can I tow a trailer lift with a class B driving licence?
Often yes for the smallest lift at 950 kg, if the car has a permitted gross weight of no more than 2,550 kg. Check the lift's registration certificate. The larger lifts usually require BE or code 96.
What does code 96 mean?
An addition to class B that lets you drive a car and trailer with a combined permitted gross weight of up to 4,250 kg. It requires a separate course.
Is it the weight of the trailer or what's on it that counts?
For the driving licence, what counts is the permitted gross weight in the trailer's registration certificate, not what it actually weighs.
Any questions?
Call +47 948 87 000 and you'll speak to the people who rent out the equipment every day. See transport →
More guides
What is included in the rental, and what is charged in addition?
Insurance, return inspection, fuel and cleaning: what you pay for, and how to avoid most of the extra charges.
Why you should take a lift course
When the law requires a course, what the course covers, and why it pays off even when it is not mandatory.
Which lift should I choose?
Five things decide which lift you need: height, outreach, straight or articulating boom, space and your vehicle.