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SA Towing Check

Is your car or bakkie plus trailer legal on South African roads? Enter what's on your licence disc and the trailer's plate to check your licence code, trailer brakes, speed limit and overloading, plus your vehicle's payload, GCM and tow ball ratings. Every rule links to its source.

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Tow vehicle
Vehicle type (as registered) (optional)

This isn't about body style or comfort. SA law has extra towing rules for goods vehicles, so the answer changes your legal results. Double cab? It can be either: check your registration papers, or choose Not sure.

Why does this matter?

Your weights and manufacturer limits are the same either way. What changes is which laws apply. A goods vehicle:

  • is limited to 100 km/h, and has to show a speed sign, once its GVM plus the trailer's GVM is over 3 500 kg (most bakkie and caravan rigs)
  • commits an offence if it goes over its GVM, an axle rating or its GCM (for a motor car this is a safety and insurance issue, not an offence)
  • must keep the whole rig under 5 times the load on its driving axle(s)
  • needs a licence code based on its GVM rather than its tare

Not sure which applies? Try Car vs bakkie above to compare both.

Which one is my vehicle?
kg

Printed on your licence disc and registration certificate.

kg

Maximum laden mass from the manufacturer: compliance plate or owner's manual.

Driver
Trailer
kg

From the trailer's licence disc or compliance plate, not what it weighs today.

Overrun or service brake?
kg

Weigh it with a tow ball scale, with the trailer loaded for the trip.

kg
kg

Optional. Actual mass is what the loaded trailer weighs (all trailers together). Without it, manufacturer checks use the plated GVM.

Manufacturer ratings

Optional. From the owner's manual, compliance plate or towbar plate.

kg
kg
kg
kg
kg
kg
Load in the vehicle

Everything the vehicle carries, including the driver. The starting masses are rough guesses: replace them with your own. Leave out the tow ball mass here; it goes under Trailer.

Load total: 0 kg

Weighbridge and measurements (optional)

Readings taken with the trailer hitched and everything loaded for the trip. They replace the estimates.

kg
kg
kg
mm
mm

Your rig at a glance

What can I tow?

The heaviest trailer for each type of trailer brakes. Legal limits apply to the trailer's plated GVM; manufacturer limits to what the loaded trailer actually weighs.

Motor car vs goods vehicle

The same tare, GVM, trailer and load, registered as a motor car (such as an SUV) or as a goods vehicle (such as a bakkie). Your registration papers decide which column is yours, not the body shape.

Manufacturer limits Vehicle maker

Limits set by the vehicle and trailer makers, not by SA law. Going over them is unsafe and your insurer may rely on them. For a goods vehicle, going over the GVM, axle ratings or GCM is also an offence: see Legal requirements.