Camping Ratgeber:
Towing trailers: Rules for category B driving licenses
Until now, the following has applied: With a category B driving license, trailers may be towed if they do not exceed a maximum permissible total weight of 750 kg.
However, the entire combination must always be considered.
And that always causes uncertainty and confusion.
The following applies to a car + trailer combination pulled by holders of a category B driving license:
- Vehicles that themselves have a maximum permissible mass of up to 3500 kg may be driven with a trailer that weighs a maximum of 750 kg.
- If the trailer weighs more than 750 kg, the permissible total weight of the combination must not exceed 3500 kg.
This is often the case with braked trailers the case.
However, the following also applies: the car must always be heavier than the trailer. And: Every vehicle has a permissible trailer load. This varies depending on the engine power and design. The trailer must never be heavier than the permissible trailer load.
Towing trailers: Weight limits for trailers
In other words: A trailer with max.
750 kg may be towed by a car with max.
3.5 t may be towed.
A trailer weighing more than 750 kg may be towed by a car weighing max.
2.75 tons.
This is because the combination may not weigh more than 3.5 t.
In addition, the towing capacity of the car must not be exceeded, otherwise fines may be imposed.
This is how the ADAC explains it in a clear diagram of the permitted vehicle/trailer combinations forcategory B driving licenses. We also have a video for you on the subject of driving license + trailer, which explains exactly when you are allowed to tow a trailer with a category B driving license and what you can do if the weight limits do not fit.
If you want to tow heavier trailers or exceed 3500 kg with your combination, you have had to obtain a B96 driving license, also known as a trailer driving license.
However, this could change in 2023 with the planned EU directive amendment.
Class B driving license: New guidelines for towing trailers
The draft provides for a significant increase in the maximum permissible weight when towing trailers for holders of a category B driving license.
This means that in future a gross vehicle weight of up to 4250 kg will be permitted.
However, these extended possibilities for towing trailers will not apply to all vehicles!
Only vehicles that run on alternative fuels, from biodiesel to vegetable oil and electricity, are to be covered by this regulation.
And only if the driver has already held a category B driving license for 2 years.
Since March 2023, the EU has had a draft on how the current driving license directives should be amended.
The proposals and motions are to be discussed and voted on in the Transport Committee in December 2023.
The changes would then have to be transposed into national law.
Only then will the changes take effect in Germany.
In addition to the proposals relating to category B driver’s licenses and towing trailers, driving fitness checks from the age of 70, a new probationary period regulation and options for digitizing driver’s licenses are also currently being discussed.
As the ADAC reports, the recognition of the B17 driving license abroad and a change in the minimum age for truck and bus driving licenses are also topics of the commission.
