Most tradies tow something. A tool trailer, a tilt deck with a mini digger on it, a box trailer of offcuts on its way to the tip. Plenty of what gets passed around at smoko about towing is out of date, or was never the rule in the first place.
Here’s what the Land Transport Rules and NZTA’s own inspection manual say about the myths that come up most.
“The ute’s rated to tow 3.5 tonnes, so I’m legal.” The manufacturer’s tow rating is advice. NZTA’s Guide to safe loading and towing for light vehicles says “the law does not require these tow ratings to be followed”, though NZTA recommends taking them into account.
What the law does require is a stopping test. A light vehicle and its trailer must together stop within 7m from 30km/h, without help from engine compression, under the Light-vehicle Brakes Rule. For an unbraked trailer, NZTA’s guide suggests keeping the loaded trailer to no more than three-quarters of the towing vehicle’s unladen weight, and only if the vehicle’s brakes and tyres are in excellent condition.
Trailer brakes depend on laden weight, meaning the trailer plus whatever’s on it, and NZTA’s Vehicle Inspection Requirements Manual (VIRM) sets out the bands. Up to 2,000kg, no service brake is required. From 2,001kg to 2,500kg the trailer needs a service brake on each wheel of at least one axle.
From 2,501kg to 3,500kg it also needs a parking brake, and the service brake must be either a direct brake or an override type that complies with UN/ECE Regulation 13. Plant is where this bites. If a tilt trailer and the digger on it weigh 2,300kg together, that trailer needs brakes, even if it went through its last WoF empty without a comment.
The VIRM tells inspectors to warn owners when a trailer presented empty is likely to go over 2,000kg with its normal load. Safety chains follow the same bands. A trailer up to 2,000kg laden without a compliant breakaway brake needs a safety chain or cable, and between 2,001kg and 2,500kg it needs two chains that cross each other when connected.
Above 2,500kg, a breakaway brake is required unless the trailer has a suitable coupling and two safety chains. NZTA’s guide also says to load the trailer so about 10% of the trailer-plus-load weight pushes down on the towbar, and not to put too much weight at the back. The towbar’s data plate shows its maximum tongue load.
“It’s a 2-tonne digger, it won’t go anywhere.” Clause 7.3 of the Road User Rule bans driving a vehicle with a load so unsafely secured that it falls, or is likely to fall, off. NZTA’s guide says all loads on trailers should be properly restrained, with lashings such as webbing straps, ropes or chains, or clamps fixed to proper anchor points.
“I’m under 6 tonnes on the scales, so my car licence covers it.” Under Schedule 3 of the Driver Licensing Rule, a Class 1 licence covers a combination vehicle with a gross combined weight of up to 6,000kg. Gross combined weight is the total of each vehicle’s gross laden weight.
The Rule defines gross laden weight as the greatest of the manufacturer’s rated weight, a weight set by regulation, or the actual loaded weight. So the rated figures count, not only what’s on the trailer that day. A ute rated at 3,200kg hooked to a trailer rated at 3,500kg adds up to 6,700kg, which on that definition is Class 2 territory even with the trailer empty.
Class 2 covers combinations over 6,000kg and up to 12,000kg. You need to have held a full Class 1 for at least six months before applying for a Class 2 learner licence.
The Rule has been amended several times in 2026, but the 6,000kg combination limit for Class 1 hasn’t moved. One change from 6 August 2026 is that a Class 1 licence now also covers a zero-emission vehicle with a gross laden weight of up to 7,500kg.
“The sign says 100, so I can do 100.” Not with a trailer on. Clause 5.4 of the Road User Rule caps any vehicle towing a trailer at 90km/h, and where more than one speed limit applies, the lowest one wins.
“Trailers don’t need a warrant.” Light trailers, with a gross vehicle mass of 3,500kg or less, are inspected for a WoF, and heavier trailers go on a certificate of fitness (CoF). NZTA says the WoF frequency changes taking effect from 1 November 2026 apply to all light vehicles, excluding agricultural vehicles, and kick in at each vehicle’s next WoF.
NZTA also says the fine for a WoF more than two months overdue rises to $350, up from $200. Check the due date on the trailer’s label as well as the ute’s.
“RUC is for diesel utes, not trailers.” Under the Road User Charges Act 2012, a trailer with a gross vehicle mass over 3,500kg is a heavy RUC vehicle. It needs its own distance licence and a working distance recorder, either a hubodometer or an electronic recorder.
Before the next job with plant on the back, check the trailer’s laden weight against its brakes and chains, add the rated weights of ute and trailer against your licence class, and look at both warrant dates.
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