What is classed as a commercial vehicle in the UK?

People worldwide use commercial vehicles for different purposes, business and personal related. When commercial
vehicles are used for business needs, no one is expected to gain personal benefits, and no need for mileage
records. However, taxation will arise when the employee is grated to use commercial vans for personal use.

Personal use of commercial vehicles is termed as usage
outside business confines like commuting to work. This post explains the difference between other vehicles and
commercial vehicles in the UK.

What are commercial vehicles in the UK

Commercial vans can be defined in different ways:

• A vehicles able to carry more than 1 tonne of load
• A vehicles weighing more than 3.5 tonnes
• Business oriented vans

HMRC is responsible in categorising vehicles since it has the implication of tax paid per vehicles. Therefore,
commercial vehicles in the UK are defined based on HMRC guidelines and they include:

• Vans
• Car-derived vans
• Lorries
• Pickup trucks
• Tractors

Remember, commercial vans are not meant for personal use. If commercial vans in the UK are personally used, they will
get benefit-in-kind taxes.

What does it take for vehicles to be classed commercial vans

A vehicle is considered a commercial van in the UK if it can move a load of at least 1 tonne and weighs 3.5 tonnes
and above. Windows are not necessary for commercial vehicles,
but the loading is must be wide or expansive.

However, a car-derived vans have different requirements. They are designed to look like a car from outside but their
internal design is to function like a commercial van. Therefore, a car-derived vehicles should have the
following characteristics:

• No floor panels
• No windows, if there are windows, they must be tinted or opaque
• No seats to discourage carrying passengers
• Built is vans’ designing platform

These feature on commercial vans discourage the owner from ferrying passengers. Once used for human
transportation, they will lose the “commercial vehicle” status.

Besides these requirements, the vital one is that employees should never use commercial vans in the UK for
personal commutes. If you follow all the requirements for your commercial vehicle, you will pay less road tax.

Benefits of commercial vans

• Commercial vehicles in the UK can get VAT relief unlike other vehicle type.
• Lower road tax
• Commercial vans can be used in claiming capital allowance hence benefiting your business from their
  purchase.