Van payload, GVW and the overloading trap: a used-buyer's guide
How GVW, kerb weight and payload fit together on a used van, why plated figures beat brochure claims, and checks that stop you buying an overloading problem.
The plate gives the legal limit. The weighbridge gives the real payload.
- Plated figures matterGVW is the legal ceiling. It is not the payload.
- Payload is what it carriesWhat is left after the van, people, fuel and kit.
- Brochure claims misleadQuoted for the lightest possible build, not this van.
- Fittings eat payloadLining, racking and conversions all come off it.
- Axle limits matter tooYou can overload an axle while under the GVW.
The three numbers that matter
Every van turns on three weights, and most adverts state at most one of them.
GVW (gross vehicle weight)
3,500 kg
The maximum the van is legally allowed to weigh in total: vehicle, fuel, driver, passengers, racking and everything in the load space. Also written as MAM or gross plated weight.
Kerb weight
2,380 kg
What the van weighs sitting on the forecourt. Manufacturers measure it differently: some include a 75 kg driver and 90% fuel, some do not.
Payload
1,120 kg
Roughly GVW minus kerb weight. The only number that tells you what the van can actually carry, and the one adverts most often get wrong.
Worked example
A panel van plated at 3,500 kg with a kerb weight of 2,380 kg has a nominal payload of 1,120 kg. Put two 85 kg occupants in it and, if the kerb figure excluded the driver, you are down to about 950 kg before a single tool goes in the back.
Illustrative figures: check the plate on the van in front of you.
Where the real figures live
Four places quote a weight. They do not carry equal authority.
Manufacturer's plate
Driver's door aperture, door pillar, under the bonnet or on the seat base. Four figures stacked in order: GVW, gross train weight, maximum front axle load, maximum rear axle load.
High trustV5C revenue weight
The DVLA record for the vehicle. For most vans the revenue weight matches the plated GVW.
Official recordConverter or second plate
Converted and re-plated vans carry a second plate from the converter or a plating company. Where the two disagree, the lower and later figure governs.
Check it matchesAdvert claim
Rounded up, copied from the wrong variant, or lifted from a brochure. Ignore the advert until you have seen the plate.
Least reliable
If the V5C, the plate and the advert all say different things, treat that as a question for the seller, in writing, before you travel.
Why almost every big van says 3,500 kg
3,500 kg is a licensing line, not an engineering one. The same bodyshell is plated higher elsewhere in the range.
- 1
Category B licence
A standard car licence covers vehicles up to 3,500 kg maximum authorised mass.
- 2
Above 3,500 kg
You need C1 (3,500–7,500 kg) or C entitlement, and driver CPC rules start to apply for commercial use.
- 3
Bigger bodies, same ceiling
Long-wheelbase and high-roof variants spend the weight budget on metal. A 3.5 tonne Luton with a box body and tail-lift can end up with well under 1,000 kg of genuine payload.
The consequence catches buyers out constantly: the bigger and heavier the body, the less payload fits under the same ceiling. A long-wheelbase, high-roof variant can carry several hundred kilograms less than the short, low version of the same van, because the extra metal is part of the weight budget.
The payload that quietly disappears
Brochure payload is calculated for the lightest possible build: base trim, smallest engine, no options, no conversion. A used van has a history of additions.
- Ply-liningTens of kg; over 100 kg for a full kit on a large van
- Racking system100–300 kg installed
- Cantilever or column tail-liftRoughly 250–350 kg
- Crew-van conversionA similar bite, plus the passengers it enables
- Tow bar and wiringAbout 30 kg
- Roof racks, pipe carriers, second batteries, invertersWeight the plate does not know about
Run the arithmetic
- Brochure payload1,200 kg
- Ply-lining− 100 kg
- Racking system− 200 kg
- Tow bar and wiring− 30 kg
- Driver and one passenger− 170 kg
- Genuinely usable payloadabout 700 kg
That is a very different van from the one in the advert, and nothing about it looks different in the photos. For a used, converted van the honest answer to "what is the payload" is plated GVW minus what it actually weighs today, which only a weighbridge knows.
What overloading actually costs
The realistic payload is not a nice-to-have specification. It is the difference between a legal working day and a roadside one.
DVSA enforcement
Roadside checks use portable axle scales and check sites near weighbridges, with ANPR flagging vans for a stop.
Graduated penalties
Fixed penalties scale in bands with the percentage overweight. At the serious end the case goes to court rather than a roadside ticket.
Prohibition
Separately from any fine, an overloaded van can be prohibited: it does not move until enough load comes off to make it legal, wherever that leaves your delivery.
Safety and insurance
An overloaded van is an overloaded braking system and overloaded tyres, and a potential insurance argument after a collision.
Axles have limits too
The plate carries separate maxima for each axle, and you can be under the gross limit while over an axle limit. Load something heavy right at the back, behind the rear axle line, and the load acts like a seesaw: it presses the rear axle past its limit while actually lightening the front.
DVSA checks axles individually. Weigh each axle as well as the whole van, loaded the way you actually intend to load it.
Towing and gross train weight
The second figure on the plate is gross train weight: the maximum combined weight of the loaded van and a loaded trailer. Towing capacity is not free extra capacity on top of payload.
300 kg below its own 3,500 kg plate, straight off the payload. Trailer nose weight also presses on the rear axle and counts against the van's own weights.
Braked towing capacity and gross train weight vary widely between engine and axle-ratio variants of the same model. Check both before falling for a particular van.
Double-cab pickups and the 1,000 kg line
Payload has a tax dimension for one specific body style. A double-cab pickup has historically been treated as a commercial vehicle for VAT purposes only if its payload is at least 1,000 kg, with a hardtop counted at a nominal 45 kg under HMRC convention, so a 1,020 kg payload pickup can fail the test once a hardtop goes on.
Since April 2025 double-cab pickups are treated as cars for benefit-in-kind and capital allowance purposes regardless of payload, but the 1,000 kg test still matters for VAT recovery. If you are weighing up a pickup against a van, the payload figure on the plate can change what the price actually costs you.
"Plus VAT" on a listing, explainedThe VAT threshold
1,000 kg
minimum payload, with a hardtop counted at a nominal 45 kg.
Checks before you contact the seller
Three stages, in order. The first two are free.
Before you travel
- The plated GVW, in writing.
- The seller's stated payload, in writing.
- Whether that payload accounts for the racking, lining or conversion the photos show.
At the viewing
- Photograph the plate and compare it against the V5C revenue weight and the advert.
- Look for a converter's plate.
- Look for evidence of downplating: ex-fleet vans are sometimes re-plated to a lower GVW.
Before committing
- Put the van over a public weighbridge empty. The ticket costs a few pounds.
- Subtract that from the plated GVW for the real payload.
- Weigh each axle as well as the whole van, loaded the way you intend to load it.
Your verdict
A seller who quotes the brochure figure for a fully racked van either has not thought about it or hopes you will not. If the weighbridge number does not support the work you bought the van for, better to know in the first week than at a roadside check.
Compare vans smarter. Buy with confidence.
Where an advert states payload or gross vehicle weight, the extractor captures them as structured fields against a per-category spec, so a claimed figure is recorded rather than buried in free text. Payload is a core field for commercial vehicles, so a van advert that never mentions it is marked incomplete rather than silently passed through.
- Plated weights and payload captured, not buried
- VAT status shown with an inc-VAT total
- Compare similar vans side by side
- Spot missing information in listings
