Vehicle loading theory test questions

21 questions in this topic

The smallest topic. What you may carry, how it must be secured, and how a heavy load or a trailer changes braking, steering and stability.

It includes who is responsible for passengers wearing seatbelts, which is a question people often get wrong because the answer depends on their age.

Practise vehicle loading

Questions come from the DVSA revision question bank, used under licence. You will not see whether an answer is right until you have committed to one, which is the point. A sample of every topic is free and needs no account.

Start practising

A different car when it is full

A car with just the driver in it and a car with four adults, their luggage and a bike rack on the back are, as far as the physics is concerned, two different vehicles. Its stopping distance grows, leans more in corners and can feel vague at the steering wheel. This topic is about recognising that and doing something about it before the trip, not halfway along the motorway.

Loading it properly

Heavy items belong low down and as far forward in the boot as possible. Anything loose in the cabin will keep travelling at your old speed if you brake hard, so a laptop on the back seat or a bag on the parcel shelf can hurt someone. Roof boxes and racks raise the car's centre of gravity, catch the wind and use more fuel, so take them off when you do not need them. The handbook usually lists higher tyre pressures for a fully loaded car, and it is worth using them.

Passengers and seatbelts

By law, it is the driver who has to make sure anyone under fourteen is wearing a seatbelt or using the right child seat. Passengers aged fourteen and over are responsible for themselves, but that does not stop you insisting before you set off. Children normally need a child seat until they are twelve years old or 135cm tall.

Towing

Many drivers can tow more than they realise. If you passed your car test from 1 January 1997, you can now tow up to 3,500kg maximum authorised mass behind your car without taking a separate towing test. Being allowed to do it is not the same as being good at it, though. A trailer or caravan makes the whole outfit longer and heavier, needs wider turns and much more distance to stop, and can start to sway if it is loaded badly or towed too fast. A training course before your first long tow is worth considering.

Know the limits

Every car has a maximum weight it can carry and tow, shown in the handbook and usually on a plate in the door frame or engine bay. Going over it puts strain on the brakes, tyres and suspension and may invalidate your insurance.

In the test

The questions here are mostly practical. Think about where weight goes and what it does to stopping, steering and stability.

How this topic appears in the real test

The car theory test is 50 multiple choice questions in 57 minutes, and you need 43 correct to pass. The questions are drawn from every topic, so you cannot skip one and hope. There is a hazard perception part as well, and you have to pass both on the same day.

These are revision questions rather than the questions you will be asked on the day.