Speed limits for dual purpose vehicles

Pickup and crew cab variant of vehicles have become increasingly common over recent years, both as a working vehicle used to tow materials and equipment as well as by supervisors and managers primarily on-road to travel between home, office and site.   

This category of vehicle has traditionally been called ‘dual-purpose’ and fits within the following definition provided by the Department for Transport:

A dual-purpose vehicle is a vehicle constructed or adapted for the carriage both of passengers and of goods and designed to weigh no more than 2,040 kg when unladen, and is either:

constructed or adapted so that the driving power of the engine is, or can be selected to be, transmitted to all wheels of the vehicle

or

permanently fitted with a rigid roof, at least one row of transverse passenger seats to the rear of the driver’s seat and will have side and rear windows - there must also be a minimum ratio between the size of passenger and stowage areas

Vehicles which meet the definition of 'dual purpose' are subject to the same speed limits as passenger cars. 

Key to the definition of 'dual purpose' is the unladen weight limit of 2,040kg.  As most members will be aware, most modern pick-up and crew-cab vehicles feature luxuries such as air conditioning, superior sound insulation together with modern essentials such as improved crash protection and emission control components. 

The result of this improved specification is an increase in the weight of many dual-purpose vehicles beyond 2,040 kg, which places them in a different category and subject to the same speed limits as light commercial goods vehicles: 

50mph on single carriageways
60mph on dual carriageways
70mph on motorways  

It is important for members to check the unladen weight of any crew-cab vehicles they own, since models produced by different manufacturers often fall either side of this weight.  For example:

The Toyota Hilux Double Cab 2.4 Diesel has an unladen weight starting at 2,105kg, and so Goods Vehicle speed limits apply.

The Isuzu D-Max Double Cab has an unladen weight of 2000kg, rising to 2030kg for the automatic, so just under the limit for dual purpose vehicles.

Note: Single-cab pickup trucks (those with only two doors and no second row of seats) without four-wheel drive are not considered dual-purpose and can only drive at the same speed as vans.

Further reading

Department for transport: Car-derived vans and dual purpose vehicles