Motorhomes
Does my motorhome count as a car in Europe?
Verdict
Up to 3,500 kg, mostly yes. Above it, no.
Up to 3,500 kg, a motorhome is driven on an ordinary car licence and, in most countries, pays the car tolls and keeps the car speed limits. Above 3,500 kg, several countries stop treating it as a car: you need a different licence, you pay a different toll, and you drive slower. The 3,500 kg that counts is the one printed on the registration document, not what the van weighs today.
Which weight counts: the one on the paperwork
Every EU registration certificate carries the same codes. F.1 is the maximum technically permissible laden mass and F.2 the maximum permissible laden mass in service in the country of registration. Those are the numbers the toll operators and the police go by. Austria's operator writes it into its rule word for word: the GO toll applies to a motorhome over 3.5 tonnes maximum technically permissible laden mass.
What the motorhome weighs on the day is a second, separate question. A van plated at 3,500 kg stays a 3,500 kg van for tolls and licences however little you load into it. Load it past that figure with water, bikes and four people and it becomes an overloaded one, which is a different offence altogether.
What changes above 3,500 kg
| Up to 3,500 kg | Over 3,500 kg | |
|---|---|---|
| Driving licence (EU) | Category B, the ordinary car licence | Category C1, up to 7,500 kg |
| Austria's motorways | Vignette, from €9.60 a day | GO toll by the kilometre, with a GO-Box on the windscreen |
| Switzerland | Vignette, CHF 40, for the motorways | Lump-sum heavy vehicle charge (PSVA) on every public road, paid in the Via app; no vignette needed |
| Germany, motorways | Car rules | 100 km/h up to 7,500 kg; 80 km/h above |
| Germany, other roads outside towns | Car rules | 80 km/h up to 7,500 kg; 60 km/h above |
Those are the cases I have read at source so far. Other countries draw the same line in their own way, and each gets its own page here once it is checked.
On a UK licence
The UK draws the same line. On GOV.UK, category B covers vehicles up to 3,500 kg for petrol and diesel, and 4,250 kg only for zero-emission vehicles; C1 covers 3,500 to 7,500 kg. If you passed your car test before 1 January 1997, GOV.UK says you are usually allowed to drive a vehicle and trailer combination up to 8,250 kg. Whether your licence carries C1 as well is printed on the licence itself, so I would read the categories on the card rather than go by the year you passed.
Austria: a GO-Box instead of a vignette
Over 3.5 tonnes, the Austrian vignette no longer applies. You pay the GO toll by distance on every motorway and expressway, through a GO-Box, a small unit on the windscreen that ASFINAG lends you. It costs a €12 processing fee, you hand it back afterwards, and you can pick one up at a GO point of sale or order it online; delivery within the EU adds €14.90. The rate per kilometre depends on the emission class and the number of axles, and ASFINAG's own toll calculator gives the figure for your vehicle.
Switzerland: the PSVA replaces the vignette
A heavy motorhome or caravan in Switzerland pays the lump-sum heavy vehicle charge, the PSVA, for between one and 30 consecutive days, between one and eleven months, or a calendar year. The Federal Office for Customs and Border Security says in its own FAQ that vehicles paying it do not need a motorway vignette. Foreign vehicles pay through Via, the office's official app, where the current rates are shown. The minimum is CHF 25 per payment. It covers the whole public road network, not only the motorways.
The licence trap on a hire motorhome
A category B licence stops at 3,500 kg. Motorhomes are built on both sides of that line, and a brochure does not always lead with the weight. If the registration document says more than 3,500 kg and your licence only shows B, you are not licensed to drive it, whatever the rental desk says.
Ask for the F.1 and F.2 figures in writing when you book, not at the counter. I'd rather change the booking in March than find out in July.
What I would check before booking or buying
- The F.1 and F.2 weights on the registration document, against the categories on your licence. If they differ, check each rule against the figure it names: Austria's toll, for one, goes by F.1.
- The route. An Austrian or Swiss leg over 3.5 tonnes means a GO-Box or a PSVA payment, and both take a little setting up before the border.
- The payload. The gap between the empty weight and 3,500 kg is everything you can carry, people and water included. On a heavy base vehicle it can be smaller than you expect.
Next on the road
Sources
- EUR-Lex — Directive 1999/37/EC on vehicle registration documents, Annex I: codes F.1 (maximum technically permissible laden mass) and F.2 (maximum permissible laden mass in service)
- EUR-Lex — Directive (EU) 2025/2205 on driving licences: category B up to 3,500 kg, C1 from 3,500 to 7,500 kg, and motor caravans up to 4,250 kg on a B licence after training or a test
- European Commission — modernised EU driving licence rules enter into force on 25 November 2025, four years to transpose
- GOV.UK — Driving licence categories: B up to 3,500 kg (4,250 kg zero-emission only), C1 3,500–7,500 kg, and what drivers who passed before 1 January 1997 may tow
- GO-Maut (ASFINAG) — GO toll for heavy motorhomes: over 3.5 t maximum technically permissible laden mass, GO-Box processing fee €12
- BAZG (Swiss Federal Office for Customs and Border Security) — lump-sum heavy vehicle charge (PSVA) for foreign vehicles: heavy motorhomes and caravans, paid via Via
- BAZG — PSVA for foreign vehicles, FAQ: vehicles subject to the PSVA do not require a motorway vignette
- BAZG — Form. 15.94, Merkblatt PSVA 2026: periods of 1–30 days, 1–11 months or a year; minimum CHF 25 per payment; rates shown in Via
- Deutscher Bundestag, Wissenschaftliche Dienste — Straßenverkehrsrechtliche Regelungen für Wohnmobile (WD 7-002-25, 29 January 2025): speed limits for motorhomes over 3.5 t and 7.5 t
We don't sell tolls, vignettes or GO-Boxes and don't link to resellers.