I has a moment of mild panic earlier today when I came across a website that talked about van speed limits, and how they are less than that of cars.

It might be ignorance on my part, but I have never come across this before. I’ve owned my Nissan NV200 for over a year and have hired vans in the past but this has never come up, so I immediately investigated whether this applies to the NV200, as it is a small van.

Is it possible that I’ve been breaking the speed limit regularly for the last 14 months?

What are van speed limits?

Whilst there are a number of different vehicle categories to speed limits, I have copied the current (May 2020) legislation from https://www.gov.uk/speed-limits.

I’ve condensed their table to only feature those of relevance and context to the Nissan NV200 and building out a van into a camper, so that the information is a bit clearer

(Speeds in mph)

Vehicle Type	Built-up areas	Single carriageways	Dual carriageways	Motorways
Cars, motorcycles, car-derived vans and dual-purpose vehicles	30	60	70	70
Motorhomes or motor caravans (not more than 3.05 tonnes maximum unladen weight)	30	60	70	70
Goods vehicles (not more than 7.5 tonnes maximum laden weight)	30	50	60	70

What does this mean?

The information in the table above shows that ‘regular’ vehicles have very different speeds to heavier goods vehicles. This is understandable from a safety point of view, but interestingly motorhomes enjoy the same speeds as cars and motorbikes, despite often being bigger than many vans. This might be a good reason to consider applying to change the body type to motor caravan with the DVLA, though as you’ll see below, it wouldn’t matter for a Nissan NV200 anyway (and I’m not sure that an NV200 would even meet the criteria).

The important bit of information here for Nissan NV200 owners is the ‘car-derived van’ label as that’s the category we fall into.

“Car derived vans are the only light commercial (goods) vehicles which are subject to the same speed limits as a car.”

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/car-derived-vans-and-dual-purpose-vehicles/car-derived-vans-and-dual-purpose-vehicles

Gross Vehicle Weight for a Nissan NV200

The other important factor in determining what speed a Nissan NV200 – or any car derived van – can go is its gross vehicle weight. That is, the maximum weight the vehicle could be at any one time; the weight of the empty van (also known as the kerb weight) plus its maximum potential load as specified by the manufacturer (passengers, cargo etc).

What does the law say?

“‘car-derived van’ means a goods vehicle which is constructed or adapted as a derivative of a passenger vehicle and which has a maximum laden weight not exceeding 2 tonnes.”

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/car-derived-vans-and-dual-purpose-vehicles/car-derived-vans-and-dual-purpose-vehicles

Where does the Nissan NV200 fit into this?

Well, you’ll be glad to learn that a Nissan NV200 Acenta DCI (mine has no rear seats or windows) is classed in the V5C, under section ‘D.5: Body Type’, as a CAR DERIVED VAN.

More than this, the Nissan NV200 has a gross vehicle weight (GVW) of 2000KG, just visible in the photo from my log book below, so as it doesn’t exceed 2 tonnes!

BUT… it’s worth bearing in mind that there are different versions of the NV200! I have the Acenta – the middle model – but the Visia and the Tekna models COULD have a different gross vehicle weight.

Can A Nissan NV200 go 70mph legally?

The evidence suggests that a Nissan NV200 panel van can indeed legally enjoy the same speed limits as cars and motorbikes. That said, it’s worth checking your vehicle’s weight in the log book to make sure that it falls in the same category as my NIssan NV200 Acenta

If you want to see more of my camper van build in action, please CLICK HERE.