New tool: do you need an EB licence to tow that trailer?

Travel & Tourism
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The 4x4 forum argument that never dies is weight and the Code B versus EB line. Most pages that rank for it are driving-school blogs, and two of the popular ones get the law wrong.

Smiles Academy ANDs trailer GVM over 750 kg with combination mass over 3 500 kg. Regulation 99 does not. The 750 kg line is the trailer’s plated GVM, full stop. Combination mass is a separate plated GCM check. FindADrivingSchool says there is no legal ceiling on an EB trailer. There is. EB still sits under the 3 500 kg vehicle cap, the plated GCM, and Regulation 151 brakes.

So I built a checker that uses your numbers.

First tab: licence, trailer brakes against the drawing vehicle’s tare, and the plate caps (GCM minus GVM, handbook braked tow, the lower number wins). Second tab: payload left on the bakkie after people, a canopy, a rooftop tent and nose weight. Five dated double-cab 4x4 presets to start from, Hilux 2.8 Raider, Ranger XL, D-Max 1.9, Amarok V6, GWM P300. The plate still wins. P300 GCM is unpublished, so that field stays blank.

Worked example on load: Hilux Raider, 1 400 kg trailer, overrun brakes, Code B. Licence fail (you need EB). Brakes are enough once tare is on the disc. Plate has headroom if the bakkie is not already at GVM.

Plates beat brochures, a weighbridge beats this page.

Here it is: EB Licence Towing Calculator South Africa

If you have a disc and a trailer plate handy, I would like to know whether the verdict matches what your testing centre or insurer told you.

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Honestly, the plated numbers on the trailer are the only source of truth, same as checking a PSU wattage instead of trusting a marketing banner. Code B stops at a trailer GVM of 750 kg. Cross that plate and you need EB, even if the bakkie plus trailer still sit under 3 500 kg on the road. Combination mass is a different check against the vehicle’s GCM plate, not an extra AND that magically keeps you on B.

On my fibre run I have seen two school blogs copy each other and mash those tests together. Traffic officers in Pretoria look at the disc and the VIN plate, not your blog post. Weighbridge versus GVM is another trap, GVM is design rating, not today’s load.

Does anyone have a photo of an EB test that actually walks through both plates, trailer GVM and towing vehicle GCM, without mixing them?