A van does not pay the car rate. It is a goods vehicle, and every 2-axle goods vehicle is Class C at the Dartford Crossing, whatever it weighs. The only line that moves your van is the axle count.
How much is the Dart Charge for a van?
A van pays £4.20 per crossing (£3.60 on a pre-pay account). That is Class C, and it applies to every van at any weight, because gov.uk classes a van as a goods vehicle and charges 2-axle goods vehicles £4.20. It is 70p more than the £3.50 car rate. The charge applies 6am to 10pm; crossings between 10pm and 6am are free.
It is widely repeated that a van under 3.5 tonnes pays the car rate. The Dartford charging scheme has no weight threshold in it at all. The Dartford-Thurrock Crossing Charging Scheme Order 2013 builds its goods classes from the axle-based categories in the 2001 vehicle-class regulations, and deliberately not from the 3.5-tonne, 12-tonne mass categories the same regulations define alongside them. gov.uk reflects that: its Class C row reads simply "Vehicles with 2 axles", under a heading that names vans.
Two-axle goods vehicles, at any weight. This is where a van lands whether it is a car-derived van or a 7-tonne box.
PAYG
£4.20
Pre-pay
£3.60
Includes:
Adding a third axle doubles the charge. Weight still does not come into it.
PAYG
£8.40
Pre-pay
£7.20
Includes:
Two things decide it, and neither is the weight. First, does the vehicle carry goods? Second, how many axles has it got?
Our arithmetic over the gov.uk Class C rates across 52 weeks, counting each direction as its own crossing. The last column is what the 3.5-tonne myth would have cost you to believe: the gap between the Class C rate a van actually pays and the £3.50 car rate it is often said to pay.
| Crossings a week | Class C PAYG | Class C pre-pay | Pre-pay saves | Over the car rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1x£36/yr over the car rate | £218 | £187 | £31/yr | |
| 2x£73/yr over the car rate | £437 | £374 | £62/yr | |
| 3x£109/yr over the car rate | £655 | £562 | £94/yr | |
| 5x£182/yr over the car rate | £1092 | £936 | £156/yr | |
| 10x£364/yr over the car rate | £2184 | £1872 | £312/yr |
A pre-pay account holds up to 20 vehicles, all charged at the discounted rate, all billed via one Direct Debit. The fleet guide covers the admin side, downloadable reports and end-of-year tax exports.
A van pays £4.20 per crossing, or £3.60 on a pre-pay account. Vans are goods vehicles, and gov.uk puts every 2-axle goods vehicle in Class C regardless of what it weighs, so a small Berlingo and a 7-tonne box van pay the same. The charge applies 6am to 10pm; crossings between 10pm and 6am are free.
Yes. A car is Class B at £3.50 (£2.80 pre-pay) and a van is Class C at £4.20 (£3.60 pre-pay), so a van costs 70p more per crossing pay-as-you-go and 80p more on pre-pay. The gap is not about size or weight: gov.uk lists vans under 'Buses, coaches, vans and other goods vehicles', which is a different table from cars.
A Ford Transit pays £4.20 per crossing, or £3.60 on a pre-pay account. It is a 2-axle goods vehicle, which is Class C. Weight makes no difference: the short-wheelbase 3.1-tonne Transit and the 4.7-tonne jumbo are both Class C, and neither pays the £3.50 car rate.
No. The Dartford charging scheme has no weight threshold at all. The Dartford-Thurrock Crossing Charging Scheme Order 2013 sets the goods classes by axle count, taking the axle-based categories from the 2001 vehicle-class regulations rather than the 3.5-tonne and 12-tonne mass categories those same regulations define. Two axles is Class C at £4.20; more than two is Class D at £8.40.
Yes. A pre-pay account cuts a Class C van from £4.20 to £3.60 per crossing, a saving of 60p, and a Class D vehicle from £8.40 to £7.20. One account holds up to 20 vehicles, all charged the discounted rate via a single Direct Debit.
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