What is a category N1 vehicle?
Category N1 covers goods vehicles whose maximum technically permissible laden mass does not exceed 3.5 tonnes: panel vans, car-derived vans, pick-ups, chassis cabs and dropsides.
Moving from one body type to another — from a panel van to a converted vehicle, for example — changes the administrative category and the document required.
Converted vehicles
A van sold bare by the manufacturer and then equipped by a bodybuilder (tipper, refrigerated box, dropside, tail lift, mobile workshop) is subject to multi-stage approval: the base manufacturer issues its COC, and the company that carried out the conversion issues its own for the completed vehicle.
For registration, it is the last stage document that describes the vehicle as it drives. Ordering only the chassis COC is not enough: the authority sees a mismatch between paper and vehicle.
Masses, payload and driving licence
The COC carries the masses that determine use: mass in running order, gross vehicle mass, braked and unbraked towable mass, gross train mass. Payload is the difference between gross vehicle mass and mass in running order.
The 3.5-tonne threshold governs the ordinary car licence; above it, a truck licence is needed. A heavy conversion can cross that threshold without the buyer noticing: reading the COC avoids that surprise.
Importing a used van: what to gather
Besides the COC, an imported van needs the foreign registration document, tax clearance, a valid national roadworthiness certificate and proof of purchase. Vans are often bought from fleets, so the seller named on the contract must match the one on the foreign registration document exactly.