Heavy vehicle (truck) license

Do I need a heavy vehicle license to drive this truck? If so, has anyone gotten a licence? Any advice?

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No idea but I bet if you pulled over ten of these blue trucks, five of the drivers would be unlicensed altogether

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under 3.5 tons with black and white license plate : regular license ok.
if its green license plate, it means you need truck license which involves another set of tests which you do at the dmv.

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That’s really useful information for those that need it.

Truck in the picture has black and white license plates so I’m guessing

if you drive it while chewing betel nuts and wearing blue flip-flops, it’s legal.

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the vehicle license plate reflects its registration category. regular license is black and white, other colors require special license (e.g. red and white is taxi, you need special license even though its a regular passenger vehicle ). So as long as the blue truck is black and white its ok.

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Thanks everyone. A bit scary to think anyone (with a car license) can just jump in and start driving these trucks. Sure, they are not that big, but they do require a whole different set of skills and they operate and handle very differently from passenger cars.

Mine did not come with the starter package (betel nuts, white frock and blue skippers), need to order it seperately

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You also need to pass the test and hold a licence that requires a “Manual Transmission Vehicle” as these blue trucks are almost all made with manual gears.

Most Taiwanese just have a licence that allows them to operate an automatic so you won’t see a lot of young 18 year olds who just passed the car test driving these blue trucks.

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They are also subject to different traffic rules. If you drive a blue truck, you get a 3 second grace period when the traffic light turns red. And if you honk, you get an extra 3 seconds.

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Yield to another car and your license is cancelled is another rule you should pay attention to.

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I think the 3.5 T is also the usual class in Europe for light commercial vehicles

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About the same as driving a large moving van.

I think the license is the same at that weight class, but to register a truck you need either (a) A bizniz, or (b) a farm.
There are allegedly ways around it involving registering it by some kind of cooperative.

If you DO take the truck test, you’d better forget any mechanical knowledge you might have, because the official mechanical knowledgee test is a Boys Bumper Book of Bollocks.

I suspect it was cut and pasted from Quora

Some driving schools, like this one, have classes -and the equipment - for you to practice getting specific kind of licenses such as heavy vehicles.

台北聯合汽車駕訓班
02 2893 6889

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They are way easier to drive than the western new trucks and SUVs to be honest.

To add to @izzy, which he mentioned but just to clarify. black and white plates over 3.5T, you need another test for those as well. the truck in the pic is 3.49 (note the weight is specifically like that. Or, perhaps it is the laws are specifically to allow that truck. either way. 3.5 is the line along with plate types :slight_smile:

I remember reading somewhere that foreigners weren’t allowed to drive/own one of those little blue trucks.
Am I mistaken or have things changed?

I own one.

You just need your regular auto or manual license. as above, under 3.5t.

These trucks, for Taiwanese as well, are for work. Work can be a pretty broad brush, you dont have to have a company.

one exception to the foreigner issue is that foreigners cannot be registered farmers unless on a JFRV to someone who is a farmer, so the farming reason wont work if they cared to check. Lots of other work related uses for a truck though.

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