The number that matters is on the plate.
Not the model name, not the badge on the door, not the tonne figure in the listing title everyone copies from the last one. A van's legal payload lives on a physical plate, and almost every van advert states a figure that came from somewhere else.
A van advert inherits every car risk, then adds one that can prosecute the buyer.
Start with what doesn't change. Mileage, service history, MOT status, keeper count, write-off category — a buyer can check almost all of it free in twenty seconds, the same as with a car, and stating one of those facts without evidence is the same trap it always was. None of that goes away just because the vehicle has a bulkhead instead of a back seat.
What's added is payload, and it changes the stakes rather than just the detail. A misdescribed car is a disappointed buyer. A van sold with an overstated payload is a vehicle that can be legally loaded past its limit by someone trusting the advert — and overloading a goods vehicle is a road traffic enforcement matter with its own penalty regime, not a case of buyer's remorse. It can invalidate insurance on top.
Which is why a payload claim gets treated the way a mileage claim already is: never inferred, never rounded, never taken from the model name. It comes from the plate, or it doesn't get written.
Four figures, one document each.
Payload and plated weight come from the vehicle's own plate — physically riveted or stamped somewhere on the chassis or door pillar, not printed in any brochure that covers every trim of a model line at once. MOT class follows from that same plated weight: Class 4 up to 3,000kg design gross, Class 7 above it to 3,500kg, decided by the number rather than the silhouette.
ULEZ compliance follows the Euro emissions standard the engine actually meets, which the registration date only approximates — trim and engine variant can put two vans from the same month either side of the line. TfL's own vehicle checker settles it against the registration number, for free.
VAT-qualifying status is the odd one out: not something written on any plate, but a fact about an unbroken chain of VAT-registered owners each reclaiming VAT at their own sale. It's a status that can only be lost, never restored once broken, and neither buyer nor writer can verify it from the outside — only the seller's own paperwork can confirm it.
Same van, before and after.
2021 Ford Transit Custom 2.0 EcoBlue L2H1 — VAT qualifying, £16,995 + VAT. Great payload, plenty of room, ply lined throughout. Full service history, one owner, ULEZ compliant, no timewasters.
2021 (71) Ford Transit Custom 2.0 EcoBlue 130ps L2H1, panel van — £16,995 [MUST SUPPLY: inclusive or exclusive of VAT?]. Payload and weight [MUST SUPPLY: MAM/plated weight and payload figure from the vehicle's own plate — do not estimate from the model name]. This is a Class [MUST SUPPLY: 4 or 7, once the plated weight is known] MOT vehicle. VAT position [MUST SUPPLY: has every owner reclaimed VAT at each sale, or does the margin scheme apply?]. Service history [MUST SUPPLY: stamp count, dates, mileages — only call it full service history if the book is complete at the manufacturer's intervals].
Every figure the seller actually gave stayed exactly as given. What changed is that "great payload" and "VAT qualifying" stopped being adjectives and became questions with a specific document behind each one — the plate, and the seller's own paperwork.
The one item that turned out not to be a real issue.
Ply lining looked, on paper, like it belonged on the same list as payload and MOT class — a van-specific detail a car advert never mentions. It doesn't, once you look closely. It's plywood fitted to protect the load area from cargo damage, exactly the same category of fact as a tow bar on a car advert: worth stating if it's there, adds nothing to the price on its own, and carries zero legal weight. Padding it into a bigger issue than that would be dishonest about how thin it actually is — and that's worth saying plainly rather than pretending every van-specific detail is equally load-bearing.
What happens after you pay.
- Paste the advert as it stands. Headline, description, and whatever spec, payload, MOT, ULEZ or VAT lines you've already written — do not tidy them first.
- Top up once. This job costs about 28p — never more than 40p — and spends only what the report actually costs. Have the plate, the V5C and the service book to hand for the second pass, once the gaps come back.
- Back comes a scored report. Every unsupported claim ranked, a rewritten advert with payload, MOT class, ULEZ and VAT position marked as gaps to confirm rather than guessed, and the load-area detail written up properly.
A generation that fails spends nothing.
Fit.
Worth it if
- You've written "VAT qualifying" or a payload figure without checking the plate first.
- You're not sure whether your van is Class 4 or Class 7.
- You know it's ULEZ compliant but couldn't say which Euro standard proves it.
- The advert reads like a car advert with "van" swapped in, and you suspect that's exactly the problem.
Not worth it if
- You want a payload figure calculated for you. It reads adverts; it doesn't weigh vehicles or read plates on your behalf.
- Your vehicle is over 3.5 tonnes gross. That moves into operator-licensing territory this job doesn't cover.
- You want the VAT-qualifying chain verified. Only your own paperwork, or the seller before you, can do that.
What van sellers ask before reading the plate.
Why can't a payload figure just come from the tonne in the model name?
Because a "3.5 tonne" badge names the gross weight class the van is sold in, not what it can actually carry. Payload is that gross figure minus the van's own unladen weight with a driver and a full tank, and unladen weight moves with wheelbase, roof height, and every option box ticked at order — a crew cab and a panel van on the identical base model can differ by well over 100kg. The only number worth writing down is the one stamped on the plate for that exact vehicle.
What happens if the manufacturer's plate and the Ministry plate disagree?
The Ministry plate governs, and it is worth knowing that before an advert states a figure from the wrong one. Some vans carry both, fitted at different stages of their life, and a converter or bodybuilder's plate added after a modification can change the legal maximum from the one the factory issued. Read whichever plate is currently fitted and treat that as the figure — not the higher of the two, and not the one that looks more official.
My van looks huge. Surely it's the bigger MOT class?
Looks are not the test. Class 4 covers everything up to and including 3,000kg design gross weight, the same class as an ordinary car, and Class 7 only starts above that, up to 3,500kg. A tall, long-wheelbase panel van can sit comfortably in Class 4 if its plated weight says so, while a shorter, stockier chassis-cab conversion can tip into Class 7. The plate decides, not the silhouette.
Do I need an operator's licence to sell a van I've used for my own deliveries?
Almost certainly not, and it is worth saying so plainly rather than manufacturing a compliance hurdle that isn't there. The O-licence threshold sits at 3.5 tonnes gross plated weight for hire-or-reward or business use domestically, and most private and small-trade van sales never come near it. It will state the threshold your van sits under rather than asserting a blanket "no licence needed" as if that were true for every van regardless of weight.
Two nearly identical vans, one Euro 6 and one not — how would a buyer even tell from the advert?
Usually they can't, from the registration date alone, which is exactly the trap. The same model year can straddle a Euro standard cut-off depending on engine and trim, so a plate reading a few weeks either side of the boundary tells a buyer nothing certain. The reliable route is TfL's own vehicle checker against the registration number, and the advert should point there rather than asserting compliance from a date that is only ever a proxy.
If I genuinely don't know whether it's VAT qualifying, what should the advert say?
Say that plainly rather than guessing either way. VAT-qualifying status depends on an unbroken chain of VAT-registered owners each reclaiming VAT at the point of sale, and it is lost the instant one owner in that chain didn't — information no advert-writer can verify from the outside. A business buyer's own reclaim depends on the true answer, so stating it wrong in either direction is a financial misrepresentation, not a rounding error.
The load area has racking fitted from my trade — does that need disclosing like the plate does?
It's worth mentioning because a buyer either wants racking or wants a clear load floor to fit their own, but it carries none of the legal weight a plated figure does. State whether it's fitted, note that removing it is usually straightforward, and leave it in the load-area detail rather than treating it as a condition affecting roadworthiness.
Have the advert read.
Paste it as it stands. Have the plate, the V5C and the service book to hand for the second pass.
Top up once. No subscription. This job costs about 28p — never more than 40p — and spends only what it uses. A change is another go at the job, so it costs pence too.