There has been a lot of confusion as to wether you need to register your caravan to travel into Europe or not. This is partly because HM Government decided to change the rules without first updating their website. Most people’s first port of call to check if something is right or not is social media. They would then probably check gov.uk to verify any statements made as fact.

In this case, when people were searching if they needed to register their caravan to travel into European they’d see a page on gov.uk that said you didn’t need to, which of course caused confusion, and I was one of those people.

I’m travelling to France soon so I needed to clear things up for myself, I didn’t want to trust anyone else’s information, after all, it’s me that would be fined, not them! So I started researching and every piece of “fact” I could find told me I didn’t need to. The criteria was if the trailer (in our case caravan) was over 3,500kg, which most UK caravans are not, or if it’s being used commercially, which again, most UK caravans are not. Neither applied to me, job done, let’s go to France, but hang on, I had something nagging at me…

Where Did The Trailer Registration For Europe “Rumours” Start?

There were Facebook posts of course, backed up by people saying they’d spoken to DVLA and they were told you do need to register a caravan to travel into Europe. Interesting.

After spending a couple of hours “arguing” in my head about it, thinking it would be just like the “International Driver’s Licence” in the wake of BREXIT – where there was confusion, so I get an International Driver’s License, only too find out before I left, it now wasn’t needed. I decided to ring DVLA myself. Well, actually I tried “web chat”. After about 30 mins I think I was “talking” to a human and I asked. Another 10 minutes later, “that department doesn’t use webchat, you’ll have to ring”. Great. Deep breath…

Contacting DVLA to Confirm Caravan Registration Requirements

I rang the DVLA to try and confirm if I needed to register my caravan to travel to France. Now I was only doing this because I was about to leave on holiday to France with the caravan in tow…

I was told I’d be on hold to 2 minutes, 30 minutes later, I gave up. However, what I did find out, from a message whilst on hold was that “trailers AND caravans need to register to travel to Europe” Ah, well they changed a bit for me. I changed from being a cynic to thinking I might as well register the bloody thing, it’s only £26!

So, Do I need to register my Caravan For EU Travel?

Yes. There, I’ve said it (evidence below). You do need to register your caravan to travel to France. As of today, you don’t need to register if you’re in Spain or Ireland (and a few other countries). I won’t give and exhaustive list here as things change, I’ll reference the documents at the bottom of the page. Remember, if you’re going to Spain, but travelling through France, registration is still needed.

How Do I Register My Caravan To Travel To France?

Well, it’s quite easy, but as of today there are a few things to point out. Now these may be corrected in the coming months, but as of today…

Go to

https://www.gov.uk/register-trailer-to-take-abroad

If might tell you you don’t need to, but the important document has now been updated

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/68b15fcf23468ce937e0e985/trailer-registration-numbers-and-number-plates-INF291.pdf

Now in here it states (as of today August 2025)

Here is clearly states :

This applies to commercial and
non-commercial trailers (for example, a caravan
or horsebox).

So, there it is, in writing, even though as of today other parts of the website, including the application form tells you that you don’t need to register your caravan. A bit of a sh!t show they will undoubtedly be sorted our in the near future.

Oh and when you fill in the application form, it’ll ask you or the manufacturer, but there are no caravan manufacturers, so enter it manually…

Do I Get a Registration Plate For My Caravan?

When you complete the application you are emailed a “registration number” you can use this to get a number plate. It’s a WHITE number plate, the sort we’d have on the front of a car, although it’s square like a motorbike number plate. I know, weird that it’s a white number plate on the back, but remember this is an EU thing NOT a UK requirement.

Some have asked about lighting the number plate, it seems there’s no requirement to have it lit (the full requirements are in the document INF291) and it needs to be “as far away from the vehicle registration number as possible” If you can’t find a place on the back of the caravan you can put one on each side of the caravan. That’ll look just lovely..

Where Can I Get A Trailer Number Plate For My Caravan?

https://www.gov.uk/number-plate-supplier

Conclusion

To be perfectly clear, you do need to register you caravan. You do not need it for use of your caravan in the UK, so if you’ve been to Europe, on your return you can take it off, then put if back when you return to Europe.

Carry On The Conversation

https://talkwrench.com