What do driving license categories C1, C2, and C3 mean?
2 Answers
Driving license categories C1, C2, and C3 are all types of motor vehicle driving licenses, with different codes representing different permitted vehicle types. Permitted vehicle types for C1 license: Small and mini passenger vehicles, light and mini cargo vehicles; light, small, and mini specialized operation vehicles; small passenger vehicles with a seating capacity of 9 or fewer. Permitted vehicle types for C2 license: Small and mini automatic transmission passenger vehicles, and light and mini automatic transmission cargo vehicles. Permitted vehicle types for C3 license: Low-speed cargo vehicles (originally four-wheel agricultural transport vehicles), light cargo vehicles, with a vehicle length less than 6m and a total mass less than 4500kg. Other license categories: A1: Large buses and A3, B1, B2, C1, C2, C3, C4, M. A2: Tractor vehicles and B1, B2, C1, C2, C3, C4, M. A3: City buses and C1, C2, C3, C4. B1: Medium-sized buses and C1, C2, C3, C4, M (medium-sized buses refer to buses with 19 seats or fewer, such as minibuses and vans). B2: Large trucks and C1, C2, C3, C4, M. C4: Three-wheeled cars. C5: Small automatic transmission passenger vehicles for disabled individuals (referring to five categories of people: those with right lower limb disabilities, lower limb disabilities, hearing impairments, missing right thumb, or finger end defects). D: Regular three-wheeled motorcycles and E. E: Regular two-wheeled motorcycles and F. F: Light motorcycles. M: Wheeled self-propelled machinery vehicles. N: Trolley buses. P: Tram cars.
I've always thought choosing a driver's license type is quite particular. The differences between C1, C2, and C3 are significant. Simply put, C1 allows you to drive manual transmission cars like regular sedans and SUVs, but you need to operate the clutch and shift gears. C2 is much easier, only permitting automatic transmission vehicles where you just use the accelerator and brake - perfect for city traffic jams. C3 is for agricultural vehicles like tractors and tricycles, which you rarely see in urban areas. I originally chose C1 thinking 'more skills won't weigh you down', in case I needed to drive manual transmission someday, although hill starts during the test did make my hands shake with nervousness. But nowadays many new learners directly opt for C2 - simpler and more convenient, since automatics dominate the streets.
