License requirements to tow a heavy trailer!

As mentioned in a previous post, in our province of British Columbia, Canada, a driver is required to get additional driver's licensing endorsements. In BC, any recreational trailer over 10,000 pounds requires additional licensing. Some other provinces, as well some states in the US, also have special requirements. You should take a look into this because if you do choose to tow and your province or state has requirements and you have an accident, your insurance may be void if not licensed and required to be.

In BC, the requirements are as follows from ICBC.

See ICBC Fact sheet here about testing and requirements

Bill and I were still living in Victoria on Vancouver Island when our rig arrived at the RV dealership and we had no license to tow. We had to get a buddy to help us out (our thanks again, Steve) to get it to the RV Park we planned to stay in while working on getting our licenses. After making calls around Victoria all the way as far as Nanaimo, we discovered this is going to be more of a challenge than we initially thought. None of the commercial driving schools had a rig of their own we could use, so that meant towing our rig to use at the school, which we couldn't do, and none of the driving schools would agree to pick us up at our RV park... well, crap!! We only knew two people licensed to tow and thought about asking, but that would mean they'd have to take time off work.

We knew we had to pass through Kelowna on the way back to our hometown, so we thought if we could somehow get the rig to Kelowna, perhaps there was a school there. After an entire day on Google and the phone making calls, I found a school who could help us out as well as pick us up at our RV site....now to find an RV park in Kelowna with availability on such short notice and most places booked up. Another day spent on Google and making calls and jackpot....I found a lovely small RV park located in an orchard that has since become one of our go-to's when passing through K-Town. With everything booked now, how to get our trailer there? We are blessed with a number of great friends, and Bill had a buddy ( thank you, Jamie) willing to make the road trip with us and expenses paid by us of course including his flight back to Victoria.

Now with a plan in place, mine and Bill's next hurdle was to study and pass a knowledge test so we could get learner's permits, which are required by ICBC, as well by the driving school before they can take you out....fortunately, we both passed.

We managed to get the rig to K-town and meet with the driving school Taylor Pro Driving here.

They came to our RV site and spent time going through what would be on the test. There is a pre-inspection as well as a road test. The pre-inspection has quite a bit of information and things to learn that ICBC will test on. Once we spent a better part of the day learning about making a pre trip inspections, we hit the road, each taking turns driving. When it was my turn to drive, I will admit I was a bit nervous. I had never towed anything in my life and was about to tow a 39-foot behemoth of a rig. But hey, if I can get over my fear and learn to ride a motorcycle, then I can do this too. Happy to report I hit nothing, and we all made it back alive! Even had one lady roll down her window and give me a thumbs up when she pulled up beside us looking surprised to see a woman behind the wheel.

The very next day, Taylor Pro Driving picked us and the rig up to take us to ICBC for our road tests. With one day of training and maybe a few hours of drive time under my belt, I was very nervous. Bill had previous experience towing our 28 ft Jayco, so I think he was less nervous than I.

Bill tested first, and God, I was hoping he would pass, or the pressure was all on me, and if we both failed, we were screwed and had no way to get our trailer home. I sat in the neighboring Subway with the driving instructor as we crept on Bill's pre-inspection and watched him pull away. He rounded the back of ICBC and came out to the main road, and as we watched the light turning red, expecting Bill to stop, he flew through the light on what looked like a red light....well, the look on both our faces as we looked at each other! We were like, was that light red he just flew through? The instructor was like if that was red, it's an instant fail. My stomach sank, and my anxiety on overdrive at this point as the clock ticked ever so slowly waiting for his return and results. That was the longest 30 minutes of my life. Turns out the light was yellow, and although he did get dinged a demerit for that light, he passed.

Now my turn....mine was not as exciting an exit from the ICBC testing centre as Bill's was, LOL. Driving this big rig in a populated town and in a city I was unfamiliar with was scary and I managed to just pass my test....one more demerit and it would have been a fail, but hey, a pass is a pass. I was really proud of us given we had one day to practice the pre-inspection and not a lot of road time before having our road tests.

I thank Taylor Pro Driving as they were great and would highly recommend them. I have to add that most of my fear of towing was all in my head; once I got going, it really wasn't that bad.

I wanted to be able to know how to tow our rig, hook up, and unhook it. What if during our travels something were to happen, and Bill could not drive, and we're down South with nobody who can help us out? It's been very empowering, and we've learned a lot. We know we will be traveling the roads more safely for ourselves as well as the people driving around us.

We definitely had to jump through many hoops to get here but all worth it now that we're on the road making our plans and dreams realities. Don't let a few little bumps in the road get in your way, find a way around them!

Safe travels,

Bill & Cat