Getting your log card (about a minute)
- Go to onemotoring.lta.gov.sg and log in with Singpass.
- Open Vehicle Hub → Enquire & Print Vehicle Registration Details.
- Select the vehicle from the dropdown.
- Scroll to the bottom and save as PDF (or print).
In a hurry on your phone? The Singpass app shows vehicle details under My Profile → Vehicle & Driving Licence, though it carries less detail than the full OneMotoring log card. For an insurance quote, the PDF is what you want — it has every field an underwriter asks for.
Don't own the vehicle yet? The dealer or your finance company can give you a copy.
Maximum laden weight vs unladen weight
Two weights appear on the card and they measure different things:
- Unladen weight (ULW) — what the vehicle weighs empty. No cargo, no crew.
- Maximum laden weight (MLW) — the heaviest the vehicle is legally allowed to be with its load on board.
The gap between them is what you can legally carry — and that is where the everyday "tonnage" comes from:
Tonnage = (maximum laden weight − unladen weight) ÷ 1,016
Why 1,016? Because the "ton" in a Singapore lorry is the imperial long ton — 1,016 kg — not the 1,000 kg metric tonne. That single detail is why a "3-tonner" doesn't have a tidy 3,000 kg of anything printed on its card, and why two people can argue about the same lorry's size all afternoon.
Worked example. A lorry with a maximum laden weight of 3,500 kg and an unladen weight of 1,700 kg: (3,500 − 1,700) ÷ 1,016 = 1.77 — call it a 1.8-tonner.
| If the trade calls it a… | Payload (MLW − ULW) is about |
|---|---|
| 1-tonner | 1,016 kg |
| 2-tonner | 2,032 kg |
| 3-tonner | 3,048 kg |
| 5-tonner | 5,080 kg |
Note what tonnage is not: it is not the unladen weight, and it is not the maximum laden weight. Those two are what LTA and your licence class care about — see below.
How LTA classifies your vehicle (uses MLW)
| Category | Maximum laden weight |
|---|---|
| Light Goods Vehicle (LGV) | Up to 3,500 kg |
| Heavy Goods Vehicle (HGV) | 3,501 – 16,000 kg |
| Very Heavy Goods Vehicle (VHGV) | Above 16,000 kg |
| Goods-cum-Passenger Vehicle (GPV) | Up to 5,000 kg |
Source: LTA OneMotoring — goods vehicles. Most vans and 10- to 14-foot lorries in Singapore are LGVs.
The trap: your licence class uses the other weight
This catches people out every year. LTA classifies the vehicle by maximum laden weight, but your driving licence class is decided by unladen weight. Two different numbers on the same card.
- Class 3 / 3A — motor vehicles with unladen weight up to 2,500 kg (motor cars up to 3,000 kg).
- Class 4 / 4P — heavier goods vehicles above that threshold.
- Class 5 / 5P — the heaviest vehicles, such as large tippers and prime movers.
- Electric LGVs: since 15 June 2026, Class 3 / 3A holders may drive electric light goods vehicles and electric small buses with unladen weight up to 3,000 kg — raised from 2,500 kg (Traffic Police). Worth knowing if you're eyeing an electric van.
Before you let a staff member take the lorry out, check the unladen weight against their licence class. An unlicensed driver at the wheel is also a fast route to a rejected insurance claim.
The other fields insurers care about
- Vehicle number & chassis/engine number — identifies the exact vehicle on the policy.
- Make, model and body type — a canopy, box body or tipper prices differently from a bare chassis.
- Original registration date — vehicle age is the single biggest premium factor, and past roughly 10 years most insurers offer only third-party cover.
- Engine capacity / power rating — feeds the rating tables.
- Maximum laden and unladen weight — class, payload, and which insurers will even quote you.
- COE expiry date — cover is normally aligned to it.
That's the whole reason we ask for the log card rather than a form: every field above is already on it, correctly, straight from LTA. No typos, no guessing, no twenty-question questionnaire.
What we do with yours
Send the PDF (or a clear photo) to 8832 1392 with your company name. We read the details off it, verify your NCD ourselves, shop it across insurers, and send the quote back to the same chat — usually the same day. For what the number typically looks like, see our cost guide.
WhatsApp your log card for a quote →
Weights, categories and licence rules above are from LTA and Traffic Police and were correct in September 2026; check the official pages for the current position. General information, not financial advice.
