Category CE driving licence (or C1E)

Driving licence for LGV, HGV, lorry or truck vehicles with a trailer

Category CE is a combination of vehicles consisting of a category C lorry and its trailer or semi-trailer with a maximum mass over 750 kg.

Content

• General Information: category CE
• Course for category CE drivers
• Category C1E driving licence
• State exams for category CE and C1E drivers
• Other useful information for category CE students

General Information: category CE

Course for category CE drivers

A category CE driving licence is a natural continuation to obtaining a category C driving licence. Often, people train for categories C and CE simultaneously. The law does not forbid it, but you should remember that you can start a driving course for category CE only after obtaining a category C driving licence.

During the ten theory lessons as a minimum, you will learn more in depth about traffic rules, traffic psychology, and behaviour in traffic to have a sufficient understanding of the requirements for the new category. During the minimum ten driving lessons, you will learn to drive a combination of vehicles on a training track (including attaching vehicles to each other) and on roads with varying traffic density. You can take a look at the category CE curriculum here.

Category C1E driving licence

Category C1E refers to a combination of vehicles consisting of subcategory C1 lorry and its trailer or semi-trailer with a maximum mass over 750 kg. Remember that the maximum mass of the traction unit and the trailer cannot exceed 12,000 kg.

The traction unit of a subcategory C1E combination of vehicles can also be a category B car towing a trailer with a maximum mass over 3,500 kg. In this case, the maximum mass of the combination of vehicles cannot exceed 12,000 kg either.

The curriculum for subcategory C1E is the same as for category CE and for this reason, category C1E courses are not very common in Estonia – the training and the price are practically identical and therefore, people prefer to obtain the full category CE driving licence.

State exams for category CE and C1E drivers

The rules of the state exams for category CE and C1E drivers are the same.

The theory test consists of 30 questions, five of which are about road safety. You are allowed a maximum of four mistakes, but only one in the case of questions about road safety. You will have 30 minutes to complete the test.

The driving test is carried out in two stages – exercises on the training track and driving on the road. You have to complete the following exercises on the training track:

• reversing onto a marked area with a turn;
• safe parking for loading cargo;
• forming a combination of vehicles and decoupling it.

You will have up to 10 minutes to complete the first two exercises. You will be given another 10 minutes to form a combination of vehicles. The diagrams, descriptions, and assessment criteria of the exercises are available here.

The road traffic part of the driving test lasts about 45 minutes. For more information on state exams and assessment, please click on this link

After passing the tests, you will be issued a category CE driving licence valid for five years.

Please note! A category CE and C1E driving licence automatically allows you to drive a category BE combination of vehicles, and a category T vehicle and a combination of vehicles.

Other useful information for category CE students

At Liikluslab, you can complete a theory course for category CE drivers online.

Liikluslab also helps prepare for the theory test – check and improve the level of your knowledge. The study environment will indicate the likelihood of passing the test (if interested, read more about the AI algorithms here.

To start your training, you must first select a suitable driving school. You can read about the aspects to consider when choosing a driving school and where to find a list of driving schools along with the feedback of trainees here.

Before starting a driving course, you should obtain a health certificate. If you already have one, check its validity. This process is described in greater detail here.

If you fail the driving test of the Transport Administration three times, you are referred back to a driving school for continued training. You can read more about it here.