RouteSafe has a 7-day free trial with no card required. After the trial it costs £5/year for individual drivers or £25/year for fleets.

Can I use Google Maps or Waze for truck navigation?

They will navigate you, but they don't take vehicle height, width or weight into account, so they can route trucks under low bridges or into weight-limited roads. For a truck, van or HGV you need navigation that checks restrictions against your vehicle's dimensions.

Is there a completely free truck sat nav for the UK?

The best-known free truck-routing apps are built for the US market and use US road data. For UK roads, truck-aware navigation is generally paid — RouteSafe keeps that cost to £5 a year after a free 7-day trial.

Does RouteSafe work offline?

RouteSafe can cache the map along your planned route so brief signal drops don't leave you with a blank screen, but it is not a full offline sat nav — planning a route needs a connection.

Free truck navigation in the UK — what your options really are

If you search for "free truck navigation" you'll find two kinds of results: ordinary sat-nav apps that are free but ignore truck restrictions, and truck sat navs that are paid but offer a free trial. This page lays out both honestly.

RouteSafe is a UK truck-safe navigation app. Enter your registration and it identifies your vehicle via a DVLA lookup, suggests its dimensions for you to review and adjust, then plans routes that are checked against mapped height, width and weight limits, low bridges and bus-lane / access restrictions before you drive. It runs in your phone's browser — 7-day free trial, then £5/year for drivers or £25/year for fleets.

Try RouteSafe free for 7 days
No card required · then £5/year for drivers, £25/year for fleets · runs in your phone's browser

RouteSafe vs typical free navigation options for UK truck drivers
Feature	RouteSafe	Typical free option
Price	7-day free trial, then £5/year	Free
Knows your truck's height, width and weight	Yes — DVLA reg lookup suggests them; you can review and adjust	No — routes you like a car
Checks low bridges and access restrictions on your route	Yes — mapped UK restriction data, checked before you drive	No
Bus-lane and vehicle-access rules	Checked, with timed rules flagged	Not considered
Voice navigation	Yes	Yes
Built for UK roads	Yes — UK-only by design	Varies

Why 'free' car sat navs are risky in a truck

Free consumer apps such as general-purpose map apps don't ask how tall or heavy your vehicle is. A route that is fine for a car can take a 4.2 m box van under a 3.9 m bridge. Bridge strikes are a driver's personal liability in the UK — the saving on an app is not worth the risk.

Genuinely free truck-routing apps do exist, but the best-known ones are built for the United States and use US truck data — they don't know UK bridge heights, UK weight limits or UK bus-lane rules.

What you get with RouteSafe

Truck-safe route checking. Routes are checked against mapped low bridges, height, width and weight limits, and bus-lane and vehicle-access restrictions along the way — and RouteSafe tells you when a road's access could not be verified rather than quietly sending you down it.

DVLA registration lookup. Type your number plate and RouteSafe identifies your vehicle from official DVLA records, then suggests its dimensions, which you can review and adjust before routing.

Voice turn-by-turn navigation with spoken alerts for restrictions, mapped speed cameras and speed limits, plus community reports from other drivers.

Simple fleet view. Managers can see where their drivers are while they navigate — drivers join by code or accept an invitation, and nothing is shared without their consent.

Honest pricing. 7-day free trial, then £5/year for individual drivers or £25/year for fleets. No card needed to try it.

What RouteSafe costs after the free trial

RouteSafe is free for 7 days with no card required. After that it's £5/year for an individual driver or £25/year for a fleet — deliberately priced so that cost is never the reason a driver risks a car sat nav in a truck.

Frequently asked questions

Is RouteSafe free?: RouteSafe has a 7-day free trial with no card required. After the trial it costs £5/year for individual drivers or £25/year for fleets.
Can I use Google Maps or Waze for truck navigation?: They will navigate you, but they don't take vehicle height, width or weight into account, so they can route trucks under low bridges or into weight-limited roads. For a truck, van or HGV you need navigation that checks restrictions against your vehicle's dimensions.
Is there a completely free truck sat nav for the UK?: The best-known free truck-routing apps are built for the US market and use US road data. For UK roads, truck-aware navigation is generally paid — RouteSafe keeps that cost to £5 a year after a free 7-day trial.
Does RouteSafe work offline?: RouteSafe can cache the map along your planned route so brief signal drops don't leave you with a blank screen, but it is not a full offline sat nav — planning a route needs a connection.