ICBC Air Brake Test 2026: Course, Knowledge Test, Pre-Trip

On-highway and industrial endorsements

B.C. has two air brake endorsements:

On-highway: trucks, buses and recreational vehicles with air brakes on roads and highways.
Off-highway (industrial), codes 18 and 19: large vehicles with air brakes that haul natural resources on logging roads. It needs the air brake pre-trip inspection test but no knowledge test.

How to get the ICBC air brake endorsement

Complete an air brake course and keep your certificate or other proof.
Study the air brake chapters of ICBC’s Driving Commercial Vehicles guide.
At a driver licensing office, show primary and secondary ID and your proof of the course, pay the knowledge test fee and take the test.
Book and take the air brake pre-trip inspection test in a vehicle with air brakes, bringing the same ID. There’s no road test.
Pay for your new licence. You get a temporary licence with the endorsement, and the photo licence comes by mail.

What are the ICBC air brake test rules?

The knowledge test is multiple choice and in English only. You have to complete it without help.
The knowledge test fee is $15 for each attempt, and free for seniors 65 and over. The air brake pre-trip inspection test costs $20 when you take it on its own, and is free when taken at the same time as a commercial road test (ICBC’s fees page).
ICBC’s air brake course slides for schools (undated) give 25 questions with 20 correct to pass, and a 7-day wait after a fail.
After three failed attempts you complete or repeat an approved 7-hour course.
A pass is valid for one year. If the endorsement isn’t on your licence by then, you take the test again.

ICBC: Fees ↗

Air brake courses in B.C.

Driver-certification course: 7 hours of classroom theory plus 4 hours of training on the air brake pre-trip inspection. Pass it and you don’t have to take ICBC’s air brake pre-trip inspection test.
Standard course: the 7 hours of classroom theory alone.

Courses are offered throughout B.C. by driving schools, community colleges and companies that train their own employees. Drivers with a lot of air brake experience or mechanical trade qualifications may not need a course, but they still take both tests.

ICBC: Find a driving school ↗

Studying for the ICBC air brake test

For the single-unit endorsement, ICBC’s study chart lists chapters 1, 2, 8, 9 and 10 of Driving Commercial Vehicles: licensing, vehicle knowledge, air brakes, air brake adjustment and pre-trip inspections. Most chapters end with review questions you can use to check yourself.

ICBC: Driving Commercial Vehicles guide (PDF) ↗Other provinces’ manuals →

Class 1 with air brakes in B.C.

If you’re applying for a Class 1 licence, air brake training is part of B.C.’s mandatory entry-level training (MELT), and the Class 1 knowledge test covers the air brake material, so you don’t take a separate course or the single-unit test.

Which licence classes need the endorsement →

Sources: ICBC and 4 more. Checked October 2026.