Jak se stát operátorem VTC ve Francii (2026): karta, REVTC a povinnosti

1. The driver's professional VTC card

Every VTC driver needs a professional card issued by the préfet of their home department. Three routes in: passing the exam run by the Chambers of Trades and Crafts (CMA), proving at least one year of professional passenger-transport experience within the last ten years, or an EU equivalence. Baseline conditions apply: a category B licence held for at least three years, a compatible criminal record, and medical fitness.

The card is valid five years. Renewal requires fourteen hours of continuing training at an approved centre — a deadline to track per driver, or a chauffeur becomes unemployable overnight.

2. The operator's entry in the REVTC register

The card alone isn't enough: the business operating the activity (even a one-person company) must be entered in the VTC Operators Register kept by the transport ministry. The procedure is online-only, the entry is valid five years and renewable. Key file items: company registration, professional liability insurance, and financial standing of €1,500 per vehicle — waived for vehicles owned outright or leased for more than six months. The registration fee is €170.

3. The vehicle: thresholds that disqualify

A VTC vehicle must offer four to nine seats including the driver, at least four doors, minimum dimensions of 4.50 m × 1.70 m and at least 84 kW for combustion models — which must also be under seven years old. Hybrids and EVs get relaxed conditions, collector cars a separate regime. Two VTC stickers must be displayed on the windscreen and rear window.

4. Daily rules: pre-booking only, no street hails

The VTC regime fits in one sentence: no ride without a prior booking. Parking or cruising on public roads looking for clients (maraudage) is banned; showing availability and position to clients without a booking ("electronic hailing") is banned too — upheld by the Constitutional Council; on-the-spot pickups are banned. After each ride, the vehicle returns to base or off-street parking — unless a documented next booking justifies staying out.

At a roadside check, the difference between an offence and a non-event is evidence: a timestamped booking, prior to pickup, for every ride. That is exactly what a booking system produces with zero extra effort.

5. Sanctions: the register is not optional

Operating as a VTC exploitant without register entry is a criminal offence carrying up to three years' imprisonment and a €45,000 fine (article L3124-7 of the transport code, version in force), with possible additional penalties: licence suspension up to five years, vehicle immobilisation up to one year, even confiscation. Many online guides still quote the old amounts — the current text is markedly harsher.