Become a taxi driver

Verified 13 July 2026 - Entreprendre Service Public / (Prime Minister)

Want to become a taxi driver? It is essential to have your driver's license, a medical certificate, training in 1ers rescue and one clean criminal record. You must pass an exam and then apply for a business card. Then you need to get a license, called ADS (parking permit). We present you with the necessary information.

Step-by-step approach

Check that you are filling in all the following conditions:

The prefecture checks all these documents and certificates when applying for a professional card.

It is impossible to work as a taxi driver if one of the following convictions appears on bulletin No. 2 of the criminal record:

  • Conviction for an offense punishable by the Highway Code by a reduction of half of the maximum number of points of the driving license
  • Conviction for driving a vehicle without holding a driving license corresponding to the category of the vehicle used or for driving despite the cancelation of the driving license or despite the prohibition on obtaining the issue of the license, or for refusing to surrender his driving license after its invalidation or cancelation
  • Sentence handed down by a French or foreign court to a criminal or correctional sentence of at least 6 months' imprisonment for theft, fraud, breach of trust, willful violation of personal integrity, sexual assault, arms trafficking, extortion or drug offenses.

Anticipating difficulties

These courses are optional, but recommended for your success.

  • Plan for the difficulties
    • Make a financial reserve to deal with unforeseen events
    • Prepare for the steady pace of work

Please note

Find out more about the job. For example, on the differences in exercise between taxi drivers and VTC driver.

Make a business plan

It is advisable to make a business plan of your future company.

It's a essential file for convince the banks to support you.

It is also a management tool over the first 3 years. We explain how to develop it.

FYI  

We offer you tips and tools to prepare you for entrepreneurship.

You can also be accompanied by your CMA: titleContent.

1st possibility: be a craftsman

Characteristics of your status as a craftsman

As a craftsman, you are independent.

Your benefits come back to you entirely.

You must be owner of your license (either purchased or obtained free of charge).

You are responsible for your vehicle, its maintenance and insurance.

Creation of your company

You must build your company :

  1. For this, you must first choose the legal form of your company.
    • If you go it alone: micro-entrepreneur, EI, EURL or SASU
    • If you want to build a business with associates: SARL or SAS
  2. Then you have to register your company at RNE: titleContent.

Window of company formalities

The declarant shall create a personal account. Then he must click on the column " Company » and then on « File a company formality ». One interactive online form of 8 pages is proposed to him; he must fill it out step by step. Instructions for use are available on this Single Window website.

The Chamber of Trades and Crafts (CMA) of each region is the interlocutor of the craftsmen.

The advisers of the CMA: titleContent are there for the accompany and the advisor in their efforts.

They can be reached by telephone or by mail :

Who shall I contact

2nd possibility: be a license tenant

You must rent a license with a Specialized company in taxi licensing.

You sign one lease management agreement with the company.

The minimum contract duration is 1 year.

You have to pay a monthly rent for the license.

The rent price depends on the rental company.

Example :

In Paris, the monthly rent for a taxi license is about €3,500.

Characteristics of your status

You are an independent contractor.

It is the rental company that must maintain your car.

You receive all of your revenue.

You are not covered by unemployment insurance in the event of your activity ceasing.

Creation of your company

You must build your company :

  1. For this, you must first choose the legal form of your company.
    • If you go it alone (micro-entrepreneur, EI, EURL or SASU)
    • If you want to build a business with associates (SARL or SAS)
  2. Then you have to declare your craft activity
  3. You must register your company at RNE: titleContent.

3rd possibility: be an employee

You can practice the trade by being an employee of a company of taxis.

You are bound by an employment contract with your employer.

You do not have a license taxi personally.

You perceive a fixed salary.

You also receive a percentage of your monthly sales on your meter.

Please note

It is the company who maintains your car and pays for its insurance.

What training?

Training to become a taxi driver is highly recommended to get a chance to pass the exam.

It is not mandatory.

Training can last between 50 hours and 300 hours The duration varies depending on the training center and the place where you are doing it.

The content of the training is intended to prepare for the exam.

It trains you in written theoretical tests (regulations) and practical tests (driving, behavior, etc.).

Where to find taxi training?

You find there list of approved training centers on the website of your prefecture.

Who shall I contact

France Travail (formerly Job center) offers a search tool to find the training which suits you :

Where can I find my taxi driver training?

How much does the training cost?

It can cost between €400 and €3,000 The price varies according to the training center and the number of hours.

It is payable either online at the training center or on site.

You can use your personal training account.

You can get aid for its financing seeking advice from France Travail (formerly Job center).

Who shall I contact

  • By phone 

    39.49

    • To update your situation, report a change of situation, inform you of a payment: automated service 7 days a week, 24 hours a day - Free service + call price
    • To be put in contact with an advisor to register, inquire, modify an appointment: service accessible at the times set by each agency France Travail (formerly Job center) - Service gratuitous + price call

    From the foreigner: + 33 1 77 86 39 49

    By courier

    Access via the contact form

Please note

Most training centers offer distance learning, so that you can prepare even in the event of, for example, a health crisis.

Successful completion of the exam results in business card.

How do I register for the exam?

You must register on the website of the CMA: titleContent of your region.

What are the tests?

The event takes place in 2 parts :

  1. Knowledge Tests
    • Management company and accounting
    • Regulation on taxi activity
    • Regulations on gender-based offenses and/or sexual and on the discrimination (definition, prevention, penalties incurred)
    • Rules of road safety
    • Mastery of French and theenglish
  2. Practical test :
    • 20-minute route from driving as a taxi driver. You must prepare it, secure it (anticipate difficulties, works, facilitate the journey) and carry it out.
    • The examiner then checks the following:
      • Your knowledge on the territory traveled (geographical, cultural, tourist)
      • Your ability to welcome a customer
      • Your ability to charge a customer and to use the credit card terminal

When you succeed the exam, you receive a certificate from the CMA: titleContent.

If you pass the exam, you are entitled to your professional card.

It pays off.

Its cost is about €60, payable online on the simplified procedures.

To receive your card, you must ask for it with your prefecture.

There is no time limit between passing the exam and applying for a professional card. However, if the application comes more than 5 years after passing the exam, you must provide a certificate of continuing education that is less than 5 years old.

You must fill out a form, available on the website of simplified procedures.

Application for a professional taxi driver card

Who shall I contact
Documents to be provided for your card application

You must send the Prefecture copies of the following documents:

  • Identity card (CNI: titleContent) front/back or passport
  • Valid driving license
  • Certificate of passing the exam
  • Positive medical opinion (cerfa no. 14880)
  • 2 recent photos

FYI  

Your card is only valid to carry out your activity in the department where you have passed the exam.

In the event of a violation of the regulations applicable to the profession by the driver of a taxi, the administrative authority may give him a warning or temporarily or permanently withdraw his professional card.

You want to work in a different department than the one where you took the exam.

This extension is called the interdepartmental mobility.

Warning  

You have the right to practice in 4 departments maximum.

Perform a mandatory internship

To be entitled to practice in another department, you must pass a continuing education course.

It lasts 2 p.m. (or 35 hours in Paris).

The purpose of the internship is to acquire knowledge about the 2 elements following:

  • New geographical, cultural and tourist territory
  • Local regulation

You find there list of approved training centers on the website of your prefecture.

Who shall I contact
Apply for a new business card

If you validate the internship, you receive a attestation.

You must make a request from new map on which are indicated the new departments where you can practice.

To do this, you must fill out a mobility application form.

This new map is fee-paying.

Its cost is about €60, payable online on the website of the simplified procedures.

Mobility request for the professional taxi driver card

The taxi license is officially called parking authorization (ADS).

More commonly, we talk about plate.

She is mandatory for all taxis.

Every taxi driver must have an ADS associated with his vehicle to drive.

The perimeter of the territory covered by the ADS must be registered in the taximeter of the vehicle.

Only the taxi driver holding an ADS has the right to pick up customers who hail him on the street, on the public road (principle of marauding).

Warning  

The taxi driver who wants to pick up a customer outside from territory defined by its ADS, must be able to submit a supporting document from prior reservation in case of control.

A taxi driver who does not have a license (ADS) or who wishes to take a race in outside the territorial jurisdiction of its ADS, must justify a prior reservation.

The proof of prior reservation is mandatory to prove that any trip is made following the reservation of a customer, before the race.

It can be presented on a support electronic or paper.

This document must include the mentions following:

  • Number of the taxi operator's parking permit
  • Name or company name and contact details of the business operating a taxi
  • Unique identification number (Siren number) of the operator issued at the time of registration in the National Register of companies (RNE)
  • Name and telephone number of the customer requesting a particular public transport service for persons for consideration 
  • Date and time of the prior reservation made by the customer
  • Date and time of pick-up desired by the customer
  • Pick-up location indicated by the customer.

The craftsman can obtain the license (or ADS) of 3 ways different:

  • By asking her at her town hall for free
  • By buying it from another taxi
  • By renting it to a specialized company

After obtaining, the ADS is renewed automatically without any procedure to be carried out.

It may be withdrawn by the administrative authority in certain cases (violation of the regulations applicable to the driver, death, medical incapacity) or at the initiative of its holder.

Warning  

It is not possible to obtain for free or rent the license if the craftsman does not own the business card. There is no technical reason why the license cannot be purchased without the card; however, it will then have to prove that it is rented or that it hires a card holder employee who will use the license.

Free

General scenario

You must enter on a waiting list to your town hall.

Registration for your application must be renewed every year.

The waiting time is often very long in large cities (several years).

The priority is given to employee taxis or leasing a license and already in operation for at least 2 years.

Who shall I contact

Warning  

If you want resell a license obtained for free before 1er October 2014, you have to wait 15 years of activity without discontinuous.

Paris

You must enter on a waiting list with the police prefecture in Paris.

Registration for your application must be renewed every year.

The waiting time is often very long (several years).

The priority is given to employee taxis or leasing a license and already in operation for at least 2 years.

Warning  

If you want resell a license obtained for free before 1er October 2014, you have to wait 15 years of activity without discontinuous.

Purchased

You can buy your license from a taxi that sells its own.

The price is set by the seller.

It may vary between €30,000 and €300,000.

Example :

In Paris, the cost of a license is about €190,000. In Nice, it is €250,000.

You cannot buy a license that a taxi has obtained for free after the 1er october 2014. If he got it for free before On this date, it can resell it to you only after a minimum of 15 years of continuous use.

Warning  

You can resell a purchased license, provided that at least 5 years of use without discontinuous.

Rented

You can rent a license with a Specialized company in taxi licensing.

You sign one lease management agreement with the company.

The minimum contract duration is 1 year.

You have to pay a monthly rent for the license.

The rent price depends on the rental company.

Characteristics of your status

You are an entrepreneur independent.

It is the rental company that must maintain your car.

You receive all of your revenue.

You are not covered by unemployment insurance in the event of your activity ceasing.

How long is it valid?

Only licenses obtained free of charge after 1er october 2014 are valid 5 years and renewable.

The request for renewal a license obtained free of charge must be made 3 months before the end of validity.

National Framework Convention

The so-called taxis contracted carry out the seated transport of sick or medicalized persons.

In accordance with the national framework convention, the taxi signs an agreement with the Cnam: titleContent, on the standard model defined in the annex to the decision of 13 february 2025.

This agreement defines the fares for this type of travel and the conditions of carriage.

Taxis must apply from October 1, 2025, the national framework convention, which includes, inter alia, new pricing.

Its period of validity is 5 years.

Shared transport of patients insured by social security

The taxi that transports sick people right offer them to carry out a shared transport with one or more other customers.

This transport may concern the outward journey, the return journey or both.

List of care concerned

THEprescription written by the physician must specify that the patient's medical condition is compatible with shared transport.

The list of treatments medical devices that can be shared transport is:

  • Systemic drug treatments for cancer
  • Radiotherapy sessions
  • Treatment sessions of chronic renal insufficiency by the practice of extrarenal purification
  • Rehabilitation Medical Care
  • All sessions, treatment or care in the context of a day hospitalization.
Conditions of carriage

The taxi must respect the conditions of carriage following:

  • Do not exceed an additional 10 km of detour caused by the transport of one or more other passengers
  • Stay within a maximum of 30 km from the destination
  • Do not exceed a total of 45 minutes of waiting time for the patient, corresponding to the additional time generated by shared transport
  • Notify a traveler's refusal to carry out shared transport on his invoice or proof of transport
  • In case of refusal of shared transport by the patient, ask him the direct payment of the race.

FYI  

The National Framework Convention was adopted by the French primary health insurance fund (CPAM) on 13 May 2025. Since 1er October 2025, each local agreement must include the tariff schedule to the 2025 local standard agreement resulting from the decision of 13 february 2025 on the establishment of a standard agreement for taxi companies and local health insurance bodies.

New mandatory arrangements

Warning  

Taxi operators who have entered into an agreement with the CPAM for medical rides have until 1er January 2027 for equip all their vehicles with the following 2 devices:

  • Vehicle geolocation device, certified by the Health Insurance. The onboard GPS software must be able to accurately determine the location and time of patient care and arrival.
  • Integrated electronic invoicing system (SEFI). The invoice must include the actual mileage traveled between the place of care and the place of deposit of the patient.

Note that before install of the Integrated Electronic Billing System (IEBS), the operator must obtain a health facility manager (CDE) or facility staff (CPE) card on the Health Digital Agency website.

Vehicle characteristics

Your professional vehicle must have 9 seats maximum (driver included).

It shall include the following elements:

  • Rectangle with roof lighting. The mention "taxi" must be included. The name of the municipality where you practice must be entered. It lights up green when the taxi is free, red when it is busy.
  • Taximeter called counter which measures the time of the race and the number of kilometers traveled
  • Smartphone with an internet connection and driver application approved by the.taxi
  • Terminal electronic payment (bank card terminal)
  • Printer connected to the counter to give a note of the race to the customer
  • Plate attached to the vehicle and visible from the outside indicating the license number, i.e. the number of theparking authorization (ADS) and the department or departments where the driver is authorized to practice.
Know the regulated rates

You need to know your taxi driver obligations, including the regulated tariffs.

FYI  

The so-called taxis contracted carrying out the seated transport of sick or medicalized persons, must sign a framework agreement with the Cnam: titleContent. This agreement defines the prices of this type of race. A new Convention entered into force on 1er October 2025. Taxis must, since that date, apply the new pricing.

Insure your vehicle and your business

Remember to insure your vehicle as a professional vehicle and take out insurance for your business.

This is insurance."professional civil liability" which you can request from all insurers.

Technical inspection

The roadworthiness test is mandatory the 1re year of your activity, then 1 time per year.

He's at your initiative, you do not receive any reminders.

Prior reservation is defined by opposition to the marauding in which the customer stalks the taxi in the street after being able to visually see that it was free.

The prior reservation is characterized by making an appointment for a given day and hour.

This reservation is made at a central reservation office or a taxi stand by telephone, fax or email.

There is, thus, no contact between the taxi and the customer before the service.

Prior reservation is mandatory if the taxi driver does not have a license (ADS) or if he wishes to take a race in outside the territorial jurisdiction of its ADS.

The supporting document prior reservation is mandatory. It proves in case of control by an agent, that any ride is made following the reservation of a customer.

Such evidence may be submitted to thescreening officer on a electronic medium or paper.

The supporting document must include all the information following:

  • Number of the taxi operator's parking permit
  • Name or company name and contact details of the business operating a taxi
  • Unique identification number (Siren) of the operator issued following registration in the National company Register (RNE) via the company Formalities Window
  • Name and telephone number of the customer requesting a particular public transport service for persons for consideration 
  • Date and time of the prior reservation made by the customer
  • Date and time of pick-up desired by the customer
  • Pick-up location indicated by the customer.

FYI  

In the event that the information concerning the name and the phone number from customer are not included in the proof, the driver must provide, without delay, to the control officer, the means of contacting the customer.

A "relay taxi" is a replacement vehicle for the usual taxi vehicle.

The relay taxi is used only in a temporary.

It can be used in the event that the usual taxi undergoes one of the following events:

  • Mechanical fixed asset
  • Failure or accident
  • Theft of vehicle or special equipment.

The list relay taxis available in each department can be consulted online on a directory, on the site MyADS.

Find a replacement taxi-relay vehicle in your department

Renewal of the business card

You should consider renewing your business card.

It is valid 5 years.

3 months before At the end of validity, you must perform a continuing education.

The training lasts 2 days (14 hours).

If you validate the training, you receive a attestation.

You find there list of approved training centers on the website of your prefecture.

Who shall I contact

Please note

The ADS, for its part, is renewed automatically without any action to be taken.

Technical inspection of the vehicle

You must carry out the technical inspection of your vehicle 1 time per year.

This approach must be made of your own initiative.

Please note

You do not receive a reminder or a summons to do so.

Electronic Marauding

The marauding electronic is mandatory since December 2021.

You must choose a « chauffeur » application approved by the state-owned start-up called le.taxi.

You must connect at availability register taxis, called: the taxi..

Taxi availability register: le.taxi

You can consult the guide to the use of this register for the driver.

Who can help me?

Find who can answer your questions in your region

FAQ