Becoming a delivery driver in France: employee or your own boss
Van delivery work in France comes in two very different forms, and the second one is a regulated profession.
Checked by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · Method and sources
A standard car licence (category B) is enough to drive a delivery van in France: it covers vehicles up to 3,500 kg gross weight and can be taken from age 17 (Highway Code, R221-5). The real choice is your status. As an employee of a haulage firm, a driver of vehicles up to 3.5 tonnes sits at coefficient 118M of the road transport collective agreement, paid €12.09 an hour under the agreement of 11 October 2023. That is below the €12.31 minimum wage (Smic), so the Smic applies. Working for yourself, carrying goods for others counts as public road haulage, a regulated commercial activity according to the government site service-public. You need a clean record, a light-haulage competence certificate (by exam, diploma or two years running a transport firm), financial standing of €1,800 for the first van and €900 for each extra one, then an operating licence from the regional transport office (Dreal). As a micro-entrepreneur you pay 21.2% of turnover in contributions, and van costs come out of what is left.
Self-employed delivery driver: what is left each month
Estimated monthly net income
€1,461
| Social contributions (21.2 %) | €636 |
| Training levy (trader) | €3 |
| Costs entered | €900 |
Estimate from your figures and the 2026 Urssaf rates, before income tax.
The car licence and where it stops
Article R221-5 of the Highway Code sets the category B licence age at 17. It covers vehicles with a gross vehicle weight (PTAC) of no more than 3,500 kg, built for up to eight passengers besides the driver, which takes in almost every delivery van. The weight is printed on the registration document: some large-volume vans exceed it, and then you need a C1 or C licence and the qualification described on our HGV driver page. If you hold a licence from outside the EU, check whether you must exchange it first.
Route one: employed by a carrier
The road transport collective agreement describes two delivery jobs. The delivery assistant (livreur), group 3 and coefficient 115M, rides with the driver, sorts the goods and hands them over. The driver of vehicles up to 3.5 tonnes, group 3 bis and coefficient 118M, drives, loads and delivers alone. The link between groups and coefficients comes from amendment no. 72.
Both share one rate in the agreement of 11 October 2023, the latest goods-transport scale on Légifrance: €12.09 an hour on hiring. The Smic, €12.31 an hour since 1 June 2026 according to service-public, is higher, so it applies. For a 35-hour week that is €1,867.06 gross and about €1,478 net a month before tax and health cover. After two years with the same employer, the 2 % seniority increase takes the agreed rate to €12.3318, a whisker above the Smic.
Reference hours depend on the post. Article D3312-45 of the Transport Code uses 39 hours a week for drivers who are neither long-distance nor parcel couriers, and 35 hours for parcel delivery (messagerie). Hours from the 36th are paid according to custom or collective agreements; the HGV page calculator works this out by coefficient.
Route two: your own haulage business
Carrying goods for others for payment means working as a public road haulier (transporteur public routier de marchandises). Service-public page F31849 is clear that this is a regulated profession and a commercial activity, covering heavy and light vehicles on four, three or two wheels. It names parcel delivery to households by light van and meal delivery by motorbike or scooter. Carrying your own goods is a different matter and falls outside these rules.
Four conditions come before the operating licence:
- Good repute: no conviction for serious traffic offences and no ban on running a business, shown by a sworn statement.
- Professional competence: a light-haulage certificate, explained below.
- Financial standing: a sum held per vehicle.
- A base in France, where accounts, staff records and the original licence are kept.
You then apply to the Dreal, the regional office that handles transport, on the form for one-person businesses (sole trader, EURL, SASU), online or by post. It sends back the transport licence and proof of entry in the hauliers’ register. The business itself is registered through the government’s single online formalities portal.
The light-haulage competence certificate
Article R3211-40 of the Transport Code creates a certificate for firms that only use vehicles of 3,500 kg or less within France, or 2,500 kg or less for international work. The regional prefect issues it after training ending in a written exam. Holders of certain diplomas are exempt, as are people with 2 years running a transport business without a gap of more than 10 years. Someone who has not managed a transport firm for 5 years may be asked to take refresher training (R3211-41).
The exam takes place once a year, in October. Registration closes by the end of July at the latest, sometimes in spring depending on the region, and is done online after paying a fee of about €30. Results take at least 2 months. The exam is in French. Do not confuse it with the passenger transport competence certificate, which is for carrying people.
Financial standing
| Vehicles | Up to 3.5 t | Over 3.5 t |
|---|---|---|
| First vehicle | €1,800 | €9,000 |
| Each additional vehicle | €900 | €5,000 |
| Example: three light vans | €3,600 |
You must be able to prove these sums, for instance with a bank statement, and bank guarantees may cover up to 50 %. This is cash tied up rather than spent, on top of buying or leasing the van.
What a self-employed courier keeps
The micro-enterprise scheme, France’s simplified self-employed status, changes how you pay tax and contributions, not whether the haulage rules apply. Goods transport is a commercial service, so Urssaf takes 21.2 % of turnover received, plus a 0.1 % training levy for traders. With Acre start-up relief, a business started since 1 July 2026 pays 15.9 % while the relief lasts. The optional flat-rate income tax adds 1.7 %.
The detail that matters most: under the micro scheme, costs are not deducted before contributions. Fuel, van lease or loan, insurance and phone all come out of what remains. On €3,000 a month received and €900 of costs, the calculator shows €636 in contributions, a €3 training levy and €1,461 net before income tax. It is an estimate from your own figures and the official rates, not a promise.
| 2026 threshold | Amount | What happens above it |
|---|---|---|
| Micro scheme, services | €83,600 | switch to the standard regime after two years over |
| VAT exemption, services | €37,500 | VAT to charge, at 20 % for goods transport |
On VAT, the reduced 10 % rate is for carrying passengers, not parcels. The small-business VAT exemption works as it does for a VTC driver. To weigh micro-enterprise against a company, see our business structure guide, and the costs and bookkeeping page for record-keeping duties.
What this page leaves out
We name no delivery platform or client and publish no rate per drop or per round: these are negotiated and not set by any text read for this page. Pedal-powered couriers, dangerous goods and abnormal loads follow rules we have not covered. If you would rather carry people than parcels, the driver net income calculator covers taxi and VTC work.