Choosing a car for VTC work: the legal floor and the cost of each kilometre
French law sets one floor, the apps add another, and your budget settles the rest.
Checked by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · Method and sources
A petrol or diesel VTC car in France must be under 7 years old, have at least 4 doors, measure 4.5 m by 1.7 m and deliver 84 kW of net power, under the order of 26 March 2015; hybrids and fully electric cars are exempt from those five criteria, and every car needs 4 to 9 seats. Ride-hailing platforms add rules of their own, published on their sites: Uber has accepted no diesel since 31 December 2024 and caps its Berline, Comfort and Van categories at 6 years; Bolt keeps its Green category for hybrids and electric cars. The law names no model and neither do we. The right car shows up in the full cost per kilometre, covering depreciation, energy, insurance and servicing, which the calculator works out from your own figures.
What your car really costs per kilometre
Full cost per kilometre
€0.223
| Per month | €1,117 |
| Depreciation per year | €5,400 |
| Energy per year | €4,200 |
Price, resale, energy and running costs: your figures. No purchase grant is included.
Three filters, in order
Picking a VTC car means passing three filters one after another. The law comes first: without it there is no register entry. The platform comes second, if you plan to use one, because it can turn down a perfectly legal car. Money comes third: a car accepted everywhere can still wreck your income if each kilometre costs too much.
Filter one: the regulation
The order of 26 March 2015 sets five criteria for petrol and diesel cars: under 7 years since first registration (classic cars aside), at least 4 doors, 4.50 m long and 1.70 m wide overall, and 84 kW net power. Its article 2 fully exempts hybrids and electric cars. Service-public adds the seat rule: 4 to 9, driver included.
Our vehicle checker tests each criterion in turn, so we will not repeat them here. What matters is the effect of the exemption: it opens the trade to smaller, less powerful cars as long as they are hybrid or electric. For a first car, that is often what makes buying affordable.
Filter two: what the platforms publish
Each app sets its own requirements on top of the law. The table summarises their pages as read on 4 October 2026; treat it as a guide only and check with each platform when you choose, because these rules change.
| Platform | Published requirement | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Uber | no diesel or diesel hybrid since 31 December 2024; petrol hybrids and EVs accepted; Berline, Comfort and Van capped at a rolling 6 years; in Paris, the Green category is fully electric only since 31 March 2025 | Uber vehicle requirements |
| Bolt | categories Bolt, Comfort, Premium, Green, Van and XL; Premium: under 7 years, 84 kW, rating of at least 4.7 out of 5; Green: hybrid or electric | Bolt requirements |
| Heetch | mirrors the 2015 order, with the hybrid and electric exemption; any colour accepted | Heetch vehicle page |
Two practical points follow. A legal diesel car may be useless if you are aiming at Uber; that is a platform choice rather than a legal one, but it also affects resale. And premium categories often want a newer car than the law does, shortening the period during which the car earns money. If you plan to work across several apps, go by the strictest rule.
Petrol, hybrid or fully electric
The regulation clearly favours hybrids and electric cars: no age cap, no minimum size, no minimum power. The platforms push the same way with dedicated categories. Petrol remains legal but must be replaced before its 7th birthday, which caps the length of any loan or lease on that car.
Going electric changes the shape of the cost more than its level. Energy per kilometre is lower if you charge at home, but the purchase price is usually higher, and rapid charging on the road costs more than slow charging. Only your own numbers can settle it. Government purchase grants for electric cars change often and depend on who is buying; we leave them out of the calculation and suggest checking service-public on the day you buy.
Filter three: cost per kilometre
A driver who covers long distances earns money by the kilometre, so the car should be costed the same way. The calculator adds four items over a year:
- depreciation: purchase price minus resale, spread over the years you keep the car;
- energy: your cost per hundred kilometres, fuel or charging, times distance;
- insurance and servicing, as yearly amounts.
It divides the total by the kilometres driven. You can set the result directly against a fare: if a ten-kilometre ride pays you less, after commission, than ten times that figure plus your social contributions, the ride loses you money. The calculator also flags a holding period that runs past the age limit for petrol and diesel cars.
If you lease rather than buy, swap depreciation for total rent: our page on renting or leasing a VTC car compares the two month by month.
A short checklist before buying
- Read net power on the registration document and measure the car, or confirm it is hybrid or electric.
- Check each target platform’s rules, category by category.
- Get an insurance quote for paid passenger use, which can differ from one model to another; see VTC insurance.
- Work out the cost per kilometre using a cautious resale value.
- Carry the monthly cost into the net income calculator.
In the step-by-step route to VTC work, the car comes after the professional card and before the register, because the registration document is part of the register file.