Driving in France

What do I need to drive in France?

Checked 30 September 2026 on the French government's own pages · skynomad

For drivers from Britain, the Netherlands and Belgium, France is usually the first country on the way south, and in my experience it is the one where the rules repeated online are most often a few years out of date. Every rule on this page was checked in September 2026 against official French and UK government pages, listed at the bottom.

France: the vest, the triangle and the breathalyser you no longer need

The law wants two things in the car: a high-visibility vest carrying the CE mark, stored within reach inside the cabin, and a warning triangle. Not being able to show them at a check can cost up to €38. Not putting them to use when you break down is worse: up to €750, and usually a fixed €135. Kept in the boot, it is not within reach, and you would have to walk round the car to get it.

The breathalyser is where the internet is stuck in 2012. The official page is now clear: il n'est pas obligatoire d'avoir un éthylotest dans sa voiture, you are not obliged to carry one. If a "France driving kit" includes breathalysers, that is the kit, not the law. I would still buy the vest and the triangle.

France's speed limits, in the dry and in the rain

Two things catch visitors. The first is the rain rule: the lower limit applies as soon as it is raining. The second is the country road: the national default is 80, but the local road authority can raise individual stretches to 90, so the limit can change from one stretch of road to the next. The sign is what counts. In fog or any visibility under 50 metres, the limit is 50 km/h everywhere, motorways included.

The probationary column applies to drivers on a French permis probatoire, the first years after passing the test. On motorway sections where the normal limit is below 130, the probationary limit is 100.

France: phones, earphones and camera alerts

Holding a phone while driving is banned, and so is wearing anything in your ear that can make a sound: earbuds, a headset, one earphone for the sat nav. The fine is €135.

By law, a navigation app in France may only warn of a zone dangereuse, a stretch of road, not of an individual speed camera. A dedicated radar detector is a different matter: €1,500 and confiscation.

France: the drink-drive limit

The limit is 0.5 g/l of blood, 0.25 mg/l of breath. On a French probationary licence it is 0.2 g/l, which in practice means not drinking at all.

Between 0.5 and 0.8 g/l it is an offence with a fixed fine, usually €135 (up to €750), and the car can be immobilised. From 0.8 g/l it is a crime: up to €9,000 and three years in prison.

France: children in the car

A child under 10 must travel in a child seat suited to their size, and not in the front, with a few exceptions: a rear-facing baby seat, or a car whose rear seats are missing or already taken by other children. A rear-facing seat in the front means the passenger airbag has to be switched off. The fine is up to €750. If you are hiring, book the seat with the car; the desk will not always have one.

France: tolls, and the motorways with no barrier

Most French motorways charge by distance at a barrier: take the ticket, pick a lane with a card symbol, tap, go. Three free-flow sections have no barrier at all: the A13 and A14 between Paris and Normandy, the A79 in the Allier, and the Boulay interchange on the A4. There, a camera reads the plate and you pay online within 72 hours. The toll page has the deadlines and the badge worth having.

France: a breakdown on the autoroute

Stop as far right as you can, put the vest on before you get out, set the triangle, and get everyone behind the barrier. The consumer authority's advice is to call from the emergency phones along the motorway. 112, the European emergency number, works from any phone.

On motorways and expressways only an approved breakdown firm may come out, at a price the state sets by decree each year.

Parts, extra labour and towing more than 5 km beyond the motorway exit are charged on top at the garage's own prices, so ask first. The truck must display its tariff, and you are owed an itemised bill. If you have European breakdown cover, ask your insurer before the trip how it handles a French motorway call-out, since it cannot choose the truck that comes.

Driving an electric car in France

France is one of the cheapest countries for ultra-fast charging: a typical no-subscription price of about €0.60 a kWh, and Electra's app price moves between €0.39 and €0.61 with demand. An electric car still needs its green Crit'Air 0 sticker to enter a low-emission zone. What charging costs across Europe, and on your route.