Do licence-free vehicles in France require a roadworthiness test?

Yes, roadworthiness tests for voitures sans permis (licence-free cars, VSPs) came into effect at the same time as they did for motorbikes: April 2024. 

All motorbikes and light-motor vehicles issued under category ‘L’ licences are required to follow the new scheme. 

VSPs follow the same rules as motorbikes in terms of when they must have their first contrôle technique (CT) test:

Vehicles first registered (see section B in the carte grise) before January 2017 on a date early in the calendar year (before April 15) were meant to have a CT by August 14, 2024

Vehicles first registered before January 2017 on a date later in the calendar year (from April 15 onwards), by up to four months after the registration date but no later than December 31,

2024

Vehicles first registered in 2017, 2018 or 2019, should have a CT in 2025.

Those first registered in 2020 or 2021 should have a CT in 2026.

Those first registered from January 1, 2022 should have a CT no later than five years after first registration. 

After their first CT, these vehicles must subsequently undergo a test every three years, as opposed to every two years for cars.

As many VSPs are relatively new and first registered after 2017, they have not yet been required to take a test. 

Read more: Sales of small, no-licence, cars are booming in rural France

The test criteria for all category ‘L’ vehicles and motorbikes are the same, with vehicles needing to pass 77 tests, with 161 potential failures.

This is compared to cars requiring a category ‘B’ driving licence, which have 133 tests and 613 potential failures. 

A report on the first six months of CT tests by driving association 40 millions d’automobilistes has found that around 30% of VSPs taking a CT failed, requiring a second inspection. 

The vast majority of failures – around 85% – were due to a safety fault.