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How much does a private-hire driver really earn?

Nobody can give you YOUR figure. But the method to compute it is three subtractions long — here it is, laid out on a full case.

4 questionsUpdated on August 19, 20263 min read

In this guide — 4 questions

01 / 04

Why is no “average VTC salary” reliable?

Because income depends on variables that vary twofold from one driver to the next: hours driven, zone, vehicle costs, status, share of empty kilometres. An average blends part-timers with 60-hour weeks, a paid-off vehicle with a brand-new lease. The only honest answer is a method applied to your own numbers.

The market moves too fast for published averages to hold: 71,300 drivers active on the platforms in 2024, up 27% in one year (source: French public observatory ONT3P, verified 17 August 2026). The population surveyed yesterday is no longer the one driving today.

02 / 04

How do you go from revenue to real income?

Three subtractions, in order: collected revenue — what the platform pays out to you — minus vehicle costs (fixed, plus variables multiplied by kilometres), minus social contributions at 21.2% of revenue under the micro regime. The result is your income before tax. The order matters: contributions fall on what you collect, not on what is left.

The full scenario, line by line: €4,400 collected in a month, €1,200 of vehicle costs, €933 of contributions (21.2% of €4,400, the 2026 Urssaf rate for service activities). Left: €2,267 before income tax.

Divide that remainder by the hours actually worked — rides, approaches and waiting included — and you get your real hourly rate. In this scenario, 220 hours in the month yield just over €10 an hour. Replace every figure with your own: that is the only version that counts.

03 / 04

Which items get forgotten most often in this calculation?

Three, always the same. The vehicle's loss of value, invisible until the day it needs replacing. Approach and empty-return kilometres — often 30 to 45% of the total — which cost money and never bill anything. And income tax, which comes after everything else. Ignoring them means believing you earn more than you do.

The cost-per-kilometre guide details how to count depreciation, and the dead-time guide how to spread empty kilometres. Both are set once: the income calculation then becomes mechanical.

04 / 04

How do you raise that income without driving more hours?

By sorting. Your hourly income depends less on ride volume than on ride quality: every ride below your threshold burns time, fuel and wear for an invisible shortfall. Set a threshold in euros per kilometre and a minimum fare, then hold them — mathematically the fastest lever there is, and it costs nothing.

That is the whole point of this site's calculator and of the application: the threshold is computed once from your costs, the sorting then happens ride by ride, in under two seconds.

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