Trucking is a booming business. This sector offers a large number of opportunities. However, creating a transport company is very interesting but proves to be an obstacle course for entrepreneurs. This activity allows you to make a critical turnover. To help you see clearly and avoid possible obstacles during the realization of your project, here are the steps to follow.

Obtaining the Professional Transport Capacity

To create a transport company, you are required to have a road transport capacity certificate, apart from the permits you have already obtained to carry out your activity. Therefore, you will master the knowledge and skills necessary to create and manage such a company. You must follow a training course at an approved organization to obtain this certificate. A written exam will follow this training. This training usually lasts 17 days and costs an average of 2,400 Euros.

However, you will not have to take this exam if you have specific equivalent diplomas such as the BTS Transport or Transport and Logistics Operation, the DUT Logistics and Transport Management. But for these diplomas to provide the required equivalence, experience within a company is necessary. It should be noted that the requirements differ depending on the type of transport activity that you will carry out within your company. You can obtain all the information from the Regional Direction of Environment, Development, and Housing of the region where you will create your company.

Drawing up the Company’s Legal Status

The drafting of the articles of incorporation is also part of the steps to follow when creating a road transport company. These contain all the rules of its organization and operation. They vary according to your needs and the corporate form you will choose. It can be a Société par Actions Simplifiée (SAS), a Société par Actions Simplifiée Unipersonnelle (SASU), a Société A Responsabilité Limitée (SARL) or EURL. The choice of the legal document is the concretization of your project of creation. Each type of status has its particularities.

Proof of Financial Capacity

To justify the financial capacity is necessary to create such a company and have the approval of the DREAL. This capacity makes it possible to attest that you have the resources required to launch your activity and exercise it long-term.

• For transporting goods, the financial capacity required is a minimum of 1,800 Euros for vehicles of less than 3.5 tons.
• 900 Euros for the additional vehicle.
• For heavy vehicles, the financial capacity is 9000€.
• For the transport of people requires a capital of 1500 Euros
• For cars with 9 seats, 9000 Euros are required and 5000 Euros for each additional vehicle.
• In general, these capacities come from various sources of financing; partners, credit institutions… But be aware that this type of financing requires certain guarantees.

Submission of the File to the Dreal

The registration file, corresponding to the duly completed Cerfa 14557*03 form, includes a certificate of financial capacity. A declaration of good reputation is sent to the Regional Directorate of the Environment, Development, and Housing where the company will be located. The processing of your file takes about 2 or 3 weeks. Once your file is validated, a provisional license and a pre-registration certificate will be issued to you. Indeed, in France, the transport activity, whether it is a transport of people or goods, is governed by the Ministry of the Environment. It is also possible to entrust this task to agencies specialized in the field.