How to Become a Chauffeur: Licences, Skills and Hiring

To become a chauffeur in the Netherlands you need a category B driving licence, passes in the CBR taxi theory and practical exams within one year, a VOG and a medical declaration no older than four months, and then a chauffeurskaart from Kiwa Register, valid for five years. Operators hire on record, presentation and discretion.

That is the paperwork, and it is the easy part. Anyone working out how to become a chauffeur finds the licence takes a few months. Learning to be the person a chief executive is comfortable having in the car during a difficult phone call takes considerably longer, and that is what decides whether you get hired at the level you want.

This guide covers both. First the licensing, market by market, checked against the official sources in the Netherlands, the UK, Germany, France and Belgium. Then what chauffeur companies actually assess, written from the operator’s side of the interview table.

What The Chauffeur Job Actually Involves

A chauffeur is a professional driver assigned to a client rather than dispatched to whoever books next, and judged on punctuality, discretion and presentation as much as on driving. (Our explainer on what a chauffeur is covers the definition in full.) It is worth being honest about the work before the licensing, because a lot of people enter it with the wrong picture.

Most of it is waiting. You will spend more hours parked outside buildings and in arrivals halls than driving. Waiting well (alert, presentable, not asleep, not visibly bored, ready to move in thirty seconds) is a professional skill, and the one new drivers most underestimate.

Someone else’s flight sets your day. At SilverDrive the chauffeur follows the aircraft rather than the timetable, and 60 minutes of waiting from the booked pickup time is included on every airport pickup. Our view is that a delayed plane is a scheduling detail, not the client’s problem. For the chauffeur, that means the delay becomes your problem instead, handled calmly and without fuss. One Trustpilot reviewer put the client’s side of it plainly: “Always great service, even when my plane was a day late!! Thanks” (a Trustpilot reviewer, November 2024).

The driving is deliberately unexciting. Smooth is the entire objective. No sharp braking, no late lane changes, nothing that makes a passenger look up from a laptop. If your interest in the job is enjoying the cars, this will disappoint you: you are not driving the car for yourself.

The hours are irregular. Flights land at 06:00 and dinners finish at 01:00. Airport work in particular means early starts, late finishes and a schedule that does not resemble anyone else’s.

Discretion is not optional. You will hear confidential calls, see private situations and know where people were. Repeating any of it ends the career, not just the job.

Presentation is part of the role. Suit, clean car, no phone in your hand, opening the door without hovering. It is a front of house job that happens to involve a steering wheel.

If that reads as appealing rather than restrictive, you have the temperament for it.

Chauffeur Licence Requirements At A Glance

Every European market requires a professional passenger licence on top of an ordinary driving licence, and none of them recognise each other automatically. The summary below reflects the official sources as of November 2026; check the issuing body before you apply, because details change.

Market	Licence	Issued by	Core requirements
Netherlands	Chauffeurskaart taxi	Kiwa Register (exams at CBR)	Category B, CBR theory and practical exams, VOG, medical declaration
London	Private hire (PHV) driver licence, the “PCO licence”	Transport for London	Age 21, licence held 3 years, enhanced DBS, Group 2 medical, English at B1, topographical and SERU assessments
Rest of the UK	Private hire driver licence	Local council	Fit and proper check, licence usually held 12 months, often DBS and medical
Germany	Fahrerlaubnis zur Fahrgastbeförderung (P-Schein)	Local Fahrerlaubnisbehörde	Age 21, category B for 2 of the last 5 years, medical and eyesight reports, Führungszeugnis
France	Carte professionnelle VTC	Exam by the CMA, card applied for online	Category B for 3 years, approved doctor’s medical, criminal record check, exam
Belgium	Varies by region (Flanders: bestuurderspas)	Regional authorities	Brussels, Flanders and Wallonia each set their own rules

How To Become A Chauffeur In The Netherlands, Step By Step

In the Netherlands, paid passenger transport by car falls under the taxi rules, so most professional chauffeur work requires a chauffeurskaart taxi (the taxi driver card, formerly the chauffeurspas). The official overview on Ondernemersplein is blunt about it: without the card you may not work as a taxi driver. The route runs like this.

1. Hold a category B driving licence. You need it to sit the practical exam. Check the back: codes 100, 101 or 105 on your licence rule out professional passenger transport. And bring a real driving history. A licence held for six months is not what operators mean by experience.

2. Pass the CBR theory exam. The taxi vakbekwaamheid theorie (TVT), open from age 17. Training is advised rather than compulsory, but most candidates take a course.

3. Pass the CBR practical exam within a year. The taxi vakbekwaamheid praktijk (TVP) for the full card, open from age 18. According to the CBR, you must pass the theory first and both exams within one year to earn the chauffeursdiploma taxi. The diploma itself never expires.

4. Get a VOG. The Verklaring Omtrent het Gedrag, a certificate of conduct, requested specifically for taxi driving. This is a background check against the profession you are entering, not a generic one.

5. Get a medical declaration. The geneeskundige verklaring taxi, completed by an examining doctor, confirms you are fit to drive passengers professionally.

6. Apply to Kiwa Register. You can apply from the day after you pass the practical exam. Under article 82 of the Besluit personenvervoer 2000, the VOG and the medical declaration must each be no more than four months old when you apply. This is where applications most often stall: people collect the documents in the wrong order, and one expires while they wait for the other.

The card is valid for five years and then renewed through Kiwa Register. It also records your driving and rest times, which since 1 July 2025 can be logged through the Centrale Database Taxivervoer instead of an onboard computer.

The Exams Are Only In Dutch

This catches out a lot of international applicants in Amsterdam. The CBR holds the taxi exams in Dutch only: no English version and no interpreter. A candidate whose English is excellent but whose Dutch is not will need to prepare for a professional exam in a second language, and should budget the time for it.

The Limited Card

There is also a beperkte chauffeurskaart taxi, a limited card that permits only fixed passengers on fixed routes at fixed times, with no money handled in the vehicle. It suits contract and shuttle work. It is not a route into general chauffeur work.

Minibuses And Coaches Need A Bus Licence

The chauffeurskaart covers cars. Once a vehicle carries more than eight passengers, it is bus transport: you need a category D1 licence (up to 16 passengers) or D (more), plus code 95, the professional qualification for bus drivers, renewed every five years with 35 hours of training. If you want to drive minibuses and coaches for an operator with a mixed fleet, that is a separate qualification path.

How To Become A Chauffeur In The UK

In the UK, chauffeurs need a private hire driver licence. In London it comes from Transport for London; everywhere else, from the local council, as the GOV.UK licensing page sets out.

In London, the licence is still widely called a PCO licence, after the old Public Carriage Office. TfL requires you to be at least 21, to have held a full UK, EU or EEA driving licence for three years, and to pass an enhanced DBS criminal record check and a medical to the DVLA Group 2 standard (the stricter standard used for professional drivers). You also have to show English at CEFR level B1, pass a topographical skills assessment, and pass the Safety, Equality and Regulatory Understanding (SERU) assessment before a licence is issued.

Outside London, each council sets its own conditions within national rules. GOV.UK says you will usually need a driving licence held for at least 12 months and must be a “fit and proper person”, and you may need an enhanced DBS check, a medical and a knowledge or driving test, depending on the council.

Chauffeur Licensing Elsewhere In Europe

The pattern is the same everywhere: a professional permit on top of a driving licence, with a background check and a medical. The details do not transfer.

Germany. You need the Fahrerlaubnis zur Fahrgastbeförderung, known as the P-Schein, from the local driving licence authority. Hamburg, for example, requires a minimum age of 21, a category B licence held for at least two of the last five years, eye and medical reports, and a Führungszeugnis no more than three months old. Chauffeur companies operate as Mietwagen mit Fahrer, a separate licence class from taxis, as we cover in our guide to chauffeur service in Germany.

France. You need a carte professionnelle VTC. Service-Public lists a category B licence held for three years (two after accompanied driving), a positive opinion from an approved doctor (not your own GP), a clean criminal record and a pass in the VTC exam run by the Chambre de Métiers et de l’Artisanat. Since 12 August 2026 the exam is the only route in: professional experience no longer counts as an alternative. The card is renewed every five years after a 14 hour refresher course.

Belgium. Regulated regionally, with separate regimes in Brussels, Flanders and Wallonia. In Flanders, paid individual passenger transport counts as a taxidienst, and drivers need a valid bestuurderspas.

Driving across borders on a job is generally fine. Being based in another country to work there is a different question, and one to settle with that country’s licensing authority before you move.

What Chauffeur Companies Screen For

The licence gets your application read. These decide whether you get hired.

A genuinely clean driving record. Not “no recent points”. Operators check properly, and insurance underwriters check harder.

A verifiable background. Gaps in employment history get asked about. Answer them straightforwardly.

Presentation at interview. If you turn up to an interview for a chauffeur position in the wrong clothes, the interview is already over. This is not snobbery; it is a direct test of whether you understand the role.

Language. English is effectively mandatory for international chauffeur work in the Netherlands, because a large share of passengers do not speak Dutch. SilverDrive’s own chauffeurs are licensed, background checked, trained and English speaking. Additional languages are a real advantage.

Local knowledge. Not memorising every street, but knowing how a city behaves: where it congests, which approach to a hotel works at 17:00, where you can legally wait.

Discretion, demonstrated. In an interview this shows up in what you do not say. Candidates who tell colourful stories about previous clients are declining the job in real time.

Temperament. Can you be told to wait for three hours and be pleasant about it? Can you handle a passenger having a bad day without taking it personally? Can you say nothing for an hour?

What clients notice is simpler than any of this, and it is worth keeping in mind at interview: “Driver was right on time, helped with the luggage and very comfortable ride.” (a Trustpilot reviewer, April 2025). Punctuality, a hand with the bags and a smooth drive. Get those right every single time and the rest follows.

Routes Into Chauffeur Work

You do not need previous chauffeur experience, but you do need a clean licence, a real driving history and evidence that you can be trusted. Most people arrive by one of five routes.

From another service profession. Hospitality, aviation cabin crew and the military all produce people who do well in this work, for the same reason: they were trained in composure, presentation and following a plan.

From taxi or private hire. A common route, with one adjustment to make. Volume driving optimises for turnaround; chauffeur work optimises for one client’s experience. The habits that made you efficient in a taxi are not all the right habits here.

As an owner-driver with your own vehicle. Some operators work with owner-drivers who bring their own car and are contracted for work. It is a real route, with the obvious trade-off: you carry the vehicle cost, financing, depreciation and downtime. In the Netherlands, charging passengers as your own business also means holding a taxi permit (taxivergunning) on top of the chauffeurskaart. Do the arithmetic properly before committing, including what happens in a quiet month.

As a private driver for one household. If you are working out how to become a private driver for a family rather than for an operator, expect the work to come through recommendation and the screening to be personal. Ask the employer which licences the role requires, because the answer depends on how the work is arranged.

Straight into executive transport. Possible with the right background, but expect a serious screening process. Our guide to becoming an executive chauffeur covers the specifics of that end of the market, and the executive airport transfers guide shows the standard expected on the airport side of the job.

How Much Do Chauffeurs Earn?

Pay varies too much by country, employer and hours for a single figure to mean anything, and anybody quoting you one without qualification is guessing. What can be said usefully:

• Employed chauffeur roles with an established operator pay a salary with overtime and irregular hours arrangements, plus tips in some markets.
• Owner-driver arrangements gross more and net variably, because the vehicle is yours.
• Private household positions, driving for one family, pay differently again and often include other duties.
• The premium is for reliability, not for driving skill. Anyone can drive. Being consistently on time, presentable and discreet for years is what commands the rate.

How To Apply To A Chauffeur Company

Premium operators often fill chauffeur jobs directly rather than through general job boards, so the application itself matters.

Apply to operators that own their fleet, not to marketplaces. This is SilverDrive’s own position, and it applies to drivers as much as to clients. An operator that owns its cars is accountable for their condition, so the car you are handed has been maintained by someone answerable for it, and you are judged on the service rather than on a vehicle you had no say in. Marketplaces that subcontract the car and the driver offer jobs. Operators offer careers.

Lead with reliability. Years of clean driving, a stable record, evidence you turn up. Not enthusiasm for cars.

Mention languages and any hospitality, aviation or military background early.

Be specific about availability. Early mornings and late nights are the work. Saying you are available for both, and meaning it, moves you up the list.

Do not oversell. The trait being assessed is whether you will still be reliable in year three.

SilverDrive recruits chauffeurs in Amsterdam to drive its own fleet, from the Mercedes E-Class and S-Class to the BMW i7 and Mercedes V-Class. Our page on becoming a private driver describes the work from our side.

Frequently Asked Questions

What qualifications do you need to be a chauffeur?

You need a full driving licence and the professional passenger licence for the place you will work: a chauffeurskaart taxi in the Netherlands, a private hire licence in the UK, a P-Schein in Germany or a VTC card in France. All of them involve a background check and a medical. Operators then add their own screening.

What licence do you need to be a chauffeur in the Netherlands?

A chauffeurskaart taxi, issued by Kiwa Register. You need a category B licence, the CBR taxi diploma (theory first, then practical, both within one year), and a VOG and medical declaration that are each no more than four months old when you apply. The card is valid for five years.

How long does it take to become a chauffeur?

The licensing takes weeks to a few months, depending on exam availability, how quickly you pass and how long the VOG takes. In London, TfL processing adds its own wait. Becoming good at the job takes considerably longer, and that is the part employers are actually assessing.

Can you become a chauffeur with no experience?

Yes, as long as you hold the licence and a solid driving history. Previous chauffeur work is not required, but operators want evidence of reliability and discretion, which is why backgrounds in hospitality, aviation cabin crew and the military transfer well. Executive roles usually expect more experience.

Do you need your own car to be a chauffeur?

No. Operators that run their own fleet supply the vehicle, and you drive their cars. Bringing your own car is a separate route as a contracted owner-driver, where you carry the vehicle costs yourself and, in the Netherlands, also need a taxi permit to charge passengers as your own business.

What is the difference between a taxi driver and a chauffeur?

A taxi driver is dispatched to whoever books next and is paid by the journey. A chauffeur is assigned to a client, often the same client repeatedly, and is judged on discretion, presentation and anticipation as much as on driving. In the Netherlands the licensing is the same; the job is not.

Is being a chauffeur a good job?

It suits a specific temperament. If you are comfortable with long stretches of waiting, take satisfaction in things going smoothly and unnoticed, and can be discreet without effort, it is a good career with real progression. If you want variety, conversation and control over your own day, it is not.

The Short Version

In the Netherlands the formal route is the CBR exams, a VOG and a medical declaration, then a chauffeurskaart from Kiwa Register, watching the four-month limit on both documents. In the UK it is a private hire licence from TfL or your council. The informal route is longer: composure, presentation, discretion and the ability to wait for hours without becoming a problem. The licence gets your application read. The temperament gets you the career.

If you hold the licence, the record and the temperament, and want to drive in Amsterdam, get in touch with SilverDrive.