How to spot an unmarked speed radar car in France
The cars are being rolled out into three more regions this year
The unmarked radar cars are designed to blend in with normal traffic
Rajiv malkar/Shutterstock
Unmarked speed radar cars are becoming more common in France with three new regions set to have them in 2025, prompting drivers to find more ways to detect the vehicles.
A total of 126 new unmarked speed radar cars which drive along a predetermined route and detect speeding vehicles, are set to be deployed in Occitanie, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, and Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur by spring 2025.
They are already in use in every other region, except Île-de-France and Corsica, and were responsible for 1.2 million of the fines issued in 2024.
Read more: 12 questions and answers about private speed radar cars in France
Read also: More unmarked radar cars to catch speeders in France: where and how they work
What are unmarked speed radar cars?
The cars are typically operated by private companies who are tasked with the job to free up police and gendarmerie services for other more specialised work (although some cars are still operated by local police).
They detect speeding vehicles.
They are in operation seven days a week, including on public holidays, day and night, in all weathers and on all types of road. Each unmarked car in a department is used for an average of five to six hours a day.
The vehicles must drive along a pre-set route and not deviate. They can only detect vehicles that they pass (where there is no central reservation barrier) or which overtake them, and are only permitted to ‘catch’ offenders when driving in traffic, not when the radar car is stationary.
The companies are not paid more if they catch more vehicles speeding.
There is no ‘flash’ or other obvious sign that they are speed radar vehicles or that they have ‘caught’ a speeding driver. Also unlike fixed speed cameras, they are not shown on navigation apps such as Google Maps or Waze.
Instead, driving groups have detected four main ways to tell if a car could be an unmarked speed radar vehicle, reports Le Figaro.
1. Car model
The unmarked vehicle models are deliberately chosen to blend in with normal traffic, with common car types used as a result.
The most common tend to be:
2. Car features
Eagle-eyed drivers may be able to spot some signs on the car itself. These include:
A small square camera fixed in the centre of the front
Two small cameras on either side of the driver’s cabin
A black rectangle with thick contours glued to the window at the back, which helps the car to detect signs and speeding drivers in the opposite lane
3. Number plate clues
Speed check cars have a slightly different number plate to normal vehicles.
At the front, the plate has a different typeface to traditional plates, with more narrow and rounded characters. The plate is also mounted on a reflective plastic support, surrounded by a frame that glows in the dark.
These signs can be difficult to see when driving at speed, but observant drivers may spot them.
4. Helpful website
Drivers have compiled the website radar-prive.fr, which lists the speed check cars by department, along with:
A photo of the make
The model
The number plate.
The site also has an interactive map that users can click on, to see which cars are on the road.
The website states that it is updated daily, “as new sightings are reported”, because vehicles are moved regularly from one department to another.
