This is the failing that inspections report most often, and also the easiest to put right: one sheet on the wall, current and legible, and a workshop goes from an anomaly to nothing at all. You still have to know what the law asks for exactly — the rules do not all sit in the same code.
Two notices are expressly required where customers are received: the list of services and their prices, legibly displayed (article L. 112-1 of the French Consumer Code and its implementing orders), and a clear notice, visible and legible from outside, on the option of choosing circular-economy parts (article D. 224-25-2 of the same code, in force since 1 October 2024). To these add the consumer ombudsman's details, which article R. 616-1 allows a business to place on its website, its terms of sale or its order forms, and failing those "by any other appropriate means" — a notice on the wall being one of them.
The duty does not come from a text written for garages, but from consumer law. Article L. 112-1 of the Consumer Code sets the general rule: every seller of goods and every service provider must inform the consumer "by marking, labelling, display or any other appropriate means" about prices and the particular conditions of sale and performance of services, in the manner set by orders of the minister for the economy.
The practical detail therefore sits in those ministerial orders. For services, the French administration sums it up in one sentence worth pinning beside your own rates: the list of services and their prices must be shown legibly in the area dedicated to receiving customers. Services offered to the public must also be displayed in a way that is legible from outside.
How to work out the rate itself — overheads, chargeable hours, a rate per activity — is covered separately in our guide to the garage labour rate. This article is about what has to be legible on the wall.
Above that general base sits a sector-specific text, and it is the one inspectors cite: the Order of 27 March 1987 on price publicity rules for servicing and repair, roadworthiness testing, breakdown assistance and towing, as well as vehicle storage (reference NOR ECOC8710030A).
Its title alone carries two lessons.
One point of candour: this 1987 order has no consolidated version online on Legifrance. Only the scanned paper Official Journal is available. We therefore cite its official title and reference, and rely for the substance of the duties on the Consumer Code itself and on official publications — not on the unofficial transcriptions found elsewhere.
This is the most precise criticism the administration makes of the trade. In its survey published on 4 June 2026, the DGCCRF — the French consumer protection and fraud control authority — reports a recurrent absence of displayed prices for services that are nevertheless invoiced to consumers as a matter of course, namely diagnostic charges, storage charges and labour. It adds that many notices were incomplete or illegible, and invoices insufficiently detailed as to the nature and price of the work carried out.
In other words, displaying one mechanical labour rate and stopping there is not enough. Three lines are almost always missing.
| Line to add | Why it is expected |
|---|---|
| Diagnostic or fault-finding charge | A separately invoiced service, so a displayed price. If you charge for preparing an estimate, you must tell the customer before preparing it. |
| Daily storage charge | "Vehicle storage" appears in the title of the 1987 order. An undisplayed rate is a hard rate to claim on the day a vehicle does not leave. |
| Each of your labour rates | If you apply distinct rates by activity — mechanical, panel, paint, appraisal — all of them are displayed, not only the lowest. |
Storage deserves particular care: case law accepts that it may be payable without a signed storage contract, but price rules still apply. We cover that in our guide to a garage's right of retention.
This is the only display duty whose content the Consumer Code spells out word for word, and it is recent. Since 1 October 2024, article D. 224-25-2 provides that, where customers are received, a clear notice, visible and legible from outside, informs the consumer of the option of choosing parts from the circular economy; that it states the list of categories of parts concerned and the cases in which the business is not required to offer them under article R. 224-24; and that the same information appears on the business's website.
The notice therefore needs three blocks: the principle, the list of categories, the exemptions. Article D. 224-25-1 adds a wording rule: the phrase to use is "pièces issues de l'économie circulaire" (parts from the circular economy), an acronym being allowed only if explained by a cross-reference.
Removable body panels; interior trim parts (saddlery on two- and three-wheelers); non-bonded glazing; optical parts; mechanical or electronic parts, except, on motor vehicles, running gear, steering components, braking components, and suspension linkage parts that are assembled, subject to mechanical wear and non-dismountable. On powered two- and three-wheelers the exception covers wheel spindles, brake linings and the cradle frame or structural chassis part, and mirror parts and fuel tanks are added to the categories concerned.
A change not to miss if you touch motorcycles. Article R. 224-22, as amended by Decree no. 2024-823 of 16 July 2024, now covers passenger cars, light vans and powered two- or three-wheelers. The duty is no longer confined to cars: a motorcycle workshop owes the same notice from 1 October 2024.
Beyond the notice, Decree no. 2024-824 of 16 July 2024 adds file-keeping duties: record the customer's choice on a durable medium before their agreement to the offer of services (D. 224-25-3); set out the choice clearly where several reused parts are possible, and state the legitimate ground where none can be offered (D. 224-25-4); and keep a copy of the documents handed over for two years, filed by date (D. 224-25-5). Lastly, article L. 224-67 states that in the event of a dispute it falls to the professional to prove that these duties were met.
Any business supplying services to consumers in France must give access to a free consumer ombudsman and provide their details. The duty to inform comes from article L. 616-1 of the Consumer Code, and the manner of doing so from article R. 616-1, which is worth reading closely: the professional provides the ombudsman's details by writing them visibly and legibly on the website, on the general terms of sale or service, on the order forms or, in the absence of such media, by any other appropriate means, together with the address of the ombudsman's website.
Let us be precise, because many ready-made notices on sale suggest otherwise: the text does not impose a notice at the front desk. It imposes the website, the terms or the order forms — and a wall notice is the required medium only where none of those exist. In practice a garage that has a website and terms of service puts the ombudsman's details there; adding a notice at the desk costs nothing and spares a discussion with an inspector.
Two practical points. The information is owed twice — before the contract is concluded, then during the contract once a prior complaint has gone unresolved — and the chosen ombudsman must be listed by the national commission that assesses and supervises consumer mediation. Failing to comply carries an administrative fine of 3,000 euros for a sole trader and 15,000 euros for a company.
Two DGCCRF surveys put the risk in perspective, and the earlier one shows that display is the trade's weak point.
1,178 establishments inspected, 1,364 inspections. More than 69 % of establishments showed an anomaly on at least one point checked, against 63 % in the 2017 survey. The anomaly rate by theme is instructive, because it names the missing notices precisely:
Outcomes: 218 injunctions, 52 administrative reports and 26 criminal reports. And this conclusion, which sums up the subject of this article: displayed rates are very often absent, price information being handed over almost systematically in writing instead. Handing over a written estimate is good practice — but it does not replace the display.
1,600 establishments inspected — independent garages, chain service centres and dealerships. Close to 40 % showed failings leading to corrective or punitive follow-up: nearly 500 compliance injunctions, more than 220 administrative or criminal reports and more than 580 warnings. SignalConso, the national reporting platform, received more than 10,000 reports about vehicle servicing and repair in 2025. One garage was fined 4,000 euros for a misleading commercial practice.
Penalties are administrative for display, and criminal where missing information becomes deception.
Two points of proportion. First, these are caps: in practice a first inspection most often ends in a warning or a compliance injunction, as the figures above show. Second, a repeat failing after an injunction changes the nature of the file, and that is the stage at which formal reports appear.
This article describes the state of the law at its publication date and is not legal advice: we are not lawyers. On an inspection under way or a formal notice received, have your file reviewed by a lawyer or by your trade organisation.
Enough to review your front desk in ten minutes. The first two lines are notices expressly required; the rest are duties whose medium varies.
| Information | Expected medium | Legal basis |
|---|---|---|
| List of services and prices, in euros including all taxes | Legible notice where customers are received, and legible from outside for services offered to the public | L. 112-1 and implementing orders, including the Order of 27 March 1987 |
| Labour rates, by activity, and fixed-price jobs | Same notice | L. 112-1; L. 112-3 for the method of calculation |
| Diagnostic charges, storage charges | Same notice | Order of 27 March 1987 ("vehicle storage") |
| Whether an estimate is chargeable | Told to the customer before the estimate is prepared | Price information rules |
| Option of circular-economy parts, categories concerned and exemptions | Clear notice, visible and legible from outside where customers are received, and on the website | D. 224-25-2; R. 224-24; R. 224-25 |
| Consumer ombudsman's details and website | Website, terms of sale or order forms; failing those, any other appropriate means | L. 616-1; R. 616-1 |
| Legal conformity warranty | Pre-contractual information | Checked by the DGCCRF (48 % anomaly rate in 2021) |
| Opting out of cold calling | Pre-contractual information | Checked by the DGCCRF (81 % anomaly rate in 2021) |
Two habits beat one perfect notice put up once: date what you display, and redo it the day a labour rate changes. An old notice that no longer matches what you invoice is more exposed than a plain, current one.
IZZI DEVIS is voice-driven workshop management software for mechanical, body, motorcycle and electrical trade professionals. On this subject it does not print your notices: it keeps the prices behind them current and carries the legal wording onto documents. Factually:
What it does not do, and this needs saying: it does not produce the notices for your front desk, it does not check that your display complies, it handles neither membership of a consumer ombudsman scheme nor publication of those details on your site, and it collects no money from private customers. As things stand the circular-economy wording is not applied to motorcycle estimates in the product, although article R. 224-22 has covered powered two- and three-wheelers since 1 October 2024: on a motorcycle estimate, add the wording yourself. Full features are on the garage management software page, and the rate calculation method in our guide to the garage labour rate.
In euros inclusive of all taxes. Price information aimed at consumers is expressed on a tax-inclusive basis, and a customer must be able to learn the price before concluding the contract without having to ask. A net-of-tax figure with a "plus VAT" note does not meet the duty.
Both. The list of services and their prices must be shown legibly in the area dedicated to receiving customers, and services offered to the public must be displayed in a way that is legible from outside. The specific notice on circular-economy parts is worded the same way: where customers are received, clear, visible and legible from outside (article D. 224-25-2 of the Consumer Code).
Yes, as soon as you invoice them. The Order of 27 March 1987 covers servicing and repair, roadworthiness testing, breakdown assistance and towing "as well as vehicle storage", which takes in daily storage. In its survey published on 4 June 2026 the DGCCRF reports precisely the recurrent absence of displayed prices for diagnostic charges, storage charges and labour.
Three things, under article D. 224-25-2 of the Consumer Code: the customer's option to choose such parts, the list of categories of parts concerned (article R. 224-25) and the cases in which you are not required to offer them (article R. 224-24). The same information must appear on your website, and the phrase to use is "pièces issues de l'économie circulaire", an acronym being allowed only if explained by a cross-reference.
Not as a wall notice in the first place. Article R. 616-1 of the Consumer Code asks for them to be written visibly and legibly on the website, the general terms of sale or service, or the order forms, and only "in the absence of such media, by any other appropriate means". If you have a website and terms of service, that is where they belong; displaying them at the desk as well remains a sound habit.
This article is general information, up to date as of 9 November 2026. It does not replace advice from your accountant or legal adviser.
The IZZI DEVIS team
Designs and builds IZZI DEVIS, the voice-driven workshop management software for independent garages.
The texts, the three conditions, what retention allows, storage charges and price display.
When payment falls due, late payment interest, the EUR 40 indemnity, the reminder, the formal notice, then the recovery routes.
The costs to cover, the hours you can genuinely bill, the margin, and the duty to display rates including VAT.
Not mandatory, but it is your only written proof of what the customer asked for. The six details the DGCCRF expects and the value of the repair order in a dispute.
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