Bordeaux Low Emission Zone 2026: Only Pre-1997 Cars Banned
Zone à Faibles Emissions · France · Active since 2025
Source: official source · Verified: 2026-09-27
Bordeaux's ZFE stops only unclassified cars registered before 1997, so Euro 2 and newer enter every day — but check your Crit'Air class, because the fine is EUR 68.
Locally the zone is called Zone à Faibles Emissions Bordeaux (France) — that is the wording on the boundary signs, on the official portal and on any penalty notice, so it is the phrase to search for once you are there.
Next
- Check your own car against Bordeaux — enter your fuel and Euro class, get a yes or no in one step.
- Bordeaux has a zone too — the nearest one to Bordeaux, and the rules are not identical.
- If a fine arrives after you get home — who pays on a hire car, and what is actually enforceable across borders.
Practical answers for Bordeaux
- When is the Bordeaux zone active?
- Every day 00:00-23:59; public holidays excluded
- How much does it cost to drive into Bordeaux?
- EUR 5.11 for a foreign-registered car, EUR 3.85 on French plates (including postage) · Crit'Air vignette Get it wrong and the penalty is EUR 68 (cars, motorcycles, light commercial); EUR 135 (heavy vehicles/lorries).
- Do I need to register or buy anything first?
- Crit'Air vignette Official portal.
- Who is exempt in Bordeaux?
- Crit'Air 1 and Zero vehicles and Emergency vehicles. Exemptions are usually not automatic — most require registering your number plate in advance.
Didn’t France abolish its low-emission zones?
No — the repeal never took effect. Parliament did vote in April 2026 to abolish France’s ZFEs, which is why so many guides and news reports say they are gone. The Conseil constitutionnel struck that article down on 21 May 2026 (décision n° 2026-903 DC), so the ZFE provisions of the code général des collectivités territoriales (articles L. 2213-4-1 and L. 2213-4-2) stayed on the books.
The zone in Bordeaux is therefore still in force and you still need a Crit'Air vignette on the windscreen. Turning up without one because you read that ZFEs were scrapped is the expensive version of this mistake — the penalty is EUR 68 (cars, motorcycles, light commercial); EUR 135 (heavy vehicles/lorries).
One caveat most coverage misses: the article was annulled on procedure, not on its merits — the Council held it was a “cavalier législatif”, an amendment with no link to the bill it was attached to (Constitution, art. 45). Parliament can pass the same repeal again in a properly related bill, so this is settled for now rather than settled for good. Read the decision.
Bordeaux Zone à Faibles Emissions Map
The shaded area is the zone boundary as mapped in OpenStreetMap — zoom in to see which streets fall inside, and confirm the signs at the edge on arrival.
Requirements
Who pays in a hire car, whether insurance covers it, and how to appeal.
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Exemptions
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Bordeaux’s ZFE is narrower than most low-emission zones: only unclassified vehicles registered before 1997 are turned away, so anything from Euro 2 upward enters freely, every day of the week, with public holidays exempt from the restriction. Driving an unclassified vehicle risks EUR 68 for a car or EUR 135 for a heavy vehicle, and the Crit’Air vignette that proves which class you are in costs EUR 5.11.
Your case: Bordeaux is mild by French standards — put your registration year and Euro class into the emission zone checker to see which of the stricter ZFEs further along your route would turn the same car away.
| Fact | Value |
|---|---|
| Zone | ZFE (Zone à Faibles Emissions) |
| Active since | 2025 |
| Sticker | Crit’Air vignette |
| Sticker cost | EUR 5.11 |
| Fine | EUR 68 (cars), EUR 135 (lorries) |
| Operating | Every day 00:00-23:59; public holidays excluded |
| Enforcement | Spot checks + cameras |
| Petrol minimum | Euro 2 |
| Diesel minimum | Euro 2 |
Can your car enter Bordeaux zfe?
Enter your vehicle's fuel + Euro class → instant verdict for Bordeaux zfe (ZFE). Fine if wrong: EUR 68 (cars, motorcycles, light commercial); EUR 135 (heavy vehicles/lorries).
Bordeaux ZFE — Overview
The Zone à Faibles Emissions (ZFE) in Bordeaux, France has been active since 2025.
🛞 Check your car: Emission Zone Checker — instant verdict for 596 European emission zones, free.
Who Can Enter?
- Petrol vehicles: must meet at least Euro 2 standard
- Diesel vehicles: must meet at least Euro 2 standard
- Electric vehicles: always allowed (exempt)
Sticker & Registration
You need: Crit’Air vignette. Cost: EUR 5.11. Order online at: https://www.certificat-air.gouv.fr.
Enforcement
Spot checks + cameras. Operating hours: every day 00:00-23:59, public holidays excluded.
Fine for Non-Compliance
Driving in the ZFE without meeting the requirements will result in a fine of EUR 68 (cars), EUR 135 (lorries).
Exemptions
The following vehicles are typically exempt:
- Crit’Air 1 and Zero vehicles
- Emergency vehicles
Before You Drive Into Bordeaux
- Check your vehicle’s Euro emission standard (on V5 / registration document).
- Order the Crit’Air vignette online: https://www.certificat-air.gouv.fr
- Confirm operating hours — some zones have weekend/night exceptions.
- Plan parking outside the zone if your vehicle does not comply (P+R is usually well-signed).
Recent changes to this page
- Crit'Air sticker price corrected to EUR 5.11 for a foreign-registered car (EUR 3.108 certificate + EUR 2.00 postage, certificat-air.gouv.fr price service); EUR 3.85 applies only to French plates.
- Title and summary rewritten around the zone name readers actually search for, and the opening answer condensed to two sentences that include the vignette price.
- Fixed three static-snapshot contradictions where boilerplate sections still carried an earlier draft's figures while the direct-answer/quick answer above them already had the corrected ones: (1) key-facts-table and "Who Can Enter" said diesel needed Euro 5 and petrol Euro 3 — both now Euro 2, matching the page's own direct-answer and the site's emission-zones data. (2) key-facts-table and Enforcement section said "Weekdays 08:00-20:00" — now "every day 00:00-23:59, public holidays excluded", matching the direct-answer. (3) Removed an incorrect claim that ZFE fines are "forwarded via EU cross-border directive" — Directive 2015/413 covers only eight road-safety offences and does not include emission-zone violations (already corrected on other zone pages in this site).
- Title, description and introduction rewritten from this page's own data (no shared template wording).
- Rewritten against the French government's Base Nationale consolidée des Zones à Faibles Émissions (updated 26 March 2026). The page had the wrong Crit'Air threshold and the wrong hours.
- Page created — ZFE active since 2025, fine EUR 68 (cars), EUR 135 (lorries).
Part of the TyreMap Emission-Zone Dataset — 596 verified European emission zones, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0.