Most of the drivers who call us can already do the job. They have C+E, code 95, a tachograph card and several years of international work behind them. What stops them is everything around the driving: a hundred-thousand-euro tractor, a licence, a company, insurance and paperwork.
Here is how it actually starts, step by step.
Step 1. The first conversation
You message us on WhatsApp or you call. We explain what Drivora is and how our American system works: a driver here is not an employee but an independent business, the way it is done in the USA. You work as an OSVČ under our transport licence and invoice us per trip; the tractor and the licence stay ours.
Then we ask about you — which documents you hold, which routes you have already run, how long you have been driving C+E, whether there are fines or violations on your record, where you work now and what is wrong with it, and when you could start.
Whether we are a good fit is something you hear in that same conversation, not a week later.
Step 2. The document check (1–3 days)
You register on the Drivora site and upload:
- a C+E licence with code 95;
- a tachograph card;
- a passport or residence permit;
- an extract from your driver card;
- a criminal-record certificate;
- a penalty-points extract.
We check the expiry dates and your right to work in the EU. That takes one to three days — and it is the step you can start today, before any paperwork at all.
Step 3. A calculation on your own numbers
We do not quote you an average market rate. We work through your figures: the route, the mileage, the rent, fuel, tolls and the insurance advances. You see what you would actually take home at the end of a month, and you decide whether to carry on.
The rate on its own says very little; what the leftover is actually made of is worked through in What a C+E driver earns in Europe.
Step 4. The framework contract and the deposit
We sign a framework contract: you work as an OSVČ under our transport licence and invoice us for each trip. The deposit is paid to the company account before the vehicle is handed over, and comes back when the vehicle does.
What you do not need to do
Do not set up an s.r.o. and do not apply for a transport licence. The licence and the company stay ours — you work as an OSVČ. That is precisely what saves you months and tens of thousands of koruna.
Step 5. The paperwork — about 7 days
Then comes the paper stage itself: the živnost and the insurance notifications, a euro account, choosing a tractor, carrier's liability insurance. We run this stage together with you — we tell you what order to do the visits in and check the documents beforehand, so you do not end up going twice.
The živnost
A volná živnost — the unregulated category — can be filed at any Czech POINT counter, costs 1 000 Kč and takes one visit. That amount is set by Act No. 634/2004 Coll., Sazebník, Položka 24 písm. a) — "Ohlášení živnosti při vstupu do živnostenského podnikání Kč 1000"; every further filing costs 500 Kč. Bring a passport, an address and a decision on which tax regime you will pay under.
Why volná — and when volná is not enough
The volná (unregulated) živnost covers what you actually do in this model: you drive under our transport licence and invoice us for your work. The moment you want to carry freight on your own account, under your own licence, it stops being enough. Road motor freight transport is a koncesovaná živnost — a concessioned trade — which the appendix lists in several weight bands, starting at vans; and heavy haulage additionally requires professional competence under § 8a of Act No. 111/1994 Coll. on top of the concession. That is a different road, longer and more expensive; this article describes the first one.
Source: Act No. 455/1991 Coll., Příloha č. 3 — koncesované živnosti (version served "Aktuální znění 24.07.2026 - 31.12.2026") — "Silniční motorová doprava - nákladní provozovaná vozidly nebo jízdními soupravami o největší povolené hmotnosti přesahující 3,5 tuny určenými k přepravě zvířat nebo věcí, […] - nákladní mezinárodní provozovaná vozidly nebo jízdními soupravami o největší povolené hmotnosti přesahující 2,5 tuny a nepřesahující 3,5 tuny určenými k přepravě zvířat nebo věcí" — international work in light vehicles, not only tractor units.
The insurance notifications
The deadlines are not the same: 8 days to the health insurance fund (§ 10 odst. 3 of Act No. 48/1997 Coll.) and 15 days to social security (§ 48 odst. 4 of Act No. 582/1991 Coll.). Work to the shorter one; both can also be filed at the trade office itself. This is exactly where people are most often late — it is worked through in Živnostenské oprávnění.
The notification is not the end of it — monthly insurance advances start running from the day the activity begins. On a hlavní (main) activity the minimum advance towards pension insurance is 5 005 Kč a month and the minimum advance towards health insurance is 3 306 Kč a month. On a vedlejší (secondary) activity — typically alongside a job — the amounts are lower, and under § 3a odst. 3 of Act No. 592/1992 Coll. the health minimum does not apply to an employee-OSVČ at all. The breakdown is in Insurance advances.
The cut in the social advance runs from July and is not retroactive
The 5 005 Kč a month minimum applies from 1 July 2026. January to June 2026 stays on the old rate, and the district social security administration refunds the difference only on a written request filed by 31 December 2026.
Sources: ČSSZ — Zálohy na pojistné na důchodové pojištění and Finanční správa — Informace k institutu paušální daně pro rok 2025 a 2026, the 2026 monthly flat-tax advance table, row I. pásmo, column "Pojistné na zdravotní pojištění". That table is the flat-tax regime, but it is the same amount: under § 3a odst. 5 písm. a) of Act No. 592/1992 Coll. the assessment base for the first band is the minimum assessment base under odstavec 2, so the health insurance minimum is identical in both regimes.
The euro account, the tractor and the insurance
The euro account is opened after the živnost rather than before it: banks ask for an IČO. The tractor is matched to the route — a standard cab is enough for western runs, while Scandinavia calls for an auxiliary night heater and winter preparation. The rental rate includes insurance, servicing and tyres; fuel, tolls and fines stay with you, and you have to build that into the numbers from day one. Carrier's liability insurance is taken out in your name.
Step 6. The first trip, and after it
The first load we give you is a short one on a route you already know, so you can go through the whole cycle calmly: loading, CMR, unloading, paperwork, invoice. Afterwards we go through the first trip's documents together — the CMR, the invoice, the fuel receipts. From there, trips are routine.
