Electronic signatures in vehicle rental: what the law really says

Flotly Team - published 15 April 2026, updated 18 September 2026 · 7 min read

Not all electronic agreements are equal. Here are the three signature levels recognised by eIDAS, the one that applies to your business, and how to avoid the mistakes that cost dearly.

A customer signs the rental agreement on their phone. Three months later, they dispute the damage charges and claim they never signed. The question: would your electronic signature stand up in front of a judge?

The answer depends on the level of signature you use. There are three, defined by the European eIDAS regulation, and they are not equal.

The three eIDAS levels

The European eIDAS regulation distinguishes three levels of electronic signature, each with a different legal weight.

• Simple electronic signature (SES): a click, a signature drawn with a finger. Admissible but easy to challenge.
• Advanced electronic signature (AdES): the signer’s identity is verified and the signature is inseparably linked to the document. Admissible and hard to challenge.
• Qualified electronic signature (QES): identity verified by a qualified trust service provider, equivalent to a handwritten signature under French law.

Which level for vehicle rental?

For a standard rental agreement (B2C, typical amounts), an advanced signature (AdES) is sufficient and recommended. It requires identity verification (email + phone + identity document), cryptographic time stamping, and storage whose integrity can be verified.

For high-value long-term rentals, or B2B fleets with retained guarantees, a qualified signature (QES) is recommended, and sometimes required by insurers.

Classic pitfalls

1. A signature drawn with a finger is not enough. Without identity verification, it is just an image, not an advanced signature.
2. The agreement must be time-stamped in a provable way, ideally by a trusted third party.
3. Storage must make it possible to prove the document’s integrity: a PDF kept on a shared drive will not stand up in front of a judge.
4. A condition report signed separately must be linked to the agreement. Otherwise the customer can challenge one without the other.

What to check in your software

Before choosing a rental platform, check these 5 points:

• Claimed eIDAS compliance and the level achieved (SES / AdES / QES)
• Identity verification (at minimum email + phone, ideally a KYC check of an identity document)
• Cryptographic time stamping with exportable technical proof
• WORM storage (Write Once Read Many) or equivalent, with proof of integrity
• The ability to export the evidence file in case of litigation

Building a usable evidence file

Depending on the configuration and the applicable legal basis, a useful file can bring together the signer’s identity, time-stamped events, the document’s fingerprint and the inspection records. The presence of a hash alone, however, is not enough to guarantee a legal classification.

When significant contractual stakes are involved, have the signing journey and the retention of evidence checked by a legal adviser, and ask the software vendor for up-to-date supporting documents.