Big Momma Posted March 15, 2009 Share Posted March 15, 2009 My van is over 3.5Tonnes and a couple of years ago I travelled from Calais to Southern France near St Tropez (Stops on route including Switzerland). Whilst the Autotoutes are quicker and we did use them for some of the stretches we found that many of the main 'N' roads (toll free) run adjacent to the Motorways and provide a much more scenic route if a little longer. We used Toll roads almost all of the way back (purely for convenience) and whilst I cannot recall exactly what it cost it was not excessive. As for Black Forest, the route from Calais/Dunkerque or even Ostende through Belgium and Luxembourg is toll free and makes journey times relatively quick. If you purchase a Michelin Road Atlas France they show 'Toll Free' and 'Toll' motorways in diferent colours which may help you plan a shorter route to Black Forest through France using a combination of Toll Free and 'N' roads. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted March 15, 2009 Share Posted March 15, 2009 robertandjean - 2009-03-15 10:44 AM JudgeMental - 2009-03-14 7:13 PM robertandjean - 2009-03-14 5:48 PM Get a life and a sense of humour for God's sake.....if you had been around a while you would realise this is a long running joke...... hence the smiley! *-) Calm down Judge. Nothing wrong with our sense of humour, just don't think that "jokes" which make reference to nationality or race are in anyway funny or appropriate. "We can stand here like the French ... or we can do something about it." ~ Marge Simpson Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patricia Posted March 15, 2009 Share Posted March 15, 2009 Sorry Brendan but you missed my point. SANEF is definitely charging by weight as well as number of axles and height. Classe Intitulé Description 1 VEHICULES LEGERS Véhicules ou ensembles roulants de hauteur totale inférieure ou égale à 2 mètres et dont le PTAC est inférieur ou égal à 3,5 tonnes. 2 VEHICULES INTERMEDIAIRES Véhicules ou ensembles roulants de hauteur totale supérieure à 2 mètres et inférieure à 3 mètres et dont le PTAC est inférieur ou égal à 3,5 tonnes. 3 POIDS LOURDS ET AUTOCARS (2 ESSIEUX) Véhicules à 2 essieux, dont la hauteur totale est supérieure ou égale à 3 mètres ou dont le PTAC est supérieur à 3,5 tonnes. 4 POIDS LOURDS ET AUTOCARS (3 ESSIEUX ET PLUS) Véhicules à plus de 2 essieux, dont la hauteur totale est supérieure ou égale à 3 mètres ou dont le PTAC est supérieur à 3,5 tonnes. 5 2 ROUES Motos, side-cars, trikes. Sorry I know it is in French but for those who are not too sure of the language - leger = light; essieux = axle; poids lourds = heavy (usually refers to lorries but m/homes are now included); hauteur = height. I haven't had time to check the other operators yet but I am hoping that they have kept the height to mean only the vehicle and not extra things on the roof i.e. TV antennae or Camos domes (they have always included air-con systems in the height calculation). Judgemental I had problems with overcharging but it is not true that they will all refund disputed amount. Autoroutes du Sud de la France refunded immediately - no problem. APRR flatly refused despite several letters (in French) and phone calls - all they did was to send me a high-visibility jacket with their logo on! However, you are right that the problems mostly occur at the automatic barriers, at the others you can argue before you pay. The instruction last year was to use the phone at the barrier before leaving and if the challenge is successful they will adjust the payment there and then - much more simple than letters back and forth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robertandjean Posted March 15, 2009 Share Posted March 15, 2009 JudgeMental - 2009-03-15 3:21 PM "We can stand here like the French ... or we can do something about it." ~ Marge Simpson Hi Judge, Les mots du Madam Simpson c'est magnifique, mais ce n'est pas la guerre. OK enough of this back to the thread. Agree with Big Momma if possible it is best to use the N or D roads. Going to Luxembourg then instead of going straight into Belgium follow the N43 and take pleasant stops at the aires at Cattillon-Sur-Sambre, Charleville-Mezieres and Stenay. Jean and Robert Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted March 15, 2009 Share Posted March 15, 2009 robertandjean - 2009-03-15 6:27 PM JudgeMental - 2009-03-15 3:21 PM "We can stand here like the French ... or we can do something about it." ~ Marge Simpson Hi Judge, Les mots du Madam Simpson c'est magnifique, mais ce n'est pas la guerre. Jean and Robert Are you a pair of french homsosexualists? as its hard to tell from your silly and unimaginative avatar/names. Nevermind........lovely! Either way, you have obviously had a bit too much French in you and have forgotten your manners? The next time you personally insult me or take the pi** be prepared..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted March 15, 2009 Share Posted March 15, 2009 Patricia - 2009-03-15 5:26 PM Judgemental I had problems with overcharging but it is not true that they will all refund disputed amount. Autoroutes du Sud de la France refunded immediately - no problem. APRR flatly refused despite several letters (in French) and phone calls - all they did was to send me a high-visibility jacket with their logo on! However, you are right that the problems mostly occur at the automatic barriers, at the others you can argue before you pay. The instruction last year was to use the phone at the barrier before leaving and if the challenge is successful they will adjust the payment there and then - much more simple than letters back and forth. Patricia, We have a 2.9 high van with roof a/c and have always left French motorways at main junctions so have never experienced this problem as have always been charged Cat 2..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robertandjean Posted March 15, 2009 Share Posted March 15, 2009 JudgeMental - 2009-03-15 6:49 PM robertandjean - 2009-03-15 6:27 PM JudgeMental - 2009-03-15 3:21 PM "We can stand here like the French ... or we can do something about it." ~ Marge Simpson Hi Judge, Les mots du Madam Simpson c'est magnifique, mais ce n'est pas la guerre. Jean and Robert Are you a pair of french homsosexualists? as its hard to tell from your silly and unimaginative avatar/names. Nevermind........lovely! Either way, you have obviously had a bit too much French in you and have forgotten your manners? The next time you personally insult me or take the pi** be prepared..... Hey steady on judge. We are just an ordinary married couple, man and wife, who respect people irrespective of race or sexual orintation. We are not French but enjoy spending time in France and meeting French people. We think you must have translated our comment incorrectly if you think we were insulting you; we thought you take it in good part given your good sense of humour. All the best Eddie. Jean and Robert. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted March 15, 2009 Share Posted March 15, 2009 robertandjean - 2009-03-15 7:53 PM JudgeMental - 2009-03-15 6:49 PM robertandjean - 2009-03-15 6:27 PM JudgeMental - 2009-03-15 3:21 PM "We can stand here like the French ... or we can do something about it." ~ Marge Simpson Hi Judge, Les mots du Madam Simpson c'est magnifique, mais ce n'est pas la guerre. Jean and Robert Are you a pair of french homsosexualists? as its hard to tell from your silly and unimaginative avatar/names. Nevermind........lovely! Either way, you have obviously had a bit too much French in you and have forgotten your manners? The next time you personally insult me or take the pi** be prepared..... Hey steady on judge. We are just an ordinary married couple, man and wife, who respect people irrespective of race or sexual orintation. We are not French but enjoy spending time in France and meeting French people. We think you must have translated our comment incorrectly if you think we were insulting you; we thought you take it in good part given your good sense of humour. All the best Eddie. Jean and Robert. I am also well known internationally for respecting rumpy pumpy in any shape or form. Are you teachers by any chance? That would help explain your arrogance........ No..... it was your previous remark. Where you referred to Moi as being ghastly! Without, may I say any notion of good humour e.g. a smiley, so I took you literally as being either ignorant or serious. You really need to get a grip on internet etiquette if you want to play.... Ah... The French! "You know the world is going crazy when the best rapper is a white guy, the best golfer is a black guy, the Swiss hold the America's Cup, France is accusing the US of arrogance and Germany doesn't want to go to war. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robertandjean Posted March 15, 2009 Share Posted March 15, 2009 Hi again Judge, This is our last response, honest. Your final quote shows some nice touches of humour, clearly not your own work! We see no need to use funny little faces, or for that matter quotes from cartoon characters, to support our points so do not intend to start. Yes, we both were involved in education, Jean as a teacher me as university lecturer, but in no way intend to display arrogance in our comments. Indeed on this forum we seek just to give advice, based on over 25 years of motorhoming, and take note of the advice of others more knowledgeable than ourselves. Can we call this a score draw and move on? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patricia Posted March 15, 2009 Share Posted March 15, 2009 At the risk of being arrogant (just joking but I, too, was a teacher!) I will try to get back to the thread, at least I think this is relevant to it. For those who may be thinking of using the ASF autoroutes the following two links are somewhat ambiguous but may help to classify your vehicle: http://asf.fr/control/index.aspx?pageid=Internet2007.12822 http://asf.fr/shared/pdf/asf_classification_des_vehicules.pdf The charts appear to be a little different to those of SANEF posted above. ASF incidentally do not charge for things on the roof e.g. antennae and the Camos. Last year they definitely charged for air-con but I cannot find the reference to it this year; it just says load on the roof. The following link gives the PDF for calculating routes in detail for Classe 2 only. You can go from this link to all the other classes: http://asf.fr/shared/pdf/tarifs%20peage/asf_detail_tarifs_peage_fev2009_classe2.pdf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted March 15, 2009 Share Posted March 15, 2009 "Can we call this a score draw and move on?" Not really lol I knew it..........even worse! Educationalists! Hence the pompous arrogant holier than thou attitude.... You ought to be ashamed of yourselves considering your background.......... without the use of "emotions" how can someone’s intent be interpreted on a forum. When the French pulled out of NATO 40 years ago and ordered American bases closed in France, Secretary of State Dean Rusk reportedly responded: “Should we dig up the graves of American soldiers in Normandy, too, and take them home?” No French answer was recorded. "France has neither winter nor summer nor morals. Apart from these drawbacks it is a fine country. France has usually been governed by prostitutes." ~ Mark Twain "I would rather have a German division in front of me than a French one behind me." ~ General George S. Patton "Going to war without France is like going deer hunting without your accordion." ~ Norman Schwartzkopf "As far as I'm concerned, war always means failure" ~ Jacques Chirac, President of France "As far as France is concerned ... you're right." ~ Rush Limbaugh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arh Posted March 18, 2009 Share Posted March 18, 2009 I drove in/through France for many years in a truck, the reason that height comes into it is because on a lot of auto-peages there is a little gismo which tells the machine that you are over a certain height and are therefore a truck and carrying goods hence more cost, this is cheaper than putting in a weigher. Personally I do not use any toll-roads in my motor-home for this reason, and there are lots of dual carriageways nowadays anyway Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patricia Posted March 18, 2009 Share Posted March 18, 2009 Thank you for that logical explanation. I knew they could measure the height but didn't associate it with the assumption that this meant that the vehicle is carrying goods. Presumably this is why they actually charge for air-con as they think this is a commercial truck too. Having said that the illustrations show motorhome heights, not necessarily trucks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Archiesgrandad Posted March 20, 2009 Share Posted March 20, 2009 My complaint about French Toll booths is the way they open the barrier before offering you your change, why would they do that? In my "Sailor" days , when we would flobble about in the English Channel/ La Mange in our lovely sailing boat we encountered a lot of French persons. The feeling was the Britania may rule the waves, but the French waive the rules. AGD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ris Posted April 6, 2009 Share Posted April 6, 2009 Would be interested to hear from anyone returning from France and having used the toll roads as to what category they were charged. If anyone does respond it would assist if they could indicate the number of axles on their vehicle and approx. height. Thanks in anticipation. Gerry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onecal Posted April 6, 2009 Share Posted April 6, 2009 Hi Have a look at Hints and Tips toals towing trailer in France and you will see that from Verzon to Tours A85 new motorway tend to overcharge motorhomes a Class 3 instead of a class 2. (2009). We have come on this problem last year and we held our ground at the toal booth until we were let through as a classe 2 Try and always go through a toal booth that has a person on duty and all should be O.K. even if the height is a little over. Have a nice Hol' leave the motorway now and again and see France. Regards, Brendan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ris Posted April 7, 2009 Share Posted April 7, 2009 Thanks Brendan, will do. Would still be interested in any others experience Gerry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David B Posted April 7, 2009 Share Posted April 7, 2009 We have a 2 axle A/S Nuevo ES which is just under 3m high. As far as I am aware (must check more next time!) we have always been charged Class 2. When taking a ticket at the start of an Autoroute section sometimes the ticket appears low down (car level) and at other times high up (lorry level), but not aware of any difference in charges when exiting. Regarding use of Nationwide debit card - they are starting to charge a 0.84% fee (1% from 1 July) for foreign transactions. BUT as far as I could tell this will not apply in most EU countries. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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