French tolls

[sheer lunar-see]

Hi all, has anyone out there had any experiance of using an electronic "tag" system fitted to their motorhome, as a means of paying for tolls on french motorways and bridges, or do you avoid them? Just wondered if it was cheaper. Thanks in anticipation.

Regards, Nigel.

[Patricia]

I believe this system is only for cars as you have to pass under a low barrier. Also it is only cheaper if you use the same autoroute frequently.

[mondo]

In my opinion use the N Routes it doesn't add that much more time to your journey.. and you see a bit more of France that way..on our trip down into Spain last year we used the N routes all the way across France we used the Peage just once on a Sunday just to be able to fill up with diesel at the services and the it was back onto the N Routes lovely scenery even in January and a lot of the roads are all but deserted..if memory serves we paid just 19 Euros in tolls on a round trip of just over 2000 miles..and 9 Euros of that was crossing the Millau!!

 

Use the N Routes and see France!!

[LordThornber]

mondo - 2010-08-23 1:58 PM

 

In my opinion use the N Routes it doesn't add that much more time to your journey.. and you see a bit more of France that way..on our trip down into Spain last year we used the N routes all the way across France we used the Peage just once on a Sunday just to be able to fill up with diesel at the services and the it was back onto the N Routes lovely scenery even in January and a lot of the roads are all but deserted..if memory serves we paid just 19 Euros in tolls on a round trip of just over 2000 miles..and 9 Euros of that was crossing the Millau!!

 

Use the N Routes and see France!!

 

Mondo, how long did you have to cover your 2000 miles?

 

Martyn

[Guest JudgeMental]

I don't think there can be that much difference in a motorhome...... different in a BMW or the like. also fuel on motorways 2 days ago was around 1.30 euro compared to 1.10 at supermarkets

 

No need to avoid motorways completely though? some are free and some are reasonably priced only the newer ones seem to be extortionate IMO. The A 28 south of Rouen being one of them! *-)

 

Italian motorways are so much more resonable in comparison. From Swiss border to Lake Garda only about 8 euro

[whisturx]

Mondo,

You were lucky with the Millau Viaduct. I was charged 9 euros going South and 29 going back !! I refused to pay it till they threatened to call the gendarmes. I was given a complaint form for which I have just had a reply.

They enclosed their pricing structure.

Camping cars are Group 2 up to 3.0 metres high .

Group 3 includes 7.5 tonne lorries, coaches with just two axles (any length)

Tandem axles are Group 4 along with artics, and coaches with 3 axles and lorries towing trailers !!

Yet if I use a peage ,I am Group 2 and they ignore my tandem axles. Typical French logic !!The first crossing I must have had a trainee.

In future I will go round through Millau.

 

[rupert123]

sheer lunar-see - 2010-08-23 11:34 AM

 

Hi all, has anyone out there had any experiance of using an electronic "tag" system fitted to their motorhome, as a means of paying for tolls on french motorways and bridges, or do you avoid them? Just wondered if it was cheaper. Thanks in anticipation.

Regards, Nigel.

 

This system is certainly only for car use.

[derek500]

We never use toll roads, just free motorways and N roads.

 

At the speed I drive, 55-60mph, there is little benefit timewise.

 

We do Dunkerque/Dover to Valencia in three easy days' driving and save about 150€ each way in tolls.

 

 

[Alan D]

Blimey derek, over 350 miles daily and over 7 hours driving per day and thats an easy day for you !

Alan.

[Blizzard]

whisturx - 2010-08-23 3:57 PM

 

They enclosed their pricing structure.

Camping cars are Group 2 up to 3.0 metres high .

Group 3 includes 7.5 tonne lorries, coaches with just two axles (any length)

Tandem axles are Group 4 along with artics, and coaches with 3 axles and lorries towing trailers !!

Yet if I use a peage ,I am Group 2 and they ignore my tandem axles.

 

 

Ian,

 

Thanks for that excellent info.

 

We've just returned from France in our tag axle and were charged Class 2 at every manned booth, however we exited once via an automatic booth (which was the only booth) and were charged Class 4.

 

Thought we'd been ripped off until reading your pricing structure.

 

 

Ken.

 

[cleo]

Do you know if you if you have to pay to cross the viaduct even if you have a disabled blue badge? *-)

[mondo]

LordThornber - 2010-08-23 2:05 PM

 

mondo - 2010-08-23 1:58 PM

 

In my opinion use the N Routes it doesn't add that much more time to your journey.. and you see a bit more of France that way..on our trip down into Spain last year we used the N routes all the way across France we used the Peage just once on a Sunday just to be able to fill up with diesel at the services and the it was back onto the N Routes lovely scenery even in January and a lot of the roads are all but deserted..if memory serves we paid just 19 Euros in tolls on a round trip of just over 2000 miles..and 9 Euros of that was crossing the Millau!!

 

Use the N Routes and see France!!

 

Mondo, how long did you have to cover your 2000 miles?

 

Martyn

 

Well your lordship when you go for the winter ( we did 10th Jan til around 20th April) there ain't a lot of a rush to do it in.. we sort of ambled down the west side of France across past Carcassone down past Perpignan and into Spain at La Jonquera and down to Peniscola which took us a steady 4 days no rush..stayed a while and then returned sort of via La Jonquera Narbonne..Clermont Ferrand over the Millau and up along that side and then went across towards Chartres.. Rouen and up to Calais (eventually) which took us a very steady 5 days as we took in a bit of the scenery on the way and caught the boat for Blighty..could have been a bit more than 2000ks but then who's counting!!

[derek500]

Alan D - 2010-08-23 7:59 PM

 

Blimey derek, over 350 miles daily and over 7 hours driving per day and thats an easy day for you !

Alan.

 

We only do that in the winter, when there's nothing else to do. In the spring/summer/autumn we take up to three weeks!!

 

 

[sheer lunar-see]

Thanks all for the replies, but you didnt exactly answer the question. you can get a tag unit for your motorhome on a month by month rental, or annual agreement. I only asked if anybody had used one, not the cheapest way to travel around France, sometimes, time is limited and you have to use these roads. Thanks again. B-) B-) B-)

[Minstrel]

I believe that to use the tag system for French motorways you have to have a French bank account for purposes of debiting the money from your account.

[LordThornber]

sheer lunar-see - 2010-08-23 10:51 PM

sometimes, time is limited and you have to use these roads. Thanks again. B-) B-) B-)

 

That's what I alluded to with Mondo..

 

Martyn

[Derek Uzzell]

This is a link to the Libert-T website:

 

http://www.telepeagelibert.com/index.php

 

The FAQ section makes it clear that this automated system is restricted to vehicles with a maximum height of 2 metres.

 

However, there must be an alternative (perhaps restricted to geographical sub-sets of autoroutes?) as I've been on a very large coach travelling in the Provence region and this had an on-board system allowing it to use a special 'automatic' lane at toll barriers. See this earlier forum posting:

 

http://www.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=18494&posts=7

 

sheer lunar-see - 2010-08-23 10:51 PM

 

...you can get a tag unit for your motorhome on a month by month rental, or annual agreement...

 

Could you provide more information about this arrangement, please? I've GOOGLE-ed fairly assiduously and, although there's plenty of stuff on telepeage, I couldn't find anything confirming your advice regarding motorhomes (or vehicles over 2 metres in height). I did come across advice that seemed to be saying that, if you were driving a vehicle over that height limit (say you were using your car to tow a caravan), then you used a manned lane and gave your automated 'badge' to the booth-attendant so that your account could be debited.

[Brian Kirby]

You may find this link of more use.  http://tinyurl.com/29xxvgc

Liber-T is no use, as it is reserved for class 1 vehicles.

DKV is a German company that provides transponder cards to commercial European operators of Class 3 and 4 vehicles.  You install the card as for Liber-T, but use the lanes with the orange hexagon instead of the standard Telepeage lanes.  If the link doesn't give the English language immediately, look at the right hand edge of your screen.  They claim to take the commercial discounts from the operators, and cover their costs from those, still passing back some of the discount.  Haven't explored it exhaustively, as is not relevant to us, and haven't verified if private citizens can get the cards, but noted that Spanish toll motorways are also covered.

Others here:  http://tinyurl.com/385w6d3  here http://tinyurl.com/27rutmh  and here  http://tinyurl.com/28z4r92

Some more explanatory than others, but DKV seemed a bit more comprehensively set out.

[coach2000]

Brian, just to clarify. The lane with the octaganol sign is for class 4 vehicles with an electronic transponder. As you say, you can get these from DKV or UTA also Total. They are primarily for HGVs and Coaches.

You can still use this lane if you have less than 3 axles and a transponder but will be charged as a class 4. An example would be class 3-33 euros. Class 4-77 euros.

I have been looking for an electronic unit myself for my motorome for some time and have not found one yet.

Hope this helps.

 

Clive.

[Derek Uzzell]

After some more GOOGLE-ing, I think the position is this:

 

Liber-T does offer monthly or annual schemes for their transponder ‘badge’, so Liber-T is probably what sheer-lunar-see has in mind.

 

There’s some relevant motorcaravan-related discussion here:

 

http://forum.campingcar-infos.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=47368&start=0

 

It seems from the Plajo’s posting that, although vehicles with Liber-T badges can only use the special height-restricted ‘no waiting’ telepeage lanes if their height is no greater than 2m, they are able to use alternative lanes with a telepeage capability (not the special lorry/coach lanes) that will recognise the Liber-T badge and automatically debit the Liber-T user’s account.

 

This means that, even if your vehicle exceeds the 2m height-restriction, you can use Liber-T to avoid paying cash or using a credit-card, but (as Plajo emphasises) you will still have to queue for the appropriate toll-booth with the non-Liber-T-equipped vehicles, which will tend to limit the attraction of the Liber-T badge for most camping-car owners.

 

GOOGLE-ing on “telepeage pour camping-cars” retrieves some useful stuff, but the discussion on French motorhome forums (which is where one might reasonably expect to find the most reliable feedback) suggests that telepeage will rarely be worth bothering with for UK motorhome owners unless their vehicles fall into the sub-2m-high category.