Road Taxes in europe

[Mickydripin]

My son a coach driver says that when he goes over to europe he has to get road tax for the days he is over there or is it just for LGVs and coaches I know that you do not have to get any for France as I have been over there a few times but in a motorhome do you have to get tax for Belgium, Holland or Germany I know you also have to pay for Switzerland but what about the others

[Guest JudgeMental]

No road Tax to pay. BUT tolls on a lot of motorways and a vignette for Switzerland which lasts a year at approx £30 but covers motorways and tunnels so reasonable value IMO.....

 

 

You got that van yet? *-)

[scramblers]

Hi Mickydripin,

 

You do not have to pay any road tax in Europe for your motorhome. What you may have to pay is some form of toll or vignette to use the motorway or major road system.

 

Switzerland use a vignette that lasts from December, through the whole of the following year and then into January of the subsequent year.

[Guest Peter James]

The AA website is a good source of free info on driving in most countries:

 

http://www.theaa.com/motoring_advice/overseas/index.html

 

Generally the countries that charge the most are the transit countries like France and Switzerland, that are surrounded by other countries, and so have many foreign vehicles on their roads that are just passing through. They tend to tax the motorways, because thats where most of the foreign transit traffic is.

 

Unlike Britain, for example, which has hardly any foreign vehicles on its roads that are just passing through. Road tolls in Britain is just another stealth tax on its own citizens who are already paying vehicle tax.

 

[malc d]

I see from the latest Caravan Club mag that there are now new electronic toll systems on some of the motorways, which were previously free, in Portugal.

 

Basically you 'hire' an electronic card, for which you pay a deposit.

You get charged for the journey on your credit or debit card and the deposit is returned to you when you return the electronic card.

 

You can also pre-load with cash.

 

 

 

 

 

:-(

[rupert123]

Peter James - 2010-12-01 12:48 PM

 

The AA website is a good source of free info on driving in most countries:

 

http://www.theaa.com/motoring_advice/overseas/index.html

 

Generally the countries that charge the most are the transit countries like France and Switzerland, that are surrounded by other countries, and so have many foreign vehicles on their roads that are just passing through. They tend to tax the motorways, because thats where most of the foreign transit traffic is.

 

Unlike Britain, for example, which has hardly any foreign vehicles on its roads that are just passing through. Road tolls in Britain is just another stealth tax on its own citizens who are already paying vehicle tax.

 

Not sure about other countries but always thought the toll roads in France were private companies so how is this a tax. As for the UK I am not aware of any government road tolls, in fact the only ones I can think of are the Birmingham bypass and the alternative road to Porlock Hill in Devon, both private, so where does the stealth tax come in. The posters question has been answered but will agree no road tax to pay in europe, the French do not pay it anyway.

[Randonneur]

I think that there is a tax on Heavy Goods vehicles over here but not motorhomes.

[Derek Uzzell]

rupert123 - 2010-12-01 2:42 PM

 

...As for the UK I am not aware of any government road tolls, in fact the only ones I can think of are the Birmingham bypass and the alternative road to Porlock Hill in Devon, both private...

 

More UK toll data on

 

http://www.theaa.com/allaboutcars/overseas/european_tolls_results.jsp?country=Great%20Britain

 

This may be a useful site for toll information elsewhere:

 

http://www.tolltickets.com/default.aspx?lang=en-GB

 

[Derek Uzzell]

Randonneur - 2010-12-01 2:45 PM

 

I think that there is a tax on Heavy Goods vehicles over here but not motorhomes.

 

I'm not sure if that's so.

 

My understanding is that there have been proposals on the (French) table for quite some while to introduce an 'eco-tax' on HGVs (vehicles over 3.5t MAM) travelling in France. This would be charged on a per-kilometre basis and not relate to existing toll-roads or roads that carry very little traffic. It would be applied to around 10,500km of routes nationales and about 2000km of routes departmentales and it's estimated that about 600,000 French-registered and 200,000 foreign-registered lorries would be affected. The system would be 'electronic' and, I presume, be based on something like a GO-BOX. As things stand, it would not be implemented until 2012 at the very earliest.

 

I would have thought that, if this proposal ever gets off the ground, it's going to affect over-3.5t motorhomes as well as commercial vehicles. As only a tiny percentage of French-registered motorhomes have a MAM above 3.5t, such a tax is unlikely to result in camping-caristes manning the barricades, though it would undoubtedly peeve many motorcaravanning visitors with heavy 'vans.

[Randonneur]

I think it only applies to French Lorries. I remember in 2000 when the car tax was squashed but the lorry tax wasn't.

[Mickydripin]

 

Thanks everyone for your replies and even tho no one mentioned Belgium Germany or holland I am sure that is what you intended to include.

Thankfully when I get started next year with my new motorhome "Health permitted" I can get on my travele`s

[Mickydripin]

Hi Judge

I have not got my van yet it is proceeding slowley as I am haveing some health problems and it is the last thing on my mind at the moment.

I do not want to depress anybody but I have just been told that I have cancer I go for what they call pre amms at the hospital on thursday (tomorrow) and I have to go in to hospital on the tenth for an operation for them to try to remove it and take a biopsy to see if it has spread I get the results from that two weeks later.

One day before Christmas.

I say my van is the last thing on my mind but the only thing that keeps my mind off the opp is planning where we will go next year.

[Derek Uzzell]

Mickydripin - 2010-12-01 10:40 PM

 

 

Thanks everyone for your replies and even tho no one mentioned Belgium Germany or holland I am sure that is what you intended to include.

Thankfully when I get started next year with my new motorhome "Health permitted" I can get on my travele`s

 

 

Hi Mike,

 

So sorry to hear about your health problems – best of luck for the future.

 

As far as Belgium, Holland and Germany are concerned, I believe the situation is that, FOR MOTORHOMES, there are no general ‘road taxes’ to pay if you visit those countries, though you would have to pay toll fees for crossing certain bridges or passing through certain tunnels.

 

Additionally, vehicle-emission regulations (similar in principle to London’s Low Emissions Zone rules) apply to quite a few German cities.

 

For more detailed information, you can visit the following website and select the countries you are interested in by clicking on the map.

 

http://www.tolltickets.com/default.aspx?lang=en-GB

 

This may also be of interest

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toll_roads_in_Europe

[Derek Uzzell]

Randonneur - 2010-12-01 6:25 PM

 

I think it only applies to French Lorries. I remember in 2000 when the car tax was squashed but the lorry tax wasn't.

 

You are right and I wasn't. After some serious GOOGLE-ing I eventually found this:

 

http://www.vie-publique.fr/documents-vp/transp_fiscalite.pdf

[Guest JudgeMental]

Hey Mickey! chin up old son! :-D

[rupert123]

Derek Uzzell - 2010-12-01 5:36 PM

 

rupert123 - 2010-12-01 2:42 PM

 

...As for the UK I am not aware of any government road tolls, in fact the only ones I can think of are the Birmingham bypass and the alternative road to Porlock Hill in Devon, both private...

 

More UK toll data on

 

http://www.theaa.com/allaboutcars/overseas/european_tolls_results.jsp?country=Great%20Britain

 

This may be a useful site for toll information elsewhere:

 

http://www.tolltickets.com/default.aspx?lang=en-GB

 

Well yes but I mentioned the Birmingham bypass and all the others are bridges or tunnels. Much of this is not direct goverment owned so not a stealth tax, which was the point.

[Derek Uzzell]

rupert123 - 2010-12-02 12:48 PM

 

Derek Uzzell - 2010-12-01 5:36 PM

 

rupert123 - 2010-12-01 2:42 PM

 

...As for the UK I am not aware of any government road tolls, in fact the only ones I can think of are the Birmingham bypass and the alternative road to Porlock Hill in Devon, both private...

 

More UK toll data on

 

http://www.theaa.com/allaboutcars/overseas/european_tolls_results.jsp?country=Great%20Britain

 

This may be a useful site for toll information elsewhere:

 

http://www.tolltickets.com/default.aspx?lang=en-GB

 

Well yes but I mentioned the Birmingham bypass and all the others are bridges or tunnels. Much of this is not direct goverment owned so not a stealth tax, which was the point.

 

Sorry about that - my capacity for dealing with semantic niceties was never great.

[Brian Kirby]

Mickydripin - 2010-12-01 10:40 PM Thanks everyone for your replies and even tho no one mentioned Belgium Germany or holland I am sure that is what you intended to include. Thankfully when I get started next year with my new motorhome "Health permitted" I can get on my travele`s

Hello Mike.  I'm sorry to hear of your health problem, and hope all will turn out well.

Regarding road tax, if your van is registered, taxed and insured in UK, as I assume it will be, there are no additional road taxes to pay anywhere else in Europe.  As stated above, you may encounter tolls, or may have to buy vignettes - either of which you can avoid if you take "country" routes - and you may have to get a once only windscreen sticker to enter certain German cities, to show the van's emissions credentials.

So dream on, the world (or at least Europe) is your oyster from the Urals to the Atlantic and from Nordcapp to the Med.  Should be enough space to play in for the odd fortnight!  :-D

[catinou]

So sorry to hear of your health problems Mike, :-S

 

Keep planning to keep your mind busy on something nice and it will pay dividends when you set off on your first trip next year. Good luck with the tests and look forward to hearing how you get on when you get your new MH ;-)