French Motorway Toll Liber-t tag

[rupert123]

Patricia, how is the French one much cheaper, I though they all charged the standard autoroute price. If you mean to set up mine was about 38 euro in total of which 20 euro is a refundable deposit, so only 18 euro to set up, not to bad I thought. All these prices are from a year ago so may have altered a little.

[Patricia]

rupert123 - 2013-07-13 9:37 AM

 

Patricia, how is the French one much cheaper, I though they all charged the standard autoroute price. If you mean to set up mine was about 38 euro in total of which 20 euro is a refundable deposit, so only 18 euro to set up, not to bad I thought. All these prices are from a year ago so may have altered a little.

Sorry about the delay but by the time I had found all my paperwork, I was too hot to contemplate writing a post! Of course, if I had looked in my folder marked "travel" I would have been much quicker!

 

You are correct about the toll charges but the set-up is cheaper - no deposit, €10 to activate (which included two supports and was immediate because I called into one of their sale points) and only €1.6 each month I use it. However, my French bank charged a one-off set-up fee of €8.50 for what we would call a SO which was new and unexpected. The scheme I joined is called Bip & Go, part of SAPN which in turn is a branch of SANEF. There are several companies which offer the "Badge" as they call it, all with differing prices and conditions. One, if I remember correctly, attached to the A28 gives discounts if you use it regularly.

[PJay]

Patricia - 2013-07-13 9:20 AM

 

I joined this scheme earlier this year too but subscribed to the French version (Bip and Go), not the UK one. The French version is much cheaper but you do need a French bank account which you can get without having property in France. I was travelling by car at that time and found it to be fantastic. The lady who set up my membership assured me that my motorhome would be ok. It is less than 3.5 tonnes and less than 3 meters high BUT I have a dome on top which takes it over the 3m. This is perfectly legal (you are allowed an antenna but not air-con on the roof) but the sensors always try to charge me classe 3 so I have to dismount each time and use the telephone. She tells me that won't happen but I have yet to test it!

I, too, was worried by the slow ascent of the barrier but now know that there are some "express" ones which open from quite a distance away but with most of them you have to be quite close to.

Edit: PS I also obtained a spare support so that I can transfer the "badge" from one vehicle to the other.

 

I was thinking of joining this scheme, but having read the thread,

1, We are 3 meters, but have a sat dome which takes us over 3, we also have roof air-con, which is lower than the dome.

2,Would we be charged more?

3,We just pay what we are asked on the toll,s, some of which do seem high!

I do find some of the tolls a pain to reach, being either to high or to low (Can't win!) so a tag sounds ideal.

Is there one for Spainish tolls?

PJay

[Patricia]

If your air-con is not as high as the dome then I should think you will be alright (if I manage to go through alright!) but I do think you should look carefully at the charge. If it says more than classe 2 then you should use the phone before you pay, it will be too late once you have paid. I once noticed that I had been charged classe 3 for part of the journey and classe 4 for the remainder; in total 34€ too much. The one autoroute company refunded the over-charge immediately but the other one, despite emails and phone calls, refused but eventually sent me a goodwill yellow vest!! It is only going through the unmanned toll booths where the problem arises but as you can see you might save a considerable amount of money.

I have no idea if the Spanish motorways operate a similar scheme but Bruce on hear would be able to advise but I have some expats who holiday in England near to me so I will ask them if I get the chance. In Spain though you will only pay class one anyway.

[rupert123]

Patricia - 2013-07-14 10:29 PM

 

If your air-con is not as high as the dome then I should think you will be alright (if I manage to go through alright!) but I do think you should look carefully at the charge. If it says more than classe 2 then you should use the phone before you pay, it will be too late once you have paid. I once noticed that I had been charged classe 3 for part of the journey and classe 4 for the remainder; in total 34€ too much. The one autoroute company refunded the over-charge immediately but the other one, despite emails and phone calls, refused but eventually sent me a goodwill yellow vest!! It is only going through the unmanned toll booths where the problem arises but as you can see you might save a considerable amount of money.

I have no idea if the Spanish motorways operate a similar scheme but Bruce on hear would be able to advise but I have some expats who holiday in England near to me so I will ask them if I get the chance. In Spain though you will only pay class one anyway.

Patricia, on the UK based scheme you are advised to check your invoice once a month and any overcharge is refunded. Another thing I noticed on the web site if anyone has a UK disabled badge, just show this at the toll with your tag and you will charged the car rate. You do, of course, have to go to operated toll for this but may be worth while if you use autoroutes a lot.