Over 3500 in Eastern Europe

[webby1]

There have been some really useful posts on here in the past regarding vignettes for Eastern Europe.

and we intend to travel back from Greece via Bulgaria,Romania,Hungary,Slovakia and Czech Republic.

 

As far as I can see simple vignette sticker at border for motorhomes under 3500. But we have been upplated to 3850 and there are various views as to what's needed. Is this about right ?

 

1 Bulgaria and Romania just seem to want a more expensive vignette.

2 Hungary seems to class all motorhomes(even if over 3500) as a car.

3 Slovakia and Czech Republic seem insistent on the Go box for all over 3500.

 

But a “hypothetical question” although upplated the original Fiat metal plate showing 3500 is still under the bonnet (the Svtech 3850 is removable) and I have a good copy of the original V5 showing 3500 kg...........................can I try and wing it.........................only a problem if we get weighed.

 

Don't mind paying but it's the Go box complexity that's annoying.

Anyway whatever happened to the Euro GO Box...............I thought that was what the project was all about.

[starvin marvin]

I keep looking at this post of yours and am surprised you've not had a response.

[Len Salisbury]

What is a Go Box? We've been to Prague a couple of times in our Peugeot Boxer 3500 kgs and bought the sticker at the border valid for 10 days.

[webby1]

Thanks Marvin for your post

 

A Go box is the electronic box hired out if you are over 3500 and records your journeys and deducts the appropriate tolls. I don't mind paying but it seems a lot of hassle with the box..............some people have ended up bringing them back to UK and losing their €40 deposit.You also need a Certificate of Conformity for emissions so they know what rate to charge you.

 

But as you say if under 3500 just buy a sticker at the border.There is some discussion as to whether all motorhomes(even if over 3500) are in the car class and just need a sticker.But no one seems to know for definite.....................its a bit like in France ringing the bell and saying Camping Car and usually getting the Class 2 rate even if over 3500.

 

After my recent research it sounds like I'm actually beginning to know what I'm talking about.

 

Anyone know different ??

[Derek Uzzell]

starvin marvin - 2016-08-23 1:06 PM

 

I keep looking at this post of yours and am surprised you've not had a response.

 

Webby1 asked “...can I try and wing it..." The answer is, of course, Yes.

 

But there’s no doubt that removing the 3850kg SVTech data-plate and presenting a copy of his motorhome’s pre-weight-uprated V5C if asked to do by the appropriate authorities abroad would be an illegal act, so it might be wiser to explore the potential repercussions of what he’s proposing.

 

While webby1’s motorhome MIGHT be weighed if, say, it looks like it is overloaded, the real risk is if it’s involved in an accident and it is recognised that the V5C being presented is a copy.

 

If it then comes to light that the vehicle is registered in the UK in the over-3500kg class (ie. Private HGV rather than Private/Light Goods - which I assume is the case) besides the Austrian authorities recognising that webby1 is attempting a deception, there may be UK-based insurance-related implications.

 

UK insurance providers expect a motorhome to be appropriately taxed when being driven and (so I was once informed) may well consider that failing to do this will invalidate an insurance policy. If this possibliity concerns webby1, it might be sensible for him to ask his insurance provider what they feel about his idea to ‘fake' his motorhome’s maximum weight and its V5C to avoid him needing to obtain a GO-Box so that he can legally drive on Austrian motorways and expressways.

 

There’s plenty of on-line information/advice about the GO-Box system - for example

 

https://www.go-maut.at/portal/portal

 

Where the Austrian GO-Box system is concerned, suggesting that a motorhome (whatever it’s maximum authorised weight) is actually a ‘car’ has no relevance. This should be apparent from here

 

http://www.asfinag.at/toll/toll-for-hgv-and-bus

 

https://www.bmeia.gv.at/en/embassy/london/practical-advice/general-information/toll-system.html

 

 

 

[webby1]

Derek Thanks for your information and of course it was just a hypothetical question.The same would technically be true in France if you pay Class 2 but are actually over 3500

 

I am not going to Austria and would certainly not attempt any deception there.

However it is the other countries I mentioned that I am interested in. I have been told that Bulgaria and Romania class vehicles by the number of seats so cars and motohomes are in the same class..........freight vehicles are different.

 

Same in Hungary Vignette as Class 2 needed...................still investigating Slovakia and Czech Republic.

 

What happened to a Pan European Go Box or VIgnette.

[Derek Uzzell]

webby1 - 2016-08-24 9:10 AM

 

Derek Thanks for your information and of course it was just a hypothetical question.The same would technically be true in France if you pay Class 2 but are actually over 3500

 

 

It’s hardly the same...

 

It has become known among the UK motorhome community that, if a French autoroute automated toll-booth ‘recognises’ a motorhome as being over the 3.0metre height limit applicable to Category 2 vehicles, using the ‘It’s a camping-car’ ploy may allow the Category 2 toll fee to be obtained instead of the Category 3 or Category 4 fee that should legitimately be applied to the motorhome.

 

In some instances, because of the peculiar small-print autoroute-toll rules regarding what counts as ‘roof height’, a motorhome over 3m-high should be classed as Category 2, but most of the time the ‘It’s a camping-car’ ploy is either a deliberate deception or the motorhome owner is clueless about the French autoroute toll-charging system and thinks that all motorhomes (camping cars) attract the Category 2 fee irrespective of their height, weight and/or number of axles.

 

However, although the ‘It’s a camping-car’ ploy is (probably) usually a deliberate money-saving deception, even if the motorhome were involved in an accident on the autoroute the fact that the incorrect toll Category has been applied is most unlikely to have any serious knock-on effect as far as an insurance company or the police are concerned.

 

It should be reasonably straightforward to identify the vehicle tolling systems used in most of the countries you mention in your original posting (via the following link, for example)

 

http://www.uta.com/tankkarte/tindex/en_truck-toll-service.htm

 

though it may well be necessary to research the fine detail.

[starvin marvin]

Of course you can "wing it" if you're a bit of a risk taker. I've winged it in Hungary and Romania, but before both of these countries joined the EU, so the systems may have changed. As Derek advises don't falsify plates on your van for the insurance reasons.

 

Managed to get through Switzerland once without a vignette, just got waved through at the French border, whilst towing a caravan, plus my mate behind us in a m/h also got waved through. This was not deliberate on our part we just wound up on the m/way by accident, honest guv.

 

I had been told by a Brit I know who lives in Switzerland that the trick was not to use m/way service areas, as this was the place where vehicles were checked for vignettes. It exactly what happened to us in Austria, a few years ago when I tried this ploy. I had to stop for a toilet break, and just in time spotted two guys with clips boards taking a lot on interest in vehicles windscreens. Fired the van up and legged it, sweated for a bit. Chickened out on the way back after squeaking through Hungary and bought a vignette.

 

I guess it just depends on if you feel lucky, However things may well be a bit tighter now. You pay your money, or not as the case maybe, and take your chance.

 

Good luck.

 

[timabob]

We just winged in Austria this year. Our van looks identical to 3500 versions, so we bought a 3500 vignette and off we went. Our logic was - how many times have we been stopped by the police in our lifetime - 0 times in hundreds of thousands of miles. So what are the chances of us being stopped and if we are stopped we would just have to try to argue that we were unclear on the rules and take our chances.

[starvin marvin]

timabob - 2016-08-25 3:58 PM

 

We just winged in Austria this year. Our van looks identical to 3500 versions, so we bought a 3500 vignette and off we went. Our logic was - how many times have we been stopped by the police in our lifetime - 0 times in hundreds of thousands of miles. So what are the chances of us being stopped and if we are stopped we would just have to try to argue that we were unclear on the rules and take our chances.

 

Well done, its nice to hear from a fellow chancer.