Bike racks.How much do ferries charge?

Camper634

Camper634

Joined
Dec 18, 2011
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Hull
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Autotrail 634
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Since 2006
Has anyone got a guide price for how much extra you have to pay if you have a bike rack on the back of your Motorhome please.When I booked our crossing with North Sea ferries I didn't have a rack fitted and had intended to take our 2 fold ups in the small half garage.Now we are having second thoughts and would like to take 2 full size bikes instead.
 
I don't think they specifically charge for bike racks ..... just the overall length. I booked a Calmac ferry as a 7m vehicle with bike rack and I see the booking says '<8m.'
 
Don't tell them !

When I took the tunnel to France I put my bike inside... however I didn't notice anyone checking so left it on the rack for the homeward trip...
 
I added 1/2 metre to my van when booking to accommodate the bike rack and got told off at Portsmouth P&O terminal for not saying I had a bike rack = they charge £8.00. Don't know about Chunnel.
 
Another thought......

I often took our 6.3m RIb on it's trailer on Calmac ferries. I booked the trailer as 7m......never saw anyone ever get a tape measure out.
Out MH is actually 7.04m. Don't think they will charge us for the 0.04m :)

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vin0114 said:
I added 1/2 metre to my van when booking to accommodate the bike rack and got told off at Portsmouth P&O terminal for not saying I had a bike rack = they charge £8.00. Don't know about Chunnel.
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That must have been some years ago or do you mean BRITTANY? Brittany ask on their booking form if you have a cycle rack. Think it costs £18 but with bikes on i am well over the 5 metres length of my van so not a bad deal.BUSBY.
 
Used the tunnel dozens of times, book in van as per factory spec for length ie < 8mtr actually 7.8 . Always had a 3 bike tow bar rack on back, never been queried.

Dick
 
Ovalball said:
Has anyone got a guide price for how much extra you have to pay if you have a bike rack on the back of your Motorhome please.When I booked our crossing with North Sea ferries I didn't have a rack fitted and had intended to take our 2 fold ups in the small half garage.Now we are having second thoughts and would like to take 2 full size bikes instead.
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You are really asking a difficult question. Normally, North Sea Ferries add the length of the bike rack to the length of the vehicle. If that length falls within the same ticket bracket (usually 6.0 to 8.5 metres) there is no extra charge. However...

Look on their online booking between say the UK and Holland or Belgium, and check the various motorhome categories, you will notice that they dont accept one over 2.5 metres in height or 8.5 metres long. Look in the various Van categories, and they have limits of max 3.3 metres high, and 6.5 metres long. Really, the answer would be have the dimensions of your Motorhome at the ready, including the bike rack, and call them.
 
Chunnel don't charge extra for bike rack. Don't ask for length either. Just book as a Campervan.
 
We have scooter on back DFDS said just add to length as we were over limit on booking form anyway , so we added a meter , don't think anyone even looked . It certainly wasn't mentioned, even when we arrived too early , and had to go away again at Calais for two hours (Flexi) ticket .

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Tunnel ask if you have a roof box or cycle rack but don't charge any extra.
 
When checking in at Portsmouth for Brittany Ferries, they checked that we didn’t have a bike rack - I had not paid for one so I guess it came up on their computer.
 
Steam packet measure your van including bike rack and charge you if you've booked under full length
 
I guess different ferry operators may have different charges on different crossings for bike racks etc
Why not check out the ferry operators website?
 
On Brittany Ferries - £15 each way

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Teuchter said:
On Brittany Ferries - £15 each way
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Not calling you @Teuchter but we were given a slapped hand when we crossed in Feb. (again at Portsmouth) and we were told it's a Tenner.

I think they're on the prowl in Pompey. Not had a minutes problem at Plymouth.
 
Teuchter said:
On Brittany Ferries - £15 each way
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emmitdb said:
Not calling you @Teuchter but we were given a slapped hand when we crossed in Feb. (again at Portsmouth) and we were told it's a Tenner.

I think they're on the prowl in Pompey. Not had a minutes problem at Plymouth.
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According to my research t'would seem that it is £10 on crossings to France and £15 on crossings to Spain, still cheaper than booking an extra half metre length though:)
 
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matamoros said:
According to my research t'would seem that it is £10 on crossings to France and £15 on crossings to Spain, still cheaper than booking an extra half metre length though:)
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Agreed Matamoros - I was quoting Portsmouth Santander! :)
 
emmitdb said:
Not calling you @Teuchter but we were given a slapped hand when we crossed in Feb. (again at Portsmouth) and we were told it's a Tenner.

I think they're on the prowl in Pompey. Not had a minutes problem at Plymouth.
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£10 France - £15 Spain - seems odd that there should be a different price - either way it's cheap enough :)
 
DFDS don't even ask. Just been on to look.
What I did notice is huge difference in prices for same crossing when using the Uk site compared to using the French/Belgian site.
Just did the same for a date in may with me & dog & it was £89 inc dog on UK site & 71 € on French ?

Another thing is UK site now only gives a Motorhome as under 4m high & below 10m long whereas the French one still has under 4m & below 7m & under 4m & below 10m. Very odd. Mind you when you liase with the online staff there screen shows the old below 2,35m height under 7m & under 4m H & under 10m.
 
matamoros said:
According to my research t'would seem that it is £10 on crossings to France and £15 on crossings to Spain, still cheaper than booking an extra half metre length though:)
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Thats why i declare it,,BUSBY,
 
Interesting that I never knew it

When I went to France in motorhome 3 years ago I had bike rack and never declared it I just stated length of van including rack.

This time I didn't have one but oversized the van anyway.

I was wondering there why it mattered as long as you have the length including rack but then I realised why

Cars and the nose of most vans will easily tuck under a cycle rack as they are high up on the van ....so it's just another way of getting money for nothing :)

A 9 metre van without a rack takes up more full height space than a 8.5 metre van with a half metre rack .....

If it's logged on the loading sheet they will know which vans to load in a certain way to fit more in :)


Quite clever really
 
Mines 10m and as the bike rack is on the tow bar, nothing is going underneath. That said, we use the tunnel and as said they just ask, there is no extra charge. :)

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vin0114 said:
I added 1/2 metre to my van when booking to accommodate the bike rack and got told off at Portsmouth P&O terminal for not saying I had a bike rack = they charge £8.00. Don't know about Chunnel.
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When booking the tunnel for one of our trips last year I forgot to tick 'have a bike rack' box so phoned them up to let them know I had forgotten to tick the box....I was innformed that it didn't make any difference to the cost of the fare.
 

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