French tolls

[nigel dewbery]

We are looking at France for the first time in 2024 and hear a lot about their “expensive tolls” and paying for them
How does the system work? Can you pay cash at the booth? Do you need to have a tag and where do you get one for over 3.5t? What are the other issues?
Thanks

 

[AJM2]

Had usual 4 week holiday in France this year, July into August. Never had more than 2 vehicles in front of us at peages, many straight through. Avoid Saturdays if you can. I relax at my destination, quite happy to avoid a lot of boring little French villages by by-passing them. If there’s one I want to see it becomes my destination

 

[vzac]

We have a bip and go. Only get charged for the months you use it, includes Spain and Italy. Try to avoid tolls, but use them when required. Also watch out for the lez all over the place and growing. Plus your angles morts thing if over 3.5t. But as said before a lot is subjective, as the French all seem to have found ways round everything or just ignore it and say puff and shrug there shoulders. We are in France at the moment, by the way with our 3.8t.
enjoy

 

[MichaelT]

How strict is the height? Our van in 2.94 but have added ac which takes it to about 3.2

It takes the main height and ignores AC, Sat TV etc.

 

[Go_buddy_go_]

We did our first ever Spain/France trip a fortnight ago and got a bip and go tag….no stress,no worries and so easy..the peage roads were fab ( very little traffic )

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[March Hare]

According to this document the AC or any other components attached to the roof shouldn’t be included in the overall height.

“Calculation of the total height of the vehicle or rolling assembly:
• All elements of the vehicle or rolling assembly are taken into account in the calculation of the total height.
• Elements attached to the roof as well as
Goods or baggage on trailers or flatbeds are not taken into account in the calculation of the total height of the vehicle or rolling assembly.”

I obtained our Mango (now Fulli) tag using the registration of my wife’s small Kia car as we hadn’t taken delivery of the moho at the time. I then simply changed the registration in the ‘my account’ section of the app to the MoHo’s, which although coming in at 3650kg is otherwise identical to the 3500kg models - two axles and spot on 3m to the top of the AC unit. We have been charged as Class 2 after using motorways in France, Spain and Italy and wouldn’t be without it because of the ease of rolling through the non-stop 30 kph lanes at the toll booths.

The Fulli Nomade + tag, valid for France, Spain, Portugal and Italy is still available on a cracking special offer.

That's really interesting thanks! I hope the OP doesn't mind me asking a question... With a tag, do you know if you have to drive through a peage lane with a height limiter? Like the OP we're 3m but with a roof mounted Aircon unit which adds something like 20cm, and we'd prefer not to rip it off the roof!

 

[Orion]

That's really interesting thanks! I hope the OP doesn't mind me asking a question... With a tag, do you know if you have to drive through a peage lane with a height limiter? Like the OP we're 3m but with a roof mounted Aircon unit which adds something like 20cm, and we'd prefer not to rip it off the roof!

The only tag lanes with height limits I’ve seen are clearly marked for cars only <2m. I found the ones for HGVs were the quickest as they either had barriers that opened automatically when approached at 30 kph or no barrier at all.

 

[Landy Andy]

That's really interesting thanks! I hope the OP doesn't mind me asking a question... With a tag, do you know if you have to drive through a peage lane with a height limiter? Like the OP we're 3m but with a roof mounted Aircon unit which adds something like 20cm, and we'd prefer not to rip it off the roof!

With a tag you can drive through any lane you want these days. There were lanes before that didn’t use them, but now they all do, even the lorry lanes accept tags that are for cars/Motorhomes. We use the 30km due to not needing to stop, or the lorry ones as they are wider.

 

[vzac]

That's really interesting thanks! I hope the OP doesn't mind me asking a question... With a tag, do you know if you have to drive through a peage lane with a height limiter? Like the OP we're 3m but with a roof mounted Aircon unit which adds something like 20cm, and we'd prefer not to rip it off the roof!

They have hight barriers and non height barriers, on the peage lanes. You know which to take otherwise you might be missing a roof, or something else like a ac. Trucks usually have tags.

 

[Skez]

We are looking at France for the first time in 2024 and hear a lot about their “expensive tolls” and paying for them
How does the system work? Can you pay cash at the booth? Do you need to have a tag and where do you get one for over 3.5t? What are the other issues?
Thanks

Purely in response to your last sentence, they are dull beyond belief. I avoid them at all or any cost. Each to their own.

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[NR]

yes, quite expensive. However, if you want to get to your destination fast and efficiently with plenty of coffee stops they are a no brainer. Plus the motorway surfaces are so good you forget you are driving a rattle can.

 

[Airebus]

We are looking at France for the first time in 2024 and hear a lot about their “expensive tolls” and paying for them
How does the system work? Can you pay cash at the booth? Do you need to have a tag and where do you get one for over 3.5t? What are the other issues?
Thanks

If you are over 3.5t it is compulsory to have 3 angle de mort stickers one on the back and one on each door, there is a location and hight guide for there placement too! ( if you dont want stick on ones and cant do magnetic I have seen ones mounted on a board with sucker cups! £45 mind for 3) Also Ive just got a crit air sticker for ulez zones that are popping up all over, you dont pay to enter the zones but you can get fined without the sticker, I bought mine direct from France as its about €4.5 instead of £25 from the uk sharks. And a full size UK sticker / warning triange and hi viz vests for each person your driving licence and vehicle documents! I have lived in France and they do sometimes have road side checks and if your not compliant you can get a 150 fine and they will follow you to the cash point!! Happy to help where I can and enjoy France!

 

[nigel dewbery]

If you are over 3.5t it is compulsory to have 3 angle de mort stickers one on the back and one on each door, there is a location and hight guide for there placement too! ( if you dont want stick on ones and cant do magnetic I have seen ones mounted on a board with sucker cups! £45 mind for 3) Also Ive just got a crit air sticker for ulez zones that are popping up all over, you dont pay to enter the zones but you can get fined without the sticker, I bought mine direct from France as its about €4.5 instead of £25 from the uk sharks. And a full size UK sticker / warning triange and hi viz vests for each person your driving licence and vehicle documents! I have lived in France and they do sometimes have road side checks and if your not compliant you can get a 150 fine and they will follow you to the cash point!! Happy to help where I can and enjoy France!

Thanks

 

[Kups]

You could??? be right.

Only been through one staffed toll this year. The Ile de Re bridge. Probably 95% booths now automated. Did some non toll roads this year, very boring, lots of speed bumps, endless changes of speed limit with cameras, endless roundabouts, empty villages simply not interesting.

 

[varaizian]

I'll drag it back for the OP.
The way it works is variable.
Let's assume you don't have a tag.
I'll also assume you are under 3.5t (but of that more later)

On attempting to get onto the Toll road, you could be faced with a kiosk with
someone asking for money. There will be an alternative to pay by card.
There could be a barrier and a machine giving out tickets.
Take the ticket and the barrier rises.
There will also be other lanes where peeps with Tags can get on.

Alternatively, there could be just a machine doling out a card. Keep that card because somewhere
down the road you will come up to a kiosk as per my first sentence. That kiosk will be manned?
or automatic where the machine gobbles up the card and asks for the money, usually in the form
of a card.

Now, about the weight.

The French have to pass a test to drive +3.5T vehicles. (I appreciate that the 'youngsters'?
over here have to do as well) but,
They don't have the 'Grandad' rights that have been bestowed on those passing their driving teast
before 1997.

As a result it seems that all French vans have helium in their tyres because vans that would be +3.5t
here magically seem to be -3.5T there???

So, if you have a van that is +3.5t which should be Class 3 and therefore dearer to Toll and the barrier does not
rise, press the 'Call' button and say something like, "Nous somme Class deux. Nous avon the Camping Car."
(We are Class Two. We are a Motorhome)
Unless you are a twin axle leviathan with a length like a Wallace Arnold bus, the barrier should rise.

Anyone else care to join in?

A lot of French Motorhomes have Vinci tags issued by the FFCC (motor-homers club) to their members which guarantee that you will only pay Class 2 so long as you are under 3m high. Bearing in mind that I use the same tag for a motorhome and a car I suspect that there might be a crossover between a motorhome and the owner's large panel van.

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[Carpmart]

How strict is the height? Our van in 2.94 but have added ac which takes it to about 3.2

I’m 3.35m tall and I’m really struggling to charm the Madammes and the Mademoiselles into the fact I am class deux not class tois… the tag let’s me through all the start barrier on every peage section, but this trip Ive been clobbered as class three on every occasion; unlike previous trips.

It seems the height measuring technology is everywhere now!

 

[3crispies]

If you are over 3.5t it is compulsory to have 3 angle de mort stickers one on the back and one on each door, there is a location and hight guide for there placement too! ( if you dont want stick on ones and cant do magnetic I have seen ones mounted on a board with sucker cups! £45 mind for 3) Also Ive just got a crit air sticker for ulez zones that are popping up all over, you dont pay to enter the zones but you can get fined without the sticker, I bought mine direct from France as its about €4.5 instead of £25 from the uk sharks. And a full size UK sticker / warning triange and hi viz vests for each person your driving licence and vehicle documents! I have lived in France and they do sometimes have road side checks and if your not compliant you can get a 150 fine and they will follow you to the cash point!! Happy to help where I can and enjoy France!

if you have up plated from original 3.5t to 3.85 would this be identified by french tolls for both class 2 and the 3 angle de mort stickers ?. We always pay cash at tolls and its easy, but have always used our T6. Next trip will be taking Moho, have crit air but hoping we can sneek through as original van when new.....

 

[DangerMousy]

if you have up plated from original 3.5t to 3.85 would this be identified by french tolls for both class 2 and the 3 angle de mort stickers ?.

See my previous comment ... the peage detects height only, so if you're 2 axles and under 3m high you'll be identified as class 2 no matter what your weight (our experience: 2 different MHs 4.25t, but under 3m high).

Our Angle Morts are in the glove box

 

[Lenny HB]

Never use the toll roads apart from going across the boarder into Spain near Biarritz.
We like ambling along in the country side and finding nice villages to stop in. On holiday so not in a hurry.

 

[Carpmart]

Lenny HB, the ambling along through villages you mention, has increasingly become, tiresome, tedious and even somewhat stressful with the dodge the chicannes, speed mounds, navigating the narrowing/traffic calming, 3.5T and 5.0T limits (not just 7.5T now) and random 70 kph and 50 kph sections in weird rural places, often with not a house in sight, not to mention the plethora of speed cameras when you’re never quite sure if it’s 80, 70, 50 or 30 kph

I’m going to use the excellent (but expensive at class 3) Autoroutes increasingly as I can switch off from the above mentioned chaos and burn the miles…

I love France, love the French people and love their ambivalent attitude to life, but the cost of Motorhoming in France compared to its near neighbours, is sadly just making the place increasingly unattractive…

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[Lenny HB]

Lenny HB, the ambling along through villages you mention, has increasingly become, tiresome, tedious and even somewhat stressful with the dodge the chicannes, speed mounds, navigating the narrowing/traffic calming, 3.5T and 5.0T limits (not just 7.5T now) and random 70 kph and 50 kph sections in weird rural places, often with not a house in sight, not to mention the plethora of speed cameras when you’re never quite sure if it’s 80, 70, 50 or 30 kph

I’m going to use the excellent (but expensive at class 3) Autoroutes increasingly as I can switch off from the above mentioned chaos and burn the miles…

I love France, love the French people and love their ambivalent attitude to life, but the cost of Motorhoming in France compared to its near neighbours, is sadly just making the place increasingly unattractive…

I still like it, although with the Autoroute you can get a move on but it's so boring.
I must admit I do use the free autoroute and dual carriageway.
Been travelling in and through France for over 40 years so I know a lot of roads that are best avoided.

 

[Kups]

Lenny HB, the ambling along through villages you mention, has increasingly become, tiresome, tedious and even somewhat stressful with the dodge the chicannes, speed mounds, navigating the narrowing/traffic calming, 3.5T and 5.0T limits (not just 7.5T now) and random 70 kph and 50 kph sections in weird rural places, often with not a house in sight, not to mention the plethora of speed cameras when you’re never quite sure if it’s 80, 70, 50 or 30 kph

I’m going to use the excellent (but expensive at class 3) Autoroutes increasingly as I can switch off from the above mentioned chaos and burn the miles…

I love France, love the French people and love their ambivalent attitude to life, but the cost of Motorhoming in France compared to its near neighbours, is sadly just making the place increasingly unattractive…

Wholly agree. Plus the reality that the majority of truckers do not use the Autoroutes so they, often in mini trains, add to the problems off the Autoroutes.