So looking at booking my T6 onto the Hull – Rotterdam crossing for June and notice there is a £150-200 difference each way if you book on as oppose to being a motorhome. Hardly fair, the van is partly converted ie lining, windows, electrics etc but no furniture (purely a biking/camping bus)… has anyone booked similar on as a motorhome and got away with it?
Notice the Zeebrugge sailing isn’t too bad a difference but Rotterdam fits with finishing work and the later sailing time.
Cheers all.

I’d book as a motorhome – before I’ve always booked whatever was cheapest and never been charged any different.

Ferry views van as commercial vehicle for carrying lots of goods and charges as such

Motorhome is motorhomefor recreation and largely empty….

Yours is a van

What’s not fair ?

Have watched a group of t5/t4 owners arguing the toss with the ferry staff at Newcastle and getting no where the first time i drove over to France.i was humoured by it.

Don’t bite OP dude – obvious hater hating.

Go and ask on the T4/5/6/7/8/9 forums.

Dobsta,
If it’s any consolation, I tried to book my campervan onto the eurotunnel as a van as it was 30 quid cheaper, but they wouldn’t let me.

Book it on as a motorhome if you can show that it isn’t a commercial van.

I’ve always booked our T4 on as a “high car” and given the correct dimensions.
Done maybe 40 return crossings over the last 10 years with various companies and I’ve never been charged commercial rates and never been asked to prove anything.

It does say “diesel car” on the V5 though, so I could prove it if I needed to.

My motorbike is really cheap on the ferry. Most tolls are free, too. Does that help? 😆

Rachel

I’ve heard of ferry companies checking the log book. If it’s been officially converted to a camper with the DVLA, then it’s a camper. If it hasn’t it’s still a van.

If it’s technically a van, being charged as such seems reasonable – you can’t realistically expect the companies to check every van to see if someone’s thrown a mattress in the back and now calls it a motorhome!

Bloody racist ferry companies !

Have done that route many many times, always as a high car with no issues. First 4 times in a Scudo with small windows and rear seats (still van on V5). Then with a Dispatch Combi. Suppose having kids sat in the back they can’t argue it isn’t a car.

A work friend / customer comes over mtbing in a full liveried merc vito crew van – only ever charged commercial when he had a display sample bolted in the back (unrelated to the trip but he couldn’t remove it)

When we use the Hull-Rotterdam ferry we simply paint our LWB hi-roof Transit campervan with a ferry cargo bay background scene and a motorbike silhouette.
This means we just pay for a motorbike. Because we also wear helmets the cunning ruse always works!

we simply paint our LWB hi-roof Transit campervan with a ferry cargo bay background scene and a motorbike silhouette……

Just a thought……

Miss out the motorbike silhouette off the van, and take off the helmets, and just pay as foot passengers.

Even cheaper 🙂

Still the best way to go on (summer) holiday.

August (in an S-Max with bike carrier – CAR) for us. Hull-Rotterdam out, Zeebrugge-Hill back.

August (in an S-Max with bike carrier – CAR) for us. Hull-Rotterdam out, Zeebrugge-Hill back.

I’m still getting roughly £650 for that route with 2 passengers on a standard car fare and the cheapest cabin.

[edit] £150 return on Eurotunnel for same car and passengers. (£40 difference in fuel to drive from Leeds to Folkestone rather than Hull)

What are you paying ?

Similar to be honest. But we live an hour from Hull so it works well.
It can vary a bit by day of the week if you have flexibility.

Often book our Trafic minibus on as an “other” with the correct dimensions. Usually cheaper than booking it as a “Renault Trafic”. Never had any issues at all.

Ferry trips are usually going back to Scotland to see family, so don’t see a problem with that. It might be a commercial vehicle of sorts, but it’s also our only “car”.

It might be worth giving them a call. I know it’s way smaller, but it was going to cost me an extra £125 to cross the channel with my Berlingo van over a Berlingo car. I rang up and told them I wasn’t on a commercial trip and was told to book it on as a car.

Some services check registration when booking with DVLA database for use classification. If it is a car or van or motor caravan on V5 this is what it will be charged as.

Not a fair comparison really, as you ‘save’ 2 hotel nights using the Hull service.

Yes, I realise that you’ve a van (with a mattress) so don’t get the saving. And if you factor the actual cost to drive south and back it’ll be far more than £40.

Not a fair comparison really, as you ‘save’ 2 hotel nights using the Hull service.

The other way of looking at it, is that I get to spent more time in the Alps rather than spending 30 hours total on a slow boat.

Yes, I realise that you’ve a van (with a mattress) so don’t get the saving. And if you factor the actual cost to drive south and back it’ll be far more than £40.

We don’t really use the van for sleep on the journey as we do the trip in one hit.

I know there are differences in the comparison. And I’ve always liked the Hull service in the past, but at roughly £500 more expensive thorn the Tunnel, the advantages just aren’t enough.

It will cost me pretty much £60 total for extra driving in the UK. (But saves roughly 250km of driving in Europe)

I will be in Europe 10 hours faster, and 2 hours nearer the Alps when I arrive.

(Plus I’ll have 2 extra nights and €500 spends in my pocket 😉 )

while i agree with what you say neal and its how ill be going with the campervan to the continent because at over 7m long the savings are considerable…..

I do find driving on the continent much less stressful than driving in the uk though and i make time alot better in holland/germany/france – belgiums prone to jams thanks to their serious inability to drive anywhere other than up the arse of the car infront …..(and id have alot of uk driving to do to get to the tunnel)

For me it’s an hour to Hull. Or a bit over four hours to the Tunnel.

The UK is, as you said, the worst bit. But for me, I’m driving on French roads not much more than 5/6 hours after leaving home if I use the Tunnel.

But that would be 16 hours minimum if I used the Hull ferry.

And the Europe part is an hour and a half shorter from Calais too.

(Leaving home at 5pm and comparing methods, using the Tunnel, I’m having Breakfast in Morzine before the Hull ferry has even docked 😉 )

As much as I like the nights on the boat, £200+ each way is too big a price to pay IMO.

Yeah Google reckons it’s 9hrs 45 for me to Dover……I reckon it’s more like 14-15hrs to get near Dover and another 2 weeks to do the last 10miles during holiday times

For me it’s an hour to Hull. Or a bit over four hours to the Tunnel.

If you are relatively close to the Tunnel on this side and heading south
( ish ) from Calais when you arrive then the tunnel starts to make much more sense.

For me travelling The Hague -> N. Yorks I consider the ferry to be like a very handy moving hotel – check in one evening, get off the next day in another country with most of my travelling already done.

For me travelling The Hague -> N. Yorks

For that journey, nothing else (boat based) really makes sense.
Although return flights from LBA to RTM would still Be around half the price (unless you need a car when you get there of course)