French toll roads

driving to South France next month – is it worth getting a toll tag thingy? If so, does anyone have any discount codes for the Sanef site?

Get it through the euro tunnel web site if you’re going via the tunnel that is, saves a tenner I think.

I just got one, will be using it for the first time in a fortnight.

Check the driving in France site – we went a slightly different route to the West of Paris, saving a good few Euros in tolls, and quieter roads to boot downto Clermont Ferrand.

We just chucked the credit card in.

You pay for using the speedy T-tag but using a card isn’t slow, you don’t put your number in. I prefer the beeping tag.

When it’s busy it can be quicker to have a Bipper. Often the left most lane is reserved for tags so you’re usually through ahead of the card carrying hoi polloi 🙂

I’m driving south next week. I may be drunk, but I don’t understand the answers. Is there a thing I can click to save some cash?

Ah, next week? Bollock + dropped.

Unless you have a De Lorean, there probably isn’t enough time left to sort one out before you go go.

No worries. We’ve factored in the cost of the tolls so nothing lost.

I looked into it and didn’t bother

doesn’t save any money on toll fees. just saves some time queuing at each toll booth.

Depending the on the credit card you use (e.g. a halifax clarity) then using the tag could be more expensive as you are charged in £ at an defined exchange rate + 2% load by the tag company.

There are a few SANEF offices at selected services on the way down. Google Tag and SANEF and you may be able to get a thingy over the counter (comptoir) if you fancy. The pricing model is different for Frenchies and us Anglo’s tho which complicates matters.

Have a Google gander for details.

<edit> It’s more about convenience than absolute cost.

I’ve used the tag for the last few years. I’m glad to pay a bit extra for the time saved.

Tag is worth it to avoid the queues in my experience, along with not having to faff with cash or cards. Some of them let you drive through at a faster speed, though I worry it won’t trigger and smash into the barrier 😀

Had one for for years now. The main benefit for me is that I’m usually travelling alone so it saves me doing the shuffle across to the passenger seat then back and getting moving before the barrier comes back down!

For the sake of the ~£10 extra it costs me per trip (admin fee per month you use it and the annual fee) the reduction in hassle is worth it for me. Plus it’s always funny watching the Frenchies thinking I’m about to hold them up in the T lane, hanging back and getting ready to beep their horns and yell at me only for the barrier to raise and them to look annoyed!! Particularly when I’m down south. Had one near Marseille that was beeping and flashing me as I approached one of the 50kph ones, he braked heavily at the entrance expecting me to have to reverse out. Barrier went up and it was a good km before he was beside me ranting away and giving me ‘pleasant’ hand signals 😆

We’ve never bothered. I don’t know if it is luck or travel times but there is rarely a queue and never more than a few cars. Not worth the extra cost for me.

We’ve never experienced any queues so a tag would be of no benefit to us. Just avoid Lyon!

We had a few delays once we go down towards Geneva, but only for 5mins max. The rest were straight through.

Just make sure you have someone in the passenger seat to put the credit card machine in the slot, and avoid any lanes that have loads of bikers as they seemed to take ages to go through one by one

When we drove a car that could only do 70mph max, the look on peoples faces when they had overtaken us for the 3rd/4th time was priceless. Tag for the win, saves a lot of time when you go through the barriers at 30kph, especially the closer you get to the Alps as it can get very busy.

We’ve never experienced any queues

I submit that you’ve never driven to the south of France on an autoroutes during French school holidays.

I accidentally drove to spain last year on black Saturday*. 😯 I’ve never seen ques like it in france, it was like driving in this country!!

I drive to the Pyrenees at least twice a year, usually it’s fine but i’m gonna try the tag out to see if it save a bit of faff.

Mine was delivered next day as well, as they send them out from Harrogate!!

*I meant to drive to Spain just didn’t realise how bad the traffic would be!!

Someone who has never seen a tool both queue on an autoroute doesn’t travel very much!
If I had a right hand drive car, I’d get a tag.*

* Disclaimer :I own a left hand drive car and have one anyway.

If you have bikes on the roof you can’t use the far left 30kmh lanes. The truck lane on the far right is nearly always empty at the weekend though.

I looked into it and did not bother for my two weeks driving/riding in the Alps, I did a lot of driving following the good weather all over the place and I did all the driving so sometimes getting out the car to walk around and pay the toll fee was good to stretch the legs on the longer sections of road

Two weeks of sunshine , clear skies, no rain and temps from 43 all the way down to 3 !

Good times

I got a tag a few years back and wouldn’t give it up. The amount of times I’ve rolled up to what is probably a 10-15 min wait (or more) for the card/cash booths and gone through the non-stopping telepeage without stopping has been worth the euro (or whatever) I pay a month to keep it. Life’s too short to sit in queues for no good reason.

Someone who has never seen a tool both queue on an autoroute doesn’t travel very much!

I go to France most years and can’t recall ever queuing for more than a few minutes.

Look on here to see when not to travel

http://www.bison-fute.gouv.fr/calendrier-bison-fute,10375,langen.html

The tag is handy , but if there is a big jam up at the toll booths you will have to Q till the last couple of hundred meters if its not a massive booth setup .
To those who have never been in much of a Q – on a “black” Saturday in the holiday season – there are often massive Q`s – like 10 miles = the electronic tag will not help you at all – you may as well eat it.

Borrow one off a friend. We let friends use ours, let them settle up when the bill comes through if they bring us back some wine.

We have driven through France a fair bit, and I think the e-tag is great, saves lots of faff.

This weekend is traditionally the worst of the summer holidays as the July folk head home and the August crowd head south. Its like operation stack being recreated using cars in both directions between Lyon and Montelimar.

I’ve had the peage badge for about 15 years now and it has been a godsend. I have it linked to a french bank account though so don’t know about the UK version charges.

Peage queues can be complete pain in the backside and yes they are frequent in holiday periods. The other added bonus is if you are travelling alone in the car you don’t have to to the daft dance of getting out of the car to get a ticket/pay at each peage booth. Before having the badge i used to use one of those litter picking grabbing sticks to put the card in and out of the machines and it worked but was a nightmare if you dropped the card whilst retrieving it (happened once).

I once managed to make a massive fool of myself by over balancing whilst reaching out over the passenger seat and falling out of the car and ending up wedged between the car and the paying machine. to this day i still don’t know how i managed it but thankfully it was about 3am and there weren’t many people to see me.

I’m driving out on friday night to catch up with the wife and kids so will be putting it to good use again….. and not falling out!

Slight topic hijack but relevant. I’ve got a tag for the first time as we drove down to the Alps overnight in a van with keep for windows. I didn’t want to have to keep waking the passenger to get the ticket/pay the fare so ordered a tag. Problem was it was mega unreliable, despite sticking it to the correct part of the screen (in the dotty area where the rear view mirror would be in a car) it only worked about 1/4 of the time… Thank God I didn’t use a Tag only lane.

If it had worked without problem I’d unreservedly say its worth it just for the reduced hassle… But as it is unless it magically foxes itself or some in on here can explain what I’m doing wrong, its going back.

So, experienced Tagerists, what was I doing wrong?

Dunno but mine has never failed to be read, ever, in several different motahs. It must be your Bippa or your installation. Sorry.

OP my wife is French and we drive regularly up/down the country and her and my view is the telepeage isn’t worth it. There is a monthly subscription and unless you’re going at super peak times paying via credit card is quick enough. Many telepeage lanes these days take cards so the old days where the lines where a lot shorter are in the past.

Mine has never failed. I’d send yours back ILF.

@boblo,thanks. I guess I’ll just have to send it back when I’m home. Cheers.

Jambalaya, you only pay the tenner for months that you don’t use it. If you are a frequent traveller, believe me, it is definitely worth it should you be passing through a toll during rush hours.

You are aware that the 30kmh roll through barriers are only for tags, aren’t you?

This announcement was brought to you by Vinci autoroutes and Visit France

Sorry, I do sound like a bad advert, but I feel like I need to point out some details that you have overlooked.

My tag’s 4 years old and been used in multiple vehicles and has only failed to beep once. We solved it by moving it 4 inches down the screen as a Frenchie told us it was too close to the radio aerial (Transit with beesting aerial right above the windscreen), worked perfectly then. Might be the same problem for yours ILF?

Don’t know about the SANEF UK charges, but I use the APRR motorway concession (www.telepeagepourtous.fr/fr/particulier/souscrire) and the “formule balade” tariff (http://www.telepeagepourtous.fr/fr/particulier/toutes_nos_offres/formule_balade).

APRR seem to be the only concession that now accept English credit cards and an English billing address. There was some talk in the past about all concessions only accepting payment by direct debit from French bank accounts, but I’ve not seen anything more about this recently.

With the “formule balade” tariff, the monthly fee (1.70€ if you opt for electronic billing) is only charged for those months you actually use the gadget. In addition you pay a €11 deposit for the badge, plus a delivery charge of 10€ (this was 3€ when I subscribed a few years ago). The toll fees themselves are the same as if you paid them normally at the peage.

Wouldn’t be without one myself.

Some Van’s have an ariel built into the windscreen you were putting it over that were you?

So, experienced Tagerists, what was I doing wrong?

Some windscreens have solar reflective coatings which can screw up aerial reception (I’m thinking of the stick-on FM / DAB jobs). Offhand, Citroen jump to mind. May be something similar affecting your tag?

Cougar – Moderator
Some windscreens have solar reflective coatings which can screw up aerial reception (I’m thinking of the stick-on FM / DAB jobs). Offhand, Citroen jump to mind. May be something similar affecting your tag?

If the tag is in the dotted area marked on the screen then should be okay.

Sounds like it was in the dotted area though…

Problem was it was mega unreliable, despite sticking it to the correct part of the screen (in the dotty area where the rear view mirror would be in a car) it only worked about 1/4 of the time

There are other potential issues mentioned here – https://www.saneftolling.co.uk/support/faq/support-Faq.List/#3.0.

My Civic has the dotted area but a box in the middle for the rain sensor and the mirror attached to the box. There’s enough space in the dotted area below it for the tag though and it worked fine for me.

Also used it on a van (can’t remember, might have been Citroen) and similar dotted bit and worked mostly okay. Only thing was I was finding initially I’d drive up near to the barrier and nothing happened. Fiddled a bit, Fenchie bloke came over and looked, did the usual shrug and eventually just waved me to move forward. Then it triggered. Seems some vehicles need you to be closer to the detector.

Thanks for the advice and sorry for not responding earlier, I tried to limit online time while on holiday… so update on my earlier post ref problems with the tag.

It worked flawlessly on the way back, I even braved the 30kph lanes (oh the shame if it had failed). The trick was to take it out of its holder and move it 2 cm to the left but still keep in the dotty bit. Now it’s working I wouldn’t be without one for a long French autoroute mission, so much easier.

Thanks again.