Looking to a bit of a road trip in the summer.
Can I buy or rent a telepass transceiver for my car that I can use across europe without having to pay for tolls with a card?
Probably looking at Netherlands, France and Spain at least.
Ta

I expect you’ll need one for each country and it is more expensive than using a card. It is convenient if you are on your own and the queues are shorter if there is a queue. I’ve never really felt the need as I don’t think the extra cost justifies the few minutes saved but plenty do.

Just to add, if you do buy one make sure you are on the official site as there are a few third party sites selling them at inflated prices

Got one for France last year. It is a different system for Spain so you’d need two. Prices for the French one was an initial cost of about 20 euro’s, then an annual cost of about 10 euro’s then a charge of 5 euro’s for each month you use it to a max of 10 euro’s then the toll charges. NOt worth it really, but good fun.

Thanks nickjb

Not worth the bother, imo.

We find it a useful way of getting rid of shrapnel.

Driving on your own in a RHD car in France or at the really busy summer months (to avoid queues) I’d get one but with passengers to pay by card it’s less worth it.

We have one for France / Italy. It’s bloody great. You can use the gates that let you drive through and generally skip the queues. No more expensive than normal bar a small deposit.

I’ve the Sanef one for when I go through France for work – really handy in a RHD car, and means I get one invoice at the end of the month for expenses, rather than having to process a bundle of extra receipts.

We’ve had our one for France for quite a few years. It was originally with Alis (one of the autoroute operators) and that migrated to Easytrip. Very convenient and useful at busy periods when there is queuing at the toll booths, especially the 30kph drive straight through lanes.

It’s also amusing to see the French back off behind you when they see a UK registered car heading for the 30kph lane, as they expect you not to have a dongle and to have to back out of the lane.

We have a sanef tag. The convenience and lack of arguments makes it worth twice the money.

My tag (Vinci autoroutes) works across France and down to Barcelona. Tarragona to Alicante is now toll free, as they’re phasing out tolls in Spain, apart from Catalunya for the time being.

Share a Sanef Tag with lister. It’s fantastic. You just waltz past the 20 min long queues of squabbling families baking in the sun. It’s no cheaper at all, but the convenience makes it a winner.
Eurotunnel still offer a discount on the monthly rental, which you only pay for months that that you use the tag, not have it in your possession.

The convenience is worth it for us, even for just one trip.

It’s £10 extra a year not to be stuck behind people fumbling for change or whatever.

I hate queues…

edit:

Smudge more than a tenner…

https://www.emovis-tag.co.uk/subscription/

How long do the batteries last in these things? I got a Sanef tag last year and slightly worried that when I pull into my first tag only lane this summer it’s going to be dead and I’ll be stuck. Probably a weird concern but there’s no way to check the battery is there?

Yep. Tag is great. Another thing to make your trip a few notches easier.

It’s a tiny amount of money compared to the rest of the trip and you get to pay it the following month, and saves a bit of time and messing about.

@timmys

5-7 years

https://www.emovis-tag.co.uk/support-Faq.List

I’ve had a French Bipper for years, they’re ace. The passenger can gonk whilst the driver drives then all change and time for rest. We drive with two drivers to the Alps etc and don’t stop apart from pee and fuel.

JonnieEurotunnel have an offer on here

And I’ve heard, it’s also cheaper if you do it on the French site rather than the British though I’ve not checked this.

From experience the batteries seem to last for a few years based on our usual patterm of 4 trips a year totally around 16 weeks/year. I haven’t found away to test them so as we start a new trip driving away from Calais we hope it works when we get to the first toll. We have had the battery fail and we had to use the normal lanes and hand over the dongle to have the barcode scanned.
We got the dongle replaced when we got back which was straightforward.

Yep I have a sanef too for France, bloody brilliant

Never felt the need*. Adds a bit of sport to the journey, looking for the queue that’s moving quickest, avoiding getting stuck behind RHD cars whose passengers invariably throw the change all over the floor, try to get out but smack the door against the curb as the driver gets more and more agitated…
Usually the card-only lane is quickest, or there’s one on the far rhs that’s hidden by the lorries.

*With a LHD – I’d probably get one otherwise.

They’re for business users and foreigners, normal people just put cash or a card in the machine. Too much thought, planning ahead and 20e a year. Make sure you have some some 10e 20e notes on you , the credit card machines sometimes don’t work.

We have a sanef tag but it saves very little time: if there’s a big queue then you won’t be able to access the automatic lanes, and if you have anything on the roof then some of the lanes are unavailable. I can see the benefit if you’re on your own, but otherwise I wouldn’t bother.

Sanef mail you as the battery starts to die.

We have a sanef tag but it saves very little time: if there’s a big queue then you won’t be able to access the automatic lanes, and if you have anything on the roof then some of the lanes are unavailable. I can see the benefit if you’re on your own, but otherwise I wouldn’t bother.

What do you mean? I had one last year as I had a few European trips planned and had no problem in my T5 (so taller than a car with stuff on the roof) accessing the fast track lane when it was busy with queues in all the other lanes. Never encountered any restrictions in the fast track lanes.

Though there is no financial benefit the additional cost is small and the convenience is nice…playing the random ‘which lane should I choose’ game, going for the shortest queue then get caught up with someone who hasn’t stopped close enough to the machine and can’t reach, or someone who has a problem with their card or whatever issues typically hold some people up at the gate. The fast track you just drive through. It’s great and worth the additional 20 – 30 euros if you’re going to do a few trips on the continent in a year. If you’re that bothered about the cost then the Autoroutes are not for you…they’re definitely not the cheapest way to travel. Could have flow the family to the destination for less that the cost of the toll’s plus autoroute fuel with the premium.

I had one last year as I had a few European trips planned and had no problem in my T5 (so taller than a car with stuff on the roof) accessing the fast track lane when it was busy with queues in all the other lanes. Never encountered any restrictions in the fast track lanes

They have a 2m height restriction. You can’t get a car through with bikes on the roof. Might be ok with a roof box. Some vans fit under (like a T5)

Our T5.1 is over 2m high we just drive through the 30kmh lane.
Again, the main benefit is no arguing at the gate, or dropping money, or burning through cash. It’s just easier and simpler

Don’t know of a euro wide tag. I got a French one a few years back. It is brilliant and just wish I had got one decades ago. We always get through the tolls quicker than cars without, especially when using the 30kph lanes. Mine costs a whole €1.90 each month it is used. I can save that by lifting off down one hill!! The website and paperwork is mostly in French but Google Translate helps out!

ATMB

Meant to add – doesn’t save you anything on the tolls. Also, bill it to a credit card such as Halifax Clarity and there are no exchange or foreign transaction charges.

I toyed with getting one for a trip last year down to Bourg. In the end I didnt bother and I’m glad I didn’t waste the money. I was looking online and if you live in France/Spain/NL you can get one with reasonable fees – however if you try and purchase that one it wont let you and redirects to a UK site. The UK site adds all kinds of fees…admin, monthly, yearly which are far more than the EU guys pay.

I drove there and back on week days in Aug and the longest I waited in a queue was 2 mins. It took all of 30 seconds to get out of the car and pay at the tolls – it was actually good to get out and stretch the old legs! The gates stay open until you drive through. Even the summer before we drove down and back on the weekend and there were no queues.

We’ve had a pass since 2013. We didn’t receive any notification that the battery was due to fail but this year I chatted with an online assistant on the eMovis website who suggested that we should get a new one.

I struggled to find my login details since, during the time we’ve had one, they’ve been renamed a few times. In the end we got online and ordered a replacement which arrived ~2 days later. I then got an email reminding me that I had to register it (which I had not realised).

I think they are great, especially if the co-driver is asleep, or if the weather is rubbish. If any one is going to get one I think I can get us both a 5 Euro discount, so let me know.

LR

We’ve had the sanef one for 4 or 5 years. Saves a lot of time on our drive down to the Pyrenees, especially at school holidays time.

Thanks all for the information; more investigation required.

same as most above.

one of the best things I did for my twice a year drive deep into France.

mine was bought 4 or 5 years ago from SANEF (now been taken over by Emovis but this was an email exchange only, I still use the same Dongle).

no more finding change or joining long queues baking in the sun or wishing you had joined the 5th lane from the left not the 7th cos that is moving quicker and has only been there 45 minutes. no more hanging out of the window, finding your card doesn’t work or dropping the coins or speaking to the surly French attendants.

no sirree bob, you go wide left (usually) and join the tag only minimal queue and gasp in wonder as the dongle beeps and the barrier jumps up and you are through and accelerating still in 2nd or 3rd gear (or whatever my 7 gear DSG thinks is good) and heading out the other side laughing at all the mugs sitting in the queue, particularly that knobber in the sports car who flew past you dangerously 20km back and is still sitting there waiting for the queue to move.

you pay the same toll whether you are paying by card, cash or dongle.

it’s liberating.

YMMV