Tolls for over 3.5 tonnes motorhome
Hi everyone, no doubt there's something on here somewhere re this. Our motorhome is just over 4 tonnes & we want to travel Calais to Caen on the peage next year. Any advice welcome on who you used - Sanef, Eurotoll or just pay on demand? According to vehicle
classification we would be Class 3. 2nd time in France for us next year but we avoided peage this last summer.
Thanks in advance for any info.
Comments
-
As far as I can tell the only measurement at the toll booth is height and if you are under 3 metres tall I imagine you would be charged Class 2. Whilst I appreciate what the rules say in terms of weight I just wonder how they would determine the weight of your motorhome as you could get two almost identical motorhomes with one being 3500kgs and another 4250kgs. When you buy a Sanef Tag it is not tied to a particular vehicle as it can be swapped between. Hopefully someone who has used Tolls with a vehicle heavier that 3500kgs will be able to help.
David
0 -
Twobirds, I think David is right - they measure height. But just try it out - go through one or two toll booths, pay with a credit card and read the display on the payment screen - you will see there what class they are charging you at. If they consistently charge Class 2 you can buy a tag later. Good luck.
0 -
If under 3m you will be charged 2nd Class by the equipment at a manual toll. If you use a Sanef Tag which is not for over 3.5 T you yourself are breaking the rules which will be expensive if caught. You can`t use the Tag lane if over 3m. Its not overly busy
on that route so I would play it by the book and use a manual toll.0 -
The above 3.5 tons over 3m high is really aimed at goods vehicles not motorhomes. Trouble is the automated systems cannot tell the difference. In the days when booths were maned it was rare to be charged class 3. If there is a maned booth head for it chances are you will only be charged class 2. If there are only automated positions and it comes up as class 3 try calling the operator and telling them you are a motorhome you may find they will reduce the charge to Class 2. In my experience you have a 50/50 chance of getting a reduction if the charge comes up as class 3, it all depends on the operators of the particular autoroute.
peedee
0 -
Our MH is over 3.5t but we have never been charged other than Class 2. We don't use motorways a great deal, only using short sections to bypass large towns etc. We don't have a tag, and always use automated booths. We've also used the Millau bridge twice,
both times also charged as Class 2.Our MH is under 3m, although not by much! I believe it's that which is the determining factor, as friends of friends who have a coachbuilt with overcab bed (Autotrail) are always charged as Class 3, despite being 3.5t. They always have to use a manned
booth to clarify that in order to pay Class 2.0 -
For newcomers, who've not used tolls before, there is always a button on the automated toll booths, which you can press if you're charged wrongly. As Bolero Boy says there is no need to get into 'conversation' or worry about it if you don't speak French.
You can type 'Classe Deux, s'il vous plait' into Google, then listen to it being spoken back to you, so you can get the pronunciation perfect.
0 -
generally a "classe deux, s'il vouz plait" does the job if help is needed...
we are over 3.5t but are 2.89m high so no issues.
autotrail, in their wisdom. have decided to build their Hi-line models at 3.10m but both Lo-line and Super Lo-line are 3.03m....how annoying is that to have to go to a manual booth just for a couple of cm.
surely, 2.99m would have made little difference to the design...?
Write your comments here...I don't think the quirks of Foreign Motorway tolls were in the forefront of the minds of motor home designers at Autotrail ,which is a bit odd really,as Autotrail are owned by Trigano, can't get more French than them. Mine is a 3.03m super lowline! Not very low line, I think it's more the fault of the chassis chosen than the bodywork, an Alko super lowline would solve it. Doesn't bother me though.
0 -
My sat dome takes mine over the 3m height. I use the button referred to by ValDa and just say Ici Campingcar, class deux s'il vous plait. It works fine on the A10 but on some of the other autoroutes they don't take any notice that is why I say you have a
50/50 chance. For instance I was charged class 3 using the Millau bridge and on the A71. I generally avoid the toll routes, not only is it expensive but they have become very inconvenient to use now there are no maned booths and you cannot get a tag.peedee
0 -
Our Autotrail is 3850kgs and "just" under 3m high. We drove from Spain up through France last summer on a 6 weeek tour and never had any problems with the tolls. We were charged the correct amount each time however I met a British couple on a site in Spain who said they had experienced some problems regarding wrong classification but they had spotted an article in a motorhome magazine telling you a phrase to tell the operator or automated speaker which solved the problem they gave me a copy of the article and I kept it in the glove box of the van just in case but as I say we didn't need it.
0 -
Lets be honest for most M/H's the only difference between 3.5t and 3.85t is a label the rest of the vehicle is the same so it is unlikely that at an automated or manual booth you would be charged class 3 unless you are over 3m as this is the only real way
they can measure with a height sensor not the actual weight.0 -
Weight sensors are available and it is rumoured that at least some tolls are equipped with them. Double rear axle jobies used to have to pay class 3, how is that delt with by these auto booths? Does it mean if they are less than 3m high they are now being
charged class 2?peedee
0 -
Many of the above posts may be misleading re the classification points in France. If you are over 3.5t you are a class 3 automatically. If you are less than 3.5 t but have a height of 3.0m or above regardless of whether it a fitment taking you there
you are a class 3. If you are under 3.5t but have a twin tag axle then you are a class 3 once again so it is not just as simple as portrayed. Whilst some may be able to talk to an operator and get them to reduce the toll fee as pedee has said but this is not
a given, because it is not correct. In Spain it is different again and you will be a class 2 if you have 2 axles and a class 3 if you have 3. There are even more issues if you are over 3.5t in Austria and Switzerland which I will not go into. Hope this helps.
Regards, Roy0 -
Weight sensors are available and it is rumoured that at least some tolls are equipped with them. Double rear axle jobies used to have to pay class 3, how is that delt with by these auto booths? Does it mean if they are less than 3m high they are now being
charged class 2?peedee
Write your comments here...With someone going at 30kph how do these work!!! I doubt there are any sensors its a rumour same as all the gassing in vans.
0 -
Many of the above posts may be misleading re the classification points in France. If you are over 3.5t you are a class 3 automatically. If you are less than 3.5 t but have a height of 3.0m or above regardless of whether it a fitment taking you there
you are a class 3. If you are under 3.5t but have a twin tag axle then you are a class 3 once again so it is not just as simple as portrayed. Whilst some may be able to talk to an operator and get them to reduce the toll fee as pedee has said but this is not
a given, because it is not correct. In Spain it is different again and you will be a class 2 if you have 2 axles and a class 3 if you have 3. There are even more issues if you are over 3.5t in Austria and Switzerland which I will not go into. Hope this helps.
Regards, RoyWrite your comments here...Whilst I agree how do you tell the difference between 2 vans of the same make and type but one has been plated higher unless you look at the actual plate? There may be sensors to count axles but cannot say I have ever seen anything
as a car with a trailer tent under 2m goes thru as class 1 not class 3 even though it would have a total of 3 axles?0 -
Here's a link to the 'official' classifications from the Autoroute.fr website:
It shows pictograms of the various vehicle types which better explains the differences between class 2 and class 3.
0 -
Weight sensors are available and it is rumoured that at least some tolls are equipped with them. Double rear axle jobies used to have to pay class 3, how is that delt with by these auto booths? Does it mean if they are less than 3m high they are now being charged class 2?
peedee
Write your comments here...With someone going at 30kph how do these work!!! I doubt there are any sensors its a rumour same as all the gassing in vans.
They do exist it is just a question are any deployed at toll stations. They are referred to as WIMs, Weight In Motion sensors. Google it or ask WiKI. I often wonder if that is why I am refused class 2 on some booths and not others.
peedee
0 -
Many of the above posts may be misleading re the classification points in France.
If you are over 3.5t you are a class 3 automatically. If you are less than 3.5 t but have a height of 3.0m or above regardless of whether it a fitment taking you there you are a class 3. If you are under 3.5t but have a twin tag axle then you are a
class 3 once again so it is not just as simple as portrayed. Whilst some may be able to talk to an operator and get them to reduce the toll fee as pedee has said but this is not a given, because it is not correct. In Spain it is different again and
you will be a class 2 if you have 2 axles and a class 3 if you have 3. There are even more issues if you are over 3.5t in Austria and Switzerland which I will not go into. Hope this helps. Regards, RoyRoy, what you say is correct. However, in our experience nobody has ever stopped us to check our weight. Our MH at over 3.5t, twin rear wheels, but single rear axle, yet under 3m, has always been charged as Class 2, never once have we been charged as Class
3. We've always put this down to the fact that it is under 3m.0 -
Here's a link to the 'official' classifications from the
Autoroute.fr website:It shows pictograms of the various vehicle types which better explains the differences between class 2 and class 3.
Val, I tried that link, but it doesn't work, comes up with : page cannot be found. I've found
this, was this what you meant?0 -
Here's a link to the 'official' classifications from the
Autoroute.fr website:It shows pictograms of the various vehicle types which better explains the differences between class 2 and class 3.
Val, I tried that link, but it doesn't work, comes up with : page cannot be found. I've found
this, was this what you meant?Thanks Ina, Yes, that's the one I wanted to link to. My laptop isn't working properly at the moment, and copy and paste seems to be suffering!
0 -
What an interesting thread! I do not have a motor home but do holiday with two sets of friends who are and their attitude is that if at the booth they are charged as a Class that is lower,chepaper, than they are they will take it as a bonus BUT if asked
their weight or height would not give an incorrect figure. Most of us will, in similar situations, be able to justify, in our own minds,what we are doing but the companies running the autoroutes may have a different opinion!0 -
Many of the above posts may be misleading re the classification points in France. If you are over 3.5t you are a class 3 automatically. If you are less than 3.5 t but have a height of 3.0m or above regardless of whether it a fitment taking you there
you are a class 3. If you are under 3.5t but have a twin tag axle then you are a class 3 once again so it is not just as simple as portrayed. Whilst some may be able to talk to an operator and get them to reduce the toll fee as pedee has said but this is not
a given, because it is not correct. In Spain it is different again and you will be a class 2 if you have 2 axles and a class 3 if you have 3. There are even more issues if you are over 3.5t in Austria and Switzerland which I will not go into. Hope this helps.
Regards, RoyWrite your comments here...Whilst I agree how do you tell the difference between 2 vans of the same make and type but one has been plated higher unless you look at the actual plate? There may be sensors to count axles but cannot say I have ever seen anything
as a car with a trailer tent under 2m goes thru as class 1 not class 3 even though it would have a total of 3 axles?MichaelT, the car with the trailer tent is not one vehicle so you cannot count the number of axles in this way. In this case it is the towing vehicle which counts and because the trailer is below their charging height it does not affect the overall
toll charge, hence in most cases a car gets charged correctly as class 1. This is my understanding although I have never towed in France so may be wrong as I have never needed to check the legalities of that scenario. Regards, Roy0 -
Re the OP I wonder about the economics of Calais for a Caen visit, its a minimum of 210 miles and tolls each way for a car alone are €25-30.
With a good deal on a Portsmouth ferry it might not only work out cheaper (or not much more) and 2 days less spent on motorways.AD, the OP has a MH and there have been discussions about the fact that MHs don't get as good a deal on those ferries as do car/caravan outfits. Certainly when I costed that crossing for our MH it worked out quite expensive.
0 -
Re the OP I wonder about the economics of Calais for a Caen visit, its a minimum of 210 miles and tolls each way for a car alone are €25-30.
With a good deal on a Portsmouth ferry it might not only work out cheaper (or not much more) and 2 days less spent on motorways.AD, the OP has a MH and there have been discussions about the fact that MHs don't get as good a deal on those ferries as do car/caravan outfits. Certainly when I costed that crossing for our MH it worked out quite expensive.
Yes InaD, although its been explained I still find it totally unfair that a M/H which is shorter in length and the same height as a caravan can be charged more than a car/caravan outfit with BF.
0 -
Re the OP I wonder about the economics of Calais for a Caen visit, its a minimum of 210 miles and tolls each way for a car alone are €25-30.
With a good deal on a Portsmouth ferry it might not only work out cheaper (or not much more) and 2 days less spent on motorways.AD, the OP has a MH and there have been discussions about the fact that MHs don't get as good a deal on those ferries as do car/caravan outfits. Certainly when I costed that crossing for our MH it worked out quite expensive.
Yes InaD, although its been explained I still find it totally unfair that a M/H which is shorter in length and the same height as a caravan can be charged more than a car/caravan outfit with BF.
Tammygirl, that's my argument too; our MH at 7.30m is a lot shorter than the car/caravan combination of our friends at over 12m, their caravan alone is longer than our MH!! That difference in length could accommodate a solo car for goodness sake - our car
is less than 4.5m
0 -
Re the OP I wonder about the economics of Calais for a Caen visit, its a minimum of 210 miles and tolls each way for a car alone are €25-30.
With a good deal on a Portsmouth ferry it might not only work out cheaper (or not much more) and 2 days less spent on motorways.AD, the OP has a MH and there have been discussions about the fact that MHs don't get as good a deal on those ferries as do car/caravan outfits. Certainly when I costed that crossing for our MH it worked out quite expensive.
Yes InaD, although its been explained I still find it totally unfair that a M/H which is shorter in length and the same height as a caravan can be charged more than a car/caravan outfit with BF.
Tammygirl, that's my argument too; our MH at 7.30m is a lot shorter than the car/caravan combination of our friends at over 12m, their caravan alone is longer than our MH!! That difference in length could accommodate a solo car for goodness sake - our car
is less than 4.5m our M/H is only 6.6m and even with the bikes only 7m, our last caravan was 7.4m so unfair0
