ATMB French autoroute tag renewal
I bought for the first time last year the ATMB tag for the windscreen, to allow easy passage through French autoroute tolls. It worked perfectly, and made life so much easier as my (relatively short-armed) OH no longer had to lean out of the window to reach the booth or card machine.
My query is I cannot recall if this tag is forever ( I only had to pay the postage initially) or if one has to renew the subscription annually. This tag is the one which you are charged 1.60 euros each calendar month of use, plus of course the tolls cost itself. On months of non-use, there is no charge.
I can’t find any mention at all on the ATMB website of renewal or subscription. Anyone got any experience of this?
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Hi Ian, I have one too, it is not a subscription, If like mine you have opened an account with SANEF and they will debit you with charges. If you have a direct debit you will receive an email 2 weeks before each debit. Debits can be for the admin charge or the toll charges.
Who did you buy the tag from; CC, Eurotunnel, SANEF or someone else. Did you set up a DD?
BillC
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Kontikiboy - thanks for speedy reply. I bought it from ATMB, on a special offer I learnt of from this forum, whereby I only had to pay postage. There was no charge, other than postage.
mmm, I cannot remember if I set up a DD or not., or if the offer was a one-off. I’ll probably have to call them, but I didn’t set it up until March 2016, so I suppose I might get a reminder email in a month or two.
i won’t need it until May but just planning ahead.
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We have the ATMB tag after it being recommended on here and we have used it for two or three years now without any 'renewal'. They just take the money from our bank account when we use it to gether with the E1.60 monthly fee for each month that we use it in.
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Ian, it is yours forever - or until your battery runs out In a few years time when you will have to send it back and get another. There is no renewal and no subscription, but once you start to use it again ATMB will charge you €1.60 per month on top of he normal tolls. In my case I have no direct debit - the charges go on to my credit card .
edit - I type more slowly than LTC.
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I bought mine last year following recs on this forum. Used on 2 trips in 2017 works really well and billing all very clear albeit in french.
Set my DD up on credit card and got very polite email reminder last month followed by letter in post as card I used had reached expiry date. Just had to sign in and update card details.
If you sign in to your account you should be able to check your details.
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I have a SANEF Tag and on my account control panel it flagged up that the battery was about to expire so I had to send it back and in return got a new Tag. I am sure the ATMB must have a similar facility.
David
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We use it, it's brilliant and it's forever, unless, of course, you get a new credit/debit card and that happened to me recently. The problem I had was, I'd lost my password and couldn't get past the "We'll send you the Password" system, as the way they record things like Post Codes and addresses are different to us. So, I sat down with my own poor French, my original contract and Google translate, it took a couple of attempts but I eventually got the online form correct, the response with the password was quick and it's easy to change your card and they confirm it. Fingers crossed it works now but I'm quietly confident. The lesson, keep your original Password handy.
I've not only changed my card but my car and the clear glue fixing the holder to the windscreen has come off, anybody had the same experience and what did they use? I'm wary of using a non-transparent pad, as it may block the signal at the toll and I don't want anything too strong so it's stuck on that car forever.
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I never fixed it to the windscreen. Left in the front compartment and the wife just lifted it to the windscreen when we approached the barrier
re direct debit. It is continuous but if you did as I did, and used a nationwide card due to the lack of foreign exchange charges, you have to update payment details when it expires
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I've not only changed my card but my car and the clear glue fixing the holder to the windscreen has come off, anybody had the same experience and what did they use? I'm wary of using a non-transparent pad, as it may block the signal at the toll and I don't want anything too strong so it's stuck on that car forever.
Can't you buy a spare holder? SANEF sell them on their webpage but probably only to account holders? My son has borrowed my Tag when he has had to visit France for work so an additional holder was useful. If you don't want to attach it permanently why not buy some heavy duty Velcro with an adhesive backing?
David
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Can I ask if there is an offer still available for this tag. On their web site details are not that clear. €20 deposit, €3, postage and €1.60 every month you use it. I have tried to register but it won’t accept my postcode. Anyone else had this trouble and does it cover all French motorways, towing a caravan?
Thanks, Ken
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It won't make any difference what adhesive you use to fix the mount to the windscreen as long as it is the same size of the original pad.
The Tag is about 3 or 4 times the size of the pad and there have never been any cases where the Tag hasn't worked because of the adhesive.
As said earlier - Velcro is efficient, cheap and not permanent.
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Send an email to ATMB and they will send two new holders FOC by return post. Any additional ones after that will be charged for.
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It may be a small thing but it's so easy having the holder on the windscreen and not having the passenger have to squirm about but nice to know that works for emegencies. The query on anything works, including Velcro is good news, we tend to leave the holder in place, you can't see it and keep the tag in a safe place when we're home. However, thanks Watendlath, I've emailed ATMB and await a new holder, so three solutions to my query.
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