Brittany ferries - charge calculations.
We recently changed our VW Touran for a VW Caravelle. The Touran came well inside the length band of 5.00 M limit. The Caravelle handbook gives a length of 4,904mm to 5,006mm, so the nominal size is 5,000mm (5.0M).
The height of the Caravelle is 1997, so approx 360mm higher than the Touran, but is still below the caravan height of 2.65M. And the caravan has not been changed.
There is no requirement for width measurements or vehicle weight.
I did two test bookings, one for each vehicle towing the van. The result was £60 extra for the St-Malo-Portsmouth two way trip. Admittedly, The added tow ball does take the vehicle length a little over the 5.00 M, but most of this extra is lost under the Al-ko coupling and, if the lower length limit of 4,904mm is applied, the total length of the Caravelle and caravan would be inside the 12M allowance for the first band.
The overall shipping length of the vehicle-plus-tow ball and the caravan-plus-hitch is actually more than the true hitched length, because the dimensions overlap.
I wonder how many owners are caught out by a few millimetres simply because BF take each element of length separately? Could amount to a tidy sum in their favour over the year.
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I assume your caravan is inside 7M length so you should have entered the tow vehicle as "up to 5.0M" and the caravan as "up to 7.0M". If your outfit is checked at the reception kiosk they usually measure the outfit length.
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Ordinarily I would agree. But I assume that the check-in people have ready access to details like vehicle and caravan lengths (I have seen them with their measuring tapes doing checks) and, if they worked on the length of the Caravelle plus the extended bit that is the tow ball, I would have little argument that the vehicle was over the 5.0M limit - even though the hooked up length of the outfit would not be over 12M. The question is, "Would it be prudent to state the vehicle length as 5.0M when making the booking and risk being challenged at the checking-in point?" They could claim that I had made a mistake with my figures, and how would they deal with the anomaly? Simply ask for the additional £60, or refuse to allow us to board ship?
Checks do happen somewhere because, when I have stated my caravan height to be within the 3.0M band (thinking that its actual 2.65M height is too close for comfort), the print out of the booking has shown it to be in the 2.70M band.
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I believe its the height of the Caravelle thats the issue with BF - yes its unbelievable as the caravan is considerably higher.
I bought a Tiguan last year and when checking BF prices 'guessed' at the height as I didn't have the details to hand, and it increased the price for being over 1.8m (I think). When I put in the correct height it dropped to that of a normal saloon.
I would ring the Club travel service and ask for their take on it.
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Many years ago I was advised by CC staff when booking a Brittany Ferries crossing to enter my towcar's height as under 1.8 metres (it's actually 1.95) to avoid being given a double charge for over height vehicles. I have done this every time since (probably 30 - 40 crossings) and have never been queried or measured. I normally book direct with BF these days.
I don't know if CMC still give the same advice.
WRT to the "tidy sum" I've always found Brittany to be excellent and honest people to deal with and at least their ships are registered in the EU not some tax dodging Caribbean or West African country.
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That's food for thought. When we start our plans for France next year, I will have a word with the Club Travel Service to see what they think.
In the case of an articulated unit, where the two vehicles require their heights to be stated separately, BF could reprogram their calculations to only consider the the highest of the two vehicles. Not rocket science, and a fairer way to set the bands. As things stand at present, it would appear that someone with a VW Caravelle and a camping trailer would be charged £60 more than a the owner of an estate car with a 7.00M long caravan. An even worse scenario than my own.
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At the point on the online form where you enter your vehicle registration no..there its a note which says BF use this to determine the dimensions of the vehicle etc etc...plus a warning of consequences if found to be different at check in..
Just done an exercise for our June 2019 BF ferry....looks like they have changed the £75 deposit for a percentage of the total booking....and don't forget we may have to apply for an International Driving Licence after we leave the EU...I am sure I still have mine from 1966...I wonder if it is still valid.
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