Reply to: Avoiding French Tolls

[NotAllThere]

If you do get caught, the fine is CHF100 + the cost of the vignette.

[bobhope]

To enliven matters you can always try avoiding buying the Swiss carnet and seeing if you get caught

Only if you go on the highways - otherwise you don't have to buy one.

[Ruse]

Just drive straight thro without stopping or paying , your GB sticker on the back will explain everything.

Did something similar in Italy before. I drove past a barrier where I was supposed to have collected a ticket to show where I joined the motorway. When I got to the toll exiting the motorway the guy wanted to see our ticket. When we didn't have one he tried to charge us the same as driving the full length of Italy or something equivalent. We refused to pay he asked for our passports which we refused. In then end with a massive queue behind us full of irate Italians blowing their horns he just waived us though and we paid nothing. Not sure I would want to try that method again though.

[motoukenin]

Just drive straight thro without stopping or paying , your GB sticker on the back will explain everything.

[expat]

ever heard of sleazyjet ?

Yes. Oh, yes.

[sappatz]

jet

ever heard of sleazyjet ?

[SallyAnne]

I thought this thread said "avoiding French trolls"!

Which I had thought was odd!

[expat]

How much fuel does your car use in 4 hours?

Depends what it's doing.

12 hours on Nationales may use less than 8 hours on Autoroutes (mappy reckoned 1 litre less on the Nationales).

[Moscow Mule]

But an extra 4 hours driving to save £120 is probable worth it.

How much fuel does your car use in 4 hours?

[conned tractor]

Results via viaMichelin

Calais to Grenoble - using toll roads

Costs 145.42 EUR
Toll 67.00 EUR | Petrol 78.42 EUR | Road tax EUR
Time 07h43 which 07h24 on motorways
Distance 870 km which 857 km on motorways


Calais to Grenoble - avoiding toll roads

Costs 83.98 EUR
Toll 0.00 EUR | Petrol 83.98 EUR | Road tax EUR
Time 12h20 which 03h58 on motorways
Distance 951 km which 405 km on motorways

[Ruse]

Mappy says Calais - Grenoble 8h19 using Autoroutes.
Avoiding Tolls: 12h39.

Interesting.

Our route is a lot longer as it is not direct due to detours for camp sites.

But an extra 4 hours driving to save £120 is probable worth it.

[expat]

Mappy says Calais - Grenoble 8h19 using Autoroutes.
Avoiding Tolls: 12h39.

[Troll]

In Mappy you can tell it to avoid toll roads, and get a time for that.

Using only Routes Nationales (N roads) generally does take a lot longer on a long journey. You can drive quite fast on them on the open road (110km/h vs 130 on Autoroute, 140 quite safely), but they do go through towns and that slows down your average speed.

& they tend to be quite scenic too

[expat]

In Mappy you can tell it to avoid toll roads, and get a time for that.

Using only Routes Nationales (N roads) generally does take a lot longer on a long journey. You can drive quite fast on them on the open road (110km/h vs 130 on Autoroute, 140 quite safely), but they do go through towns and that slows down your average speed.

[Troll]

18 hours is a Mappy estimate based on our route with detours for stops at camp sites.

I take it 14 hours is a non-stop motorway route slightly exceeding legal limits

Pee and fuel breaks only - & I must say Europe was free of the more ghastly Brits riff raff this year ... long may the weak pound continue!