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Original poster

driving in france -telepeage-liberte

20 replies

fruitcorner · 04/08/2010 21:48

Has anyone signed up to this for driving in france on holiday and if so is it worth it? I've had a quick look and it seems to cost £10 to sign up and then you just pay tolls automatically - is that right or have I missed something?

OP posts:
MmeRedWhiteandBlueberry · 04/08/2010 21:58

There was a thread on Mumsnet about Telepeage not too long ago. I looked at with interest and went to their website. You could sign up as a tourist, but I stopped short as I did not undertand the small print.

When we were using the Autoroutes, we found that we could use the Telepeage lines, and it was simply a case of slotting in a credit card - it took seconds as you did not have to tap in your pin number. I don't think a Telepeage could have saved much time at all. It also looked like few French drivers actually had Telepeage.

SuzieHomemaker · 05/08/2010 00:08

It depends on how busy toll booths are. If they are packed the Liber-t may be just the thing. We have got one this year to try out.

TheNextMrsDepp · 05/08/2010 00:11

We are off to France on Friday and my dad has got one of these Liber-T passes. I'll report back....

Portofino · 05/08/2010 09:49

We have one. In the summer when the roads south are really busy it has saved loads of time queuing. I have certainly got my 10 euros worth out of it.

Original poster
fruitcorner · 05/08/2010 22:47

Thanks for all the info - so Portofino, does that mean that you pay 10 euros for the pass and after that you just pay the usual peage charges and there are no additional charges to pay?

OP posts:
SuzieHomemaker · 06/08/2010 09:09

Fruitcorner - that's right, you pay an admin charge of around ?10 plus a deposit of around ?30 then you just pay normal toll fees.

If you go for it do look after the transponder as they are eminently stealable at motorway service stations.

MmeLindt · 06/08/2010 09:13

We just returned from a holiday to the South of France and I would highly highly recommend one of these.

There were HUGE queues at some of the toll booths and we just sailed through the reserved lanes.

The advantage over the creditcard is that you don't even have to stop, you just roll through. Some of the newer ones don't even close the barriers properly. It is really fast.

I think a lot of French drivers don't have them unless they do a lot of motorway driving as it is quite expensive to go on the motorways.

We have one all year round as we live in Geneva so often take trips to France.

OhYouBadBadKitten · 06/08/2010 09:22

We have used one for two holidays. Love it :) Its an anxious moment the first few barriers you go through though!

Not sure how long the batteries that make them go beep last? anyone know?

Portofino · 06/08/2010 09:49

The one I have you pay 10 euros up front - then the toll charges, plus 1.50 for each monthly invoice - but only for the months that you actually used the tolls.

So if you only travel in July say, you would pay 1.50 on top of the toll cost. If you trip covered parts of July and August, then you would pay 1.50 for each month. IFSWIM....The rest of the year you would pay nothing

Portofino · 06/08/2010 09:50

I think we are going to Italy again next year, so I can going to brave and try to get an Italian one! I will let you all know...

CerealOffender · 06/08/2010 09:51

sounds like alot of money. i wouldn't say it was worth it for a 2 week holiday

MmeLindt · 06/08/2010 10:03

It is ?10 plus ?1.50 a month when used and compared with the massive queues we saw last week I would say it was worth it.

Some motorways are not bad, but on some motorways there are a lot of toll booths. I estimate that we went through about 8 or 9 on the way from Toulon to Grenoble. If you are queueing for 10 mins at each one, you are adding more than an hour to your journey.

Anyone going from the ferry in the North down to South of France could save a lot of time by using them.

Portofino · 06/08/2010 10:15

The year before last we spent more than 3 hours in queues between Brussels and St Tropez. Last year WITH the Liber-T was a doddle in comparison....11.50 extra outlay was nothing in the scheme of things, and DH was in a much better mood!

OhYouBadBadKitten · 06/08/2010 10:27

Absolutely mmeLindt, as we are onto our 3rd year we are down to ?4.80 per trip for all that lovely convenience and probably fuel saved not being stuck in queues

MmeRedWhiteandBlueberry · 06/08/2010 10:27

If it is £10, that is not a lot of money. That's equivalent to about a 3 hour stretch on some parts of the autoroute. I think our toll from Angers to Allencon was about that.

We never had more than one car in front of us when we in in France recently, but if there had been, I would have gladly paid for the card.

CerealOffender · 06/08/2010 16:35

i am just mean! i hate peage

SuzieHomemaker · 06/08/2010 20:21

CerealOffender the problem is that if you now go off piste it is full of the vehicles which arent allowed on the autoroutes. I gladly pay the tolls for the joy of nor being stuck behind a long line of ancient tractors for hours on end!

Original poster
fruitcorner · 10/08/2010 13:41

Thanks for all the info - I have left it too late to order a transponder by post but apparently you can sign up to one at the desks that some of the providers have at some of the service stations on the autoroutes, so I will try that and report back after my hols!

OP posts:
clumber · 27/08/2010 16:04

I know this is late but we are in france at the moment.

I follwed the advice on Mumsnet and signed for for one.

Would strongly recommend, we have sailed through the peage leaving others queuing. Was nervous the first time as you have to get quite close to the barrier for it to register. The red light changes to green and the transponder "beeps" in the car.

ADealingMummy · 30/08/2010 21:09

Another vote for the liberte here . We drove to the south of France and passed queues of traffic on the way. It's well worth it.

We shall be using it in December on the way to Disney Paris

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