Driving in France-Tips and advice please!

[NeedCoffee]

We're travelling on a ferry to Belgium then to France next weekend, I know we need to get the headlamp convertors( unless I'm able to find out if a Xsara Picasso can be converted by a button?!) and a GB sticker, plus the hi vis jacket and warning triangle but we're debating whether to increase our insurance to fully comp and get EU breakdown cover..

Any advice?

Cheapest UK & Europe annual breakdown insurance here, as recommended by www.moneysavingexpert.com.

Thanks again everyone. Hi vis vest thing is sorted, saw them in pound shop but OH borrowed a couple from work.

Nikoka-I do not have a Sat Nav but it is my birthday the day before we go and I've dropped hints from the sky that I want a Sat Nav, so hoping I get one!
Don't you get charged for using credit cards each time you use them abroad?

Ponders-Is that definate as I've read that you need them no matter what, even if you're not going to be driving in the dark..

Orienteer-Thanks will check it out :)

We're diesel so will be filling up over there!

orienteer - our experience a few weeks ago was that the French very much kept within the speed limits. really noticed it when we got back to Dover.....

Ah - can't vouch for it being legal, needcoffee, but we were there for 2 weeks in May/June & didn't bother.

But we did get stuck driving in the dark following a breakdown once, & had to keep switching to sidelights or else oncoming cars flashed us

(You don't have to buy adaptors though, you can just stick a bit of masking tape over the bit that deflects the beam to the L, I think there are websites that tell you where to stick it - if you'll pardon the expression )

Seems to have been a big cut down on it recently. The on the spot fines. Can be very high. Would check about the lights as I thought you should have them on regardless (for rain etc)

Speed limit goes down to 110th on motorway in heavy rain - not sure if that is police though.

Re the speeding comments I did get pulled over in 2002 on a "B" road at 8am for a random breath test! Luckily I was 7 months pg at the time so was clear. They were clearly looking for French farmers still over the limit after a heavy night on the calvados.

And yes you do generally get charged for using a credit card abroad - c 2-3% per transaction? There are cards which charge less/zero but I think you've left it too late to get one if you don't already have one.

But you could convert a lot of cash before you go - \link{http://www.iceplc.com/cgi-bin/live/ecommerce.pl?site=iceplc.com&state=compare&menu=currency&dept_id=01&sub_dept_id=01\ICE} have a good rate but a minimum amount for home delivery (can't see what it is though - £4-500 I think)

Surely you can use a [Visa] Debit card in the toll machines?

ok am in France at the moment-advance apologies qs i am on a french keyboqrd qnd it mqy go a bit wrong:
you are also supposed to have a first aid kit BTW and a hi viz jacket for everyone in the car if you breakdozn on the autoroute you must don the jackets and sit away from the car on the other side of the barrier while someone goes to the nearest orange phone
these are every 2 kilomètres i was told this today by les flics who stpped to check we had said equipment just outside Nantes on the A83

OH AND BUY PETROL FROM SUPERMARKETS IF YOU CAN-find an attended one or you will have to have a CB card to use the auto ones
deisel is about 108 euros at Marché U and E Lelerc today but saw 123 euros on the autoroute today

crem am loving your keyboard's grave accents

snérk

Remember that the hi-vis jacket MUST be kept in the car with you, and not in the boot. YOu can get an on the spot fine if you don't do this.

Plus don't forget your car reg document, plus I would definitely get the breakdown insurance. We got ours fairly cheap through our car insurance (AA and RAC were hideously expensive).

Re. sat nav - we managed fine with a big road atlas from The Works bookshop (£3 I think!). Don't print out a route planner AA thing, cos it is just totally confusing as the French way of road/route numbering is quite different to ours IMO!

mappy.fr is OK for driving instructions or michelin routefinder

Cremola - thanks, I had been thinking about the high vis vest. We have 2 adult ones (used to live in Austria) but haven't one for ds. AA website says this so I wasn't going to get a 3rd one?:

Reflective jackets (EN471) - one reflective jacket in the vehicle.

Check your bank account - mine provides free Euro Breakdown cover anyway plus annual worldwide family travel insurance,

Check you E111s. I didn't realise that they expire!

using a UK credit card in auto pumps, supermarket or ordinary petrol station, wasn't a problem when we were there.

do tell your bank/credit card issuer that you are going abroad (some say you don't need to but if you don't yours may block your card)

I think you can use debit card on autoroute tolls but credit card is safer for you. press the button for a receipt.

yes, you need to have in car 1st aid kit and high-vis jackets and warning triangle (at least 1 but 2 is safer)

not E111 now, you need EHIC plastic card these days (& they do expire but last for several years first)

Yeah, we used UK debit cards at pumps with no problem

Haven't "les flics" (to quote Cremola) have better things to do than check innocent Brits for spare bulbs, high vis vests etc??

Ponders - our E111 replacements arrived on day we left! Phew!

Saw quite a few cars on hard shoulder and only adults had hi-viz on, not kids.

Loads of traffic jams as well this year - worse than the UK for the first time

Can sort the E111's online really easily!

Anyone know where to find the website that shows where to put the masking tape on the lights?

www.bison-fute.equipement.gouv.fr/fr/IMG/pdf/Traffic_forecasts_for_2010_cle1dc317.pdf

is also quite useful