Toll roads in France and Spain

[xpcdoojk]

I know this was a discussion in the past here in this forum, and we just returned from the Symphony of the Seas TA and we drove around Spain and France a week pre-cruise so I thought I would share our experience with toll roads.

 

France, has different companies that operate the toll roads in France, so apparently there is not a single system.  In 2015 driving from Metz France to the Loire Valley and ending up in Paris after a river cruise, we had a couple of nightmares at toll points.  I tried about 6 credit cards at one toll pay station and none worked, finally was bailed out by an employee thru an intercom who just let us go through.  This time I came armed with a chip and pin credit card (my apple credit card issued by Barclays Bank).  Since we were driving longish distances we needed to use toll roads, and we used the card at several tolls in Spain, and had no problems.  Then we had the same experience at every toll station in France!  Our route was from Barcelona to Andorra, and across to Avignon France (Provence) to Monaco and then back across southern France to Roses Spain and ultimately back to Barcelona for our cruise.  

 

If you are planning on traveling in France I highly recommend getting a chip and pin card.

 

jc

[G.M.T.]

It's a case of when in Rome do as the Romans do.

 

[TravelerThom]

A couple of questions to make sure I’m on the same page...

Did you have to enter your PIN?

Is your PIN 4 digits?

Did they give you a receipt?

Many US rental cars have EZ Pass (or similar) transponders which are then billed to you by the rental car company. Do you see any sign of that option?

 

Someone had reported that French Autoroutes only accepted cards issued in France. Perhaps this varies by which company is in charge of that Autoroute. 

 

THANKS

Thom

[xpcdoojk]

Hi TT, no, I never one time was asked for the PIN number.  I think that some of the toll systems when they are given a chip and sign credit card, just automatically reject them.  Yes, my pin was 4 digits.  It was issued in the USA.  I can’t imagine that any toll company in France would only accept credit cards issued from France, since they are part of the European Union, I can’t imagine for example them denying German issued credit cards. There was no EZ pass option offered to me at Hertz rental car at Barcelona airport. 

 

I think there was an option to request a receipt, but I never did.  My goal was to successfully get through the toll station and to do it as quickly as possible.  I did see other cars blocking lines and some even backing up because a car was stopped and not getting thru the toll booth.  I can only surmise at least some of those were struggling with payment by card. 

[Bake apple]

Great advice! Two years ago after a south of France river  cruise we rented a car to spend a little more time in the area. First hour out we encountered the dreaded toll road where the machine would not accept any credit card we had. We just couldn't spot the "cash box" to throw in the cash. Trucks and cars blaring  horns behind us and no one offered to help. Finally a voice over the loud speaker asked (in at least three languages) for our name and address and said they will send the bill! Seriously. The barrier came up and we sped through just spotting a beaten up metal box cash box attached to a piece of wood at the end. From then on we used the "scenic" route option on the GPS rather than the "direct route". True story. We laugh about it now but at the time it was stressful.

[Host Jazzbeau]

I was warned about the French toll road restrictions before our recent driving tour.  So even though we had a Barclay Arrival card with Chip&Pin, we made sure we had plenty of cash for the tolls – made life a lot easier.  Luckily, we never had a problem finding the place to throw the coins!  [We did have a problem with the speed cameras, but that's another story...]

[jpalbny]

On our 2010 cruise, while out touring on our own, we unexpectedly encountered a toll road outside of Bordeaux. Luckily I had change to throw into the machine, because it was a dinky entry ramp with one lane and an unattended booth!

 

When we had to drive from Nice to Paris at the end of the cruise, I made sure I had tons of cash and just paid with that. But I got caught with only an €50 note at a place that had a small toll of €3, and the machine wouldn't take the big bill. So believe it or not, my (then non-chip) AMEX card worked in the machine, but not my Visa or MC. 

 

Next time I will make sure I have all options available, and of course I will try to see if my chip cards work... Haven't tried this in a while but thanks for the reminder. 

Edited November 14, 2018 by jpalbny

[xpcdoojk]

On 11/13/2018 at 8:43 PM, Host Jazzbeau said:

I was warned about the French toll road restrictions before our recent driving tour.  So even though we had a Barclay Arrival card with Chip&Pin, we made sure we had plenty of cash for the tolls – made life a lot easier.  Luckily, we never had a problem finding the place to throw the coins!  [We did have a problem with the speed cameras, but that's another story...]

 

I saw a speed camera flash as we were leaving Monaco heading back towards Nice.  I don’t think I was significantly speeding at the moment, and so far haven’t had any wierd charges appear on my credit card.  I am hoping it was someone else’s lucky day.  I think we were coming out of a tunnel that had about 4 lanes of traffic when it flashed.  

 

Hate speed cameras.  

 

JC

[vino100]

On 11/13/2018 at 6:43 PM, Host Jazzbeau said:

I was warned about the French toll road restrictions before our recent driving tour.  So even though we had a Barclay Arrival card with Chip&Pin, we made sure we had plenty of cash for the tolls – made life a lot easier.  Luckily, we never had a problem finding the place to throw the coins!  [We did have a problem with the speed cameras, but that's another story...]

Speed.  Cameras in France........Oh I have a story too. Arrived home from a spectacular vacation to France and then a river cruise , opened the mail and we had 3 tickets from France. Had no idea we were speeding or violating any law. All the info was in French. went on line to pay the fines so someday we could return worry free !!! 

[Host Jazzbeau]

3 hours ago, vino100 said:

Speed.  Cameras in France........Oh I have a story too. Arrived home from a spectacular vacation to France and then a river cruise , opened the mail and we had 3 tickets from France. Had no idea we were speeding or violating any law. All the info was in French. went on line to pay the fines so someday we could return worry free !!! 

 

You're lucky you only had to pay the government fines.  We also had to pay the rental car company a fee for ratting us out to the government!  Added insult to injury...