Auto Toll Badge

[Alan Zoff]

I have obtained this information from a helpful lady at Cofiroute:

Nous pouvons vous proposer un badge Liber-t qui vous permet de circuler sur
tout le réseau autoroutier français.
Grâce à un badge fixé sur le pare brise vous ne prenez plus de ticket, plus
de monnaie ou de carte bancaire à présenter pour payer le péage.
Le coût d'un badge est de 20€TTC annuel de frais d'abonnement à terme échu
réduits à 12€ si vous optez pour la facture Internet et un dépôt de garantie
de 30€ restitué en fin d'abonnement.
Il faut avoir une domiciliation bancaire en France.
Un exemplaire du formulaire d'abonnement est joint à ce mail.
Restant à votre disposition pour de plus amples informations au
0892 70 26 34 (0.34€TTC/min).

This was in response to my request for her to recommend a service for someone travelling to central France from Boulogne (and back) 3 or 4 times a year.

I can translate all the words but just to make sure I have grasped the sense of it before I place my order, can some kind soul please summarise the cost implications for me in terms of deposit, annual fee and usage. It looks to me that, unlike the Sanef, Cofiroute charges a flat annual fee of 12 euros (if booked over internet) whether or not you use it and regardless of how often it is used, without any further charge at point of use. A deposit of 30 euros is payable which is refundable (perhaps unlikely that you would see it again, unless I suppose a better deal was found elsewhere which justified returning the Cofiroute disk).

I have a French bank account and payment card.

Many thanks.

[andyh4]

Alan,

nearly there.  You pay 12€ if you are prepared to recieve you invoices over the internet - nothing to do with ordering.

Extra charges at point of use:  depends what you mean.  You will still pay the tolls as normal, but you pay nothing extra for having the telepeage.

 

 

[Alan Zoff]

Many thanks, Andy. 

Actually, that's exactly as I thought. Just didn't explain myself - in English! - very well.

Alan

[Joem]

Hello Angela, these badges sound great, I am arriving in France (Roscoff) on a Sunday morning intending to drive south to Argeles, so having a badge beforehand will benefit me greatly.

Are they usable on the Toll Peage south of Nantes, the A83 I think.

Also I have bicycles mounted on a trailer, is the 2M rule absolute, i.e. do I have any room to play with?

Joe

[Brilec]

[quote user="Joem"]

Are they usable on the Toll Peage south of Nantes, the A83 I think.

Also I have bicycles mounted on a trailer, is the 2M rule absolute, i.e. do I have any room to play with?

Joe

[/quote]

They are usable on all French autoroutes.

However, you cannot use them with a trailer, or if the vehicle is over 2m high, unless you go to the normal pay booth, and then hand the transponder to them. I think they can bill to your account this way,but you might as well use cash or a card then anyway.

[Loiseau]

[quote user="Joem"]

Are they usable on the Toll Peage south of Nantes, the A83 I think.

Also I have bicycles mounted on a trailer, is the 2M rule absolute, i.e. do I have any room to play with?

[/quote]

 

Sorry, Joe,

OK on question 1 - can be used on all motorways in France.

But don't know about Q2.  Looks as if Brilec knows more than I there...  The height-limit of the "telepeage lane" is pretty low.

Angela

[Joem]

Thanks Angela, I have only just realised you are the author of the Vendee book, an invaluable book that I purchased a few years ago. Congratulations on a book well written.

Thanks too to Brilec.

I suppose I will have to measure the height when bikes are loaded, alshough I think i managed to pass through normal booth with the car and trailer and just got charged as a car.

I have sent a mail to SANEF.COM just to be sure, it would be great if I had badge before I travelled.

Regards,

Joe

[Brilec]

There is a height barrier at each telepeage entrance, so overheight would certainly not be possible. How they would know you have a small trailer though, I am not sure, as long as you get a move on when the barrier goes up, to make sure it doesn't come down on the trailer.

I note that Sanef have just announced an offer, get the transponder for 1€ per month if you elect to get your bills by email. It seems that those who are already subscribers can also change to this new tarif. Follow the links from www.sanef.fr

[donc]

Hi

I have been on site to buy online but my French is not that good.It seems I have a choice of monthly or annual options(I think)What  is the best value , normally it would be annual but it is France we are talking about.

Any suggestions.

Cheers.

[Loiseau]

Blimey Donc, I am not surprised you found it difficult to understand...
I just went on the Sanef site, and also found it has become pretty incomprehensible - and I *do* speak French!

I could *only* find this new "electronic billing option" referred to above.

"offre soumise à conditions, valable du 01/02/2006 au 19/03/2006 réservée aux particuliers souscrivant à l'offre "Facturation électronique" pour leur contrat. L'option "Facturation électronique" permet de bénéficier la première année de frais d'abonnement annuels par badge de 12€ TTC prélévés en une seule fois, soit 1€ TTC par mois. Au-delà de la première année, les frais d'abonnement annuels par badge seront de 20€ TTC par an conformément aux barèmes et tarifs en vigueur. Coût du péage en sus."

So it sounds like they are letting you have it for a one-off subscription of 12€ for this year (= 1€ per month), plus the actual tolls of course. And as long as you sign up for it between 1 Feb and 19 March 2006. But the following year this will go up to a one-off 20€ for the year. This is different from what I pay, which is 2€ for each calendar month for which I use it (billed monthly).  Now I don't use it *every* month, so maybe it would come to 12€ for me over a year, but I doubt if it would come to 20€.  They make it sound like a great offer, but it isn't necessarily - for us infrequent users.

That said, I guess I might still shell out 20€ with a fairly light heart, to save running round the car in the wind and rain to the kiosk.  But that's for you to decide. Of course it's a good deal for regular users, who would clock up 24€ a year otherwise.

Also, there was a .pdf file to print out and fill in, but on my computer it looked very garbled, and I don't think I would be able to fill it out.  :-(   Maybe my computer is at fault, though.
I couldn't see a non-electronic option on the site - but perhaps that's just me being thick.

Incidentally, there is a Union Jack at the top right of the screen on the intro page, but when I clicked on that I found the English version was not much use for potential subscribers. It's more aimed at investors I have the impression.

Is it possible for you to stop at one of their offices (I could see the locations at the end of the .pdf document) and do the deal in person?  Joe, I guess this would not be practical for you, en route from Roscoff to the south though.  (By the way Joe, thanks for the compliment!  [:$] )

Angela

[andyh4]

Signing up at the one of the offices takes around 10 minutes.  Just have full details of your account for payment (RIB if paying through a French account) and the obligatory proof of address with you.  You leave fully kitted up with your telepeage transmitter.

 

It helps to have checked ina dvance which option you want because there are quite a few.  As a relatively frequent traveller I have opted for 30€/year (less 6€ for on line invoicing) with one trip in six between two designated (by me) booths on the issueing netwrok being free of charge.  Saves me a packet as well as a great deal of time since I have to go through the Lyon Sud booths on the A7 - 40 minutes minimum wait for the credit card booths in July/August compared with 3 cars in front at the telepeage.

[Joem]

Thanks for all the help, I have successfully purchased a Telepeage box (I hope), did full transaction online and expect to have the box in about a week.

Just need to make sure I stay under 2M now ! [:)]

[Joem]

Telepeager arrived last Friday, cant wait to see if it works for my holidays in august !!!!!!!

[Department71]

Do these things have batteries that have to be replaced? can't see anyway of opening mine.

Just a thought.

Steve

[Alane]

I think there are different models but the one we got from SANEF did have batteries, that can't be replaced by the user. We had to send the old one back and get a new one after about 3 years. This could have been done at any office but at the time we weren't passing any of the offices during working hours so it had to be done by post. They charged us a new deposit charge for the new one immediately and it took a couple of months for the deposit refund for the old one to come through on the account.

One lesson I learned was that it is cheaper to send a small low value packet from the UK to France than it is within France.

[Department71]

And I bet sod law states we shall find out the batteries are flat with a queue of French cars behind us at the peage.

 

Steve

[andyh4]

I have been using mine now for getting on for 3 years - no problem with the battery running out.  I think the power draw is going to be very small since about all it has to do is actuate the beeper to indicate that the transponder has been read.

[JohnD]

Our telebadge was obtained Sept 2001, failed June 2004

I sent it to Amiens, from the UK, and a new badge was  received within five days, with no request for payment. 

We are heading to the Lot in a fortnight, if I have the time will call  in at the A26 office to find out if the batteries are replaceable by self

JohnD.