Hi everyone,

Hope no one minds me posting here as i don't have an Impreza, or even a Subaru for that matter, just a Renault Clio which i love, but i need some info from you on a trip i'm planning.

I've been reading this forum for ages now, and most of the people on here seem very experienced drivers, and i remember from some previous posts that some of you have driven in europe.

What i need to know is the regulations, and requirements for travelling abroad, France to be precise. I'm taking my own car, and have already booked the crossing on the super sea cat thingy, from Dover to Calais.

Any help from anyone would be apprecieated.

 

Tell your insurance company you'll need a green card. You'll also need a warning triangle, first aid kit and lense deflectors

Have fun
Si
Ps a map is handy too

 

lol, thanks, i have the map already.

What is a green card, i called my insurance company and they said i'm covered for 60 days without further cost, they never mentioned anything about a green card.

Also, are lense deflectors those yellow things?

 

yup lense deflectors are those yellow things (you can get them in a clear version to), same with my insurance, i think the green card bit is just a piece of paper to say your insured abroad(i'd imagine you policy already says so). Also take your policy and driving license.

Si

 

Thanks ,

I meant to ask too, that, i notice form the map that France has tolls on it's motorways, how much can i expect them to cost?

 

IIRC green card is only for comprehensive/TPFT policies. You won't need one if all you are interested in is 3rd party insurance as you are covered already. If you have comprehensive, best to double-check with your insurance co if it's automatically covered abroad.

(Unless green card is to show the local police, but I drove in Belgium for 4 months without one.)

BJH

 

Sorry never been through any tolls try

 

HI

My insurance covered me in France for free but ONLY tpft, I paid another thirty quid to go fully comp.

I was also lead to believe you need to carry a spare set of bulbs.

You'll love it when you get there, the roads are so much better than ours

Bob

PS don't forget to drive on the right

 

Cheers BOB bulbs thats the one i forgot

 

Thanks, for the website, it's great, brilliant resource for going abroad.

If anyone can think of anything else, especially the road toll costs, let me know

 

Most insurance certs are Eurospec these days so no green card required - BUT always check with the ins co first and take cert with you - it is a legal requirement to carry it in France and your car can be impounded if you do not have proof.

 

OK I'm a veteran of the old France thing, about twice a year over the last 7 years. So here goes:

Legally you must carry:
Warning triangle
Spare bulbs
Spare glasses (if you wear glasses)
Beam deflectors (although I confess to never using these and have not got in trouble yet)

I think the first aid kit is a good to have and not a legal requirement, always handy though.

Double check with your insurance about the green card. If you are fully comp they should issue you with one even if they don't charge you (I pay £10).

The speed limit in the dry is 130 kmh (80 mph) falling to 110 kmh in the wet. The autoroutes are predominantly dual carriageway and have NO cats eyes, which makes night driving a little more tricky.

They are able to time you between the tolls and have the power to fine you at a toll if you have broken the speed limit. However I have never been caught and I drive very quickly between tolls, I have a scoob after all!!!!

In terms of toll fees, from memory down to the Dordogne is about £20 to £30 and to the south is £40 to £50. It depends on how quickly you want to get to where you're going as to whether you use the autoroute or not. The A roads are pretty good, but if you wanna get there quick the autoroutes can't be beaten. Relatively light traffic apart from round Paris, coz the French don't like paying for them.

Finally petrol, the petrol is cheaper! Even on the Autoroutes it's cheaper than the high street here, so you don't need to come off the Autoroute to buy.

And Finally finally, they have lots of Aire'd's. The little places just allow you to pull off the Autoroute and rest. Nomally with a toilet and some picnic benches. The larger ones have petrol stations at the least and restaurants / cafes. Experience has taught us that the best food is available at the L'Arche chain. Again the prices are not rip off and the food is of good quality.

Oooops one last thing, probably a good idea to arrange some breakdown insurance, or extend your existing cover. And then pray you don't break down. It took the Sarlat Mazda garage 4 hours to change my exhaust pipe!!! 2 hours of this were lunch!!

Happy travelling.

Dave

 

I went over to France and Belgium a few weeks ago. I bought a bag from Halfords with all the kit you need in it: Bulbs, triangle, first aid kit, GB sticker, euro road atlas, lense deflectors. This was handy as you can just put the bag in the car as and when you need it. IIRC is was about £40 but was slightly cheaper than getting it all separately. I think you also need to carry a fire extinguisher and some euro countries require an empty 5 litre petrol can (but maybe not France). I also invested in a magnetic GB sticker so it would save my paintwork and I could reuse it.

You don't need to physically carry a green card if you have okayed it with your insurance company. You should take your insurance certificate and registration documents (log-book) with you too.

Sean

 

Can you get SUL in France? Does it have a perticular name you need to look out for?

 

SUL = 98 Sans Plomb.
Its normally on a Green hose.

Beware: LRP is called Super in France. It normally has a Red hose.

Dont get it wrong....

James.

 

Many Thanks for the brilliant advice everyone.

Dave P>> whereabouts in France do you usually visit?, we were in Paris in February, but we flew down from Edinburgh. This time were taking the car, and were gonna go back to paris for a few days to pick up on some stuff we missed, but it would be nice to hear form you on what you consider nice parts of france to visit.

 

Oh, and btw Dave, whats your preffered method of actually getting your car across the channel?

We got a booking on the SeaCat thingy cause the tunnel was gonna cost a bomb mid July.

 

Coldest,

Preferred method is definately the shuttle, but be warned of big gaps between trains on a sunday evening. They do all the maintenance work then.

I have two kids so the 35 minutes on the shuttle is ideal. They just get time to have a pee and then we're back on our way, straight onto the motorway.

That said we normally get it all in with the holiday cost. Have also done the Seacat which is not too bad, certainly alot quicker than the ferry, which I have also done, but threw up the whole way.

On holiday we normally go to the Dordogne, and stay in a mobile home near Sarlat. The scenerey is quite breathtaking and there are good roads and pretty friendly French people, especially if you try to talk in French. I think we often call them arrogant but then never try to speak their lingo in their country, so who's arrogant!!! The food is also excellent and very reasonably priced.

Went to the South one year, but there is very little to do except for the beach, so if the weather isn't all that you are fubar'd.

We also have friends in a place called Montargis, South East of Paris so we trawl down there once or twice a year.

Did Montargis to the shuttle terminal in 2.59 minutes average speed 83 mph and included going round Paris.

I reckon to get to Charles Degaul on the outskirts of Paris you are probably talking about 2 hours drive and £15 in tolls.

Strangely I haven't been to Paris.... I don't think even the French don't like the Parisians!!!

ATB

Dave

 

just my pennies worth......

I prefer the Tunnel as it's quick but the Seacat is nice as you can get out and about.....be warned the parking is a nightmare on the seacat.

Oh as for the tolls....watch your speed because they know how long it should take to get from point A - B the faster you get there the MORE you pay......sort of fine you could say.......

As I found out the hard way by doing 140 down to Tours and couldn't work out why the tolls was so much from one point and cheap at others that were further away.....

Enjoy your trip

Mark

 

Thanks for that Dave, would you mind if i asked how much the daily cost of the mobile homes you get were, and do you usually book them in advance??

Sorry i took so long to reply back, been at my girlfriends all weekend, and we don't really use the computers much when we're together.

Also thanks to everyone else for the very helpful info

 

Ok, highways in France are pretty expensive. I used to cross it twice in summer, because I leved in Luxembourg and am portuguese, and used to drive the 2300km once a year. (Now I work in Portugal again).

I lived in Luxembourg, (that tiny peace of land between France, Belgium and Germany... Well, I crossed the boarder all the time, and been stoped by the police a couple of times. NEVER had anything checked, except insurance, driver's licence and car papers. The only european country where they seem to guive SPECIAL attention to what you have in your car (triangle, etc) is Spain, but you don't seem to want to go there.

So, I think the light deflectors are important security items, but apart from that, if you don't have the rest of the gear, nobody will bother you. (nobody bothered me ).

What to visit.. If you like 18th century castles, the Valée de la loire has some of the most spectacular one around... and the light in that valey is particularly pleasent in spring.

A little more south, and if you like technology, go to the Futuroscope, the Cinema showcase ... 3D cinema, 360º Cinema, everything, etc...

Have fun

 

Coldest,

Check out

 

You could buy light-deflectors on the ferrie but they charge silly prices. In case of an accident you'd better used them deflectors so don't leave home without.

Btw, in lots of petrolstations they have these massage-chairs, they are good fun. Coffee is nice too, save your coins.

Btw2, in France they don't speak English... don't laugh... it's a real pain when nobody at the hospital or in a policestation speaks anything else then French. Lots of French won't even listen to you if your pronounciation is a bit wrong. So buy a travel-dictionary.

Someone in our parliament said a few months ago 'France is a great country, it's a pity there live so many French'. She had to do some explaining, was fun though.

 

Thanks for all the help guys..... been very helpful.

And Dave.... defenitely no rugrats... i'm only 23, too much life for that yet

Just another quicky question, might be a stupid one, i dunno, but i'll ask anyway...
are Visa cards widely accepted in europe, especially for stuff like petrol, but for anything else too....

Many Thanks too all.

 

No problem with visa cards and i wouldn't take travellers cheques (just incase you were thinking about it) i took some to germany and bugger all places to cash them (admitedly a dodgy weekend to do it ) luckly cash card is cirrus which worked in the hole in the walls over there

Si

 

Yeah, a VISA card is all you need on the road. You can pay your petrol, toll, supermarket, telephone, etc with it. The only reason i've got some 'money' on me in France is the coffeemachine. That said, i don't stay in France, i only travel to Spain often.


I've been 'fooled' with real money at a petrolstation once, stood there without the evidence (large sum banknote). Lost the argument... VISA rules.

 

Not heard the one about getting charged different rates for the speed you travel between tolls(is this a joke). I've done a lot of work in France the last few years and we have a office in Paris.
I did get stopped for speeding on the motorway, 600ff fine for 164kph!

I've never bothered with light deflectors - just dip your lights a bit, don't waste your money.

Try and book a hotel in Paris that has underground parking.

Steve.

 

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:<HR>Originally posted by Mr.Cookie:
<B>Ps a map is handy too [/quote]

What makes you say that Si?

I think there are details of all the requirements for driving abroad on the AA's website as well.

Cheers
Chris