Cali charges at French Tolls

[dfps]

Hi,

We are thinking of putting a canoe on the roof of our Cali to take down to the Med beaches.

Does this change the class of a Cali at the tolls ? ie : more expensive ?

As more and more French tolls are becoming fully automated with infra red sensors deciding the vehicle height
will we have problems at each toll ?.

If the class does change with a canoe on top ( or a roof box ) then we will just have to accept the increase in costs but if not then it will be a real pain trying to explain into the intercoms that the wrong class has been applied resulting in us holding up traffic etc at each toll.
Cali owners with roofboxes or canoes must have experience of this situation ?

We have had a problem before at one French toll which judged our Cali ( without anything on the roof ) to be over 2m and charged us accordingly.It was late at night and in the middle of nowhere so we just paid it.
Fortunately it was an isolated case ( probably an inaccurate sensor ).

Moving up a class will probably add quite a bit to toll costs so its important to know beforehand so that Autoroutes can be avoided unless the section is free.

 

[Hotel California]

Cali without bikes on tailgate or roofloads= under 2m and rated as a normal car.
If you go higher keep a good look on witch tollgate you take or you might hit the heightbarrier!
For tarifs gues you have to check the website.
Read in the newspapers recent the prices went up....

 

[bvddobb]

The toll is calculated on the car without roof load, so a Cali is category 1 (< 2m high) on French toll roads.

However, the automatic detection will not always recognise you as such when you have a roof rack, box or canoe on top. You have to look carefully on the toll machine screen how it classifies you, and if it is anything else than cat 1, you will have to push the button for help, explain your situation to the call center agent you get on the line (most times they can see you on camera), and most times they can change the category to 1 before you pay. It's a hassle, and they only speak French...
If you have a choice, don't take the automatic but take the manned gate.

And if they can't help you, you have to keep your tickets and claim the extra back later, in writing. You have to make sure you claim it back from the right party: different stretches of French toll roads are managed by different companies...

 

[nickandemma]

It's really easy to appeal incorrect charges if you have a Sanef Tag in the windscreen. You just send them all the details and a few weeks later they refund you the money. Also makes going through the tolls a breeze.

 

[californiaT5]

Recommend getting Telepeage and sail through (inflatable canoe)!

 

[Loz]

I have a roof box on the Touareg and just got my Sanef tag invoice for last month and all tolls were correctly charged at class 1.

We have a url on the other forum I frequent that get a discount on the tag rental if anyone wants it..