Channel Tunnel prices, am I missing something?

H

Honestviking1

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106
Location
Morpeth Northumberland
Vehicle
T6.1 Beach camper 150
At midnight on Sunday, January 12th 2025 the offer of 25% discount was coming to an end on Le Shuttle, with the discount applying to crossings made before end of June '25.
So I went into the booking system via my account with Vin Rouge details already logged. Return price quoted at £288.
I then went to book the same times/dates but not via my account and was quoted £225.
I tried both systems several times with the same results so booked at £225 and have received the booking confirmation etc.
Naturally I'm not going to query the anomaly with Le Shuttle, but why the difference and have others experienced the same?
 
Back in May, I noticed something strange on the Eurotunnel site: when I logged in and tried to book the absolute cheapest return in late August, it was £167 each way. This was using my saved vehicle details. When I went incognito and not signed in, it offered the crossings at £131 using the registration number search. This despite it recognising the registration as a campervan. I then had to go to my vehicles, add the golf, delete the campervan, add the campervan again and presto! Same vehicle but £36 cheaper each way.

I think I must have previously saved the van at 5.5 to 8 m total length because of (tow bar) bike rack. But this time (new website) it didn’t display this anywhere and didn’t give the option of reducing the length.

Now I have saved the vehicle at 5 to 5.4m, it always shows the cheaper prices. But at no point does it mention the vehicle length, once saved. Something to watch out for.

Post in thread 'Eurotunnel Cali Premium over car'
https://vwcaliforniaclub.com/threads/eurotunnel-cali-premium-over-car.56015/post-727369
 
Fairly standard nowadays on most sites - Dynamic Pricing. Amazon, BA et al are masters at this.

Best way is as you have said - book separate to logging in as they assume if you are logged in then you are already captive.

Another trick is use a private/incognito window or clear the cache as it will use cookies on your computer to work out what price to show.
 
Fairly standard nowadays on most sites - Dynamic Pricing. Amazon, BA et al are masters at this.

Best way is as you have said - book separate to logging in as they assume if you are logged in then you are already captive.

Another trick is use a private/incognito window or clear the cache as it will use cookies on your computer to work out what price to show.
Second the use of incognito browser window.
 
Despite having my stored registration No., after a call to customer services it transpired that no vehicle ‘type’ was showing on the eurotunnel system so it was defaulting to a larger sized vehicle and overcharging me. They said they corrected it but I don’t particularly trust that tbh. Best thing to do is go through the booking process using vehicle dimensions only (not reg No.) and get your price. Right at the end of the booking it will then give you an opportunity to enter your reg number.
 
I had a similar problem trying to book a 2025 summer crossing for our TGE (Crafter in disguise), we have been across with this vehicle in 2024 with no problems.
This time by using the registration mark it came up as a MAN TGE but would not accept that it was a motor caravan despite that being the DVLA description on the V5C. I spoke to a very helpful lady at Le Shuttle who recommended not committing to a particular registration number or make and model but just enter the sizes and type. Hey presto it all worked but I guess I will have to speak to someone when booking in or perhaps get way with using the booking number on the machine at the barrier. Time will tell.
 
This has reminded me to look into buying some shares in get link / le shuttle / whoever it is that then gives you a discount when you cross.
 
This has reminded me to look into buying some shares in get link / le shuttle / whoever it is that then gives you a discount when you cross.
Looks like you need 1000 Getlink shares to get a 30% discount. That would cost you £12,964. Getlink’s stock fell 3.59% last year… you’d need to travel pretty constantly for it to be worth it!
 
Anyone got a promo code they can share? I’m about to book to travel to the Monaco GP in May.
Thanks
 
Looks like you need 1000 Getlink shares to get a 30% discount. That would cost you £12,964. Getlink’s stock fell 3.59% last year… you’d need to travel pretty constantly for it to be worth it!
I think that it’s 100 shares. If you cross and return twice a year, the 30% discount should save at least £150pa. There’s a dividend too, but you can’t hold the shares in an ISA. It looks to be good value for regular users. I fully appreciate that the value of your investment can fall as well as plummet :) . And, this post should not be interpreted as financial advice! :thumb
 
I think that it’s 100 shares. If you cross and return twice a year, the 30% discount should save at least £150pa. There’s a dividend too, but you can’t hold the shares in an ISA. It looks to be good value for regular users. I fully appreciate that the value of your investment can fall as well as plummet :) . And, this post should not be interpreted as financial advice! :thumb
Do you have a link to where it says 100 shares as I can only see 1000.
 
Do you have a link to where it says 100 shares as I can only see 1000.
Sorry no. There was a chat on here about six months ago and the “100” is from my memory. I guess a 1000 minimum shareholding would make more sense. Sorry if I’ve wrongly raised hopes.

I’ve escalated things with an email to Getlink and will share what comes back. In the meantime, if you have a ‘1000 link ‘ I’d definitely give it a click.
 
Sorry no. There was a chat on here about six months ago and the “100” is from my memory. I guess a 1000 minimum shareholding would make more sense. Sorry if I’ve wrongly raised hopes.

I’ve escalated things with an email to Getlink and will share what comes back. In the meantime, if you have a ‘1000 link ‘ I’d definitely give it a click.
This is what I found and was updated Oct 24
 

Attachments

  • maj-241024_conditions-generales-avantages-tarifaires-uk.docx.pdf
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This is what I found and was updated Oct 24
I’ve received an email from Getlink, the interesting section of which is:
  1. Regarding the travel privileges scheme, Getlink SE offers a single travel privileges scheme giving a 30% reduction on the standard fare on up to 6 one-way crossings (or 3 round-trips) per calendar year on our Passenger Shuttles.
  2. Individuals who have held continuously for at least three months 750 shares in Getlink SE through our registrar, Société Générale Securities Services are eligible.
Sorry for the error (and thread hijack)
 
I’ve received an email from Getlink, the interesting section of which is:
  1. Regarding the travel privileges scheme, Getlink SE offers a single travel privileges scheme giving a 30% reduction on the standard fare on up to 6 one-way crossings (or 3 round-trips) per calendar year on our Passenger Shuttles.
  2. Individuals who have held continuously for at least three months 750 shares in Getlink SE through our registrar, Société Générale Securities Services are eligible.
Sorry for the error (and thread hijack)
If I have understood correctly you need to buy about £10k worth via computershare. That will cost about £100 in fees and £50 stamp duty.

Although the shares actually increased in value by 1% over the last 12 months, they lost value over the last 5 years of 2.17%. That’s about £217 on that holding, or £43.40 a year.

They are expected to pay a dividend which goes ex in May. 750 shares would have earned you €412.50 last year, or £340. Computershare will charge you a similar fee to sell your shares later.

So buying and selling 5 years later would have cost you about £517 with dividend income of £1700 (assuming the same dividend each year). Many companies suspended dividends during covid19. Of course the shares could tank and wipe you out however 72% of analysts are favourable so that isn’t expected to happen. The dividends or travel rights could end, though again that isn’t expected to happen.

Your travel savings would be 6 x say £250 a trip, always assuming you make three return journeys a year (£1500). So if you have £10k to invest and will make 3 return journeys a year, over 5 years that is a saving of £7,500.

All things being equal that is £8,683 saved/earned for a 10k investment (7500+1700-517).
You would have earned about £3,000 on deposit.

If you have £10k spare and would use the crossings, then I like the stock. Unless of course there is another event which stops you travelling or wipes out the value of your shareholding.

This isn’t financial advice, I have never done this purchase and I’m just a fool with a computer. Share prices go down as well as up.
 
Went Le Chunnel last year from Southampton. While the tunnel itself is fine, the M3/M25/M20 fell firmly into 'NEVER AGAIN' territory. Pre Breshite it was 2hr05. This time > 3hr30 mostly on variable speed limits.

Back to Brittany Ferries, Pompey - Caen and a couple of water-based 'reading days'.
 
The M25 is always a lottery. I haven’t noticed any difference in travel times pre/post leaving EU although I tend to avoid travel during the school holidays. Chunnel is so much easier if you have a dog as they can sit in the car with you for 35 minutes. The ferrys have a variety of challenges and additional expenses including muzzle wearing, pet friendly cabin renting, going for a wee on a ship, unwelcome pats and strokes, being consigned to a kennel. For those reasons the tunnel is my preference.
 

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