Motorway ‘blipper’ / smart tags - For ALL news, advice, how to get one and what’s best, irrespective of the country

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Just a quick heads up for the euro travelers

Noticed a new telepeage badge is available which works in several European countries

Don’t know if it’s available in the UK yet you’ll have to google it yourself but here’s the basics on one of the French sites

http://www.aprr.fr/fr/telepeagelibert/particuliers/offre-topeurop
 
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Really good system and works well, just a little tip, although you can use this with your bike or car, if you go to Italy or Portugal, you have to go into your client area, and put the license number of the bike or car that you will be using for that trip, for France Spain no change needed, and do not leave it visible in the car, if you leave it in a parking area, common sense.
 
And if you are on a bike, make sure you use the correct gates, otherwise you will get charged as a car


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And if you are on a bike, make sure you use the correct gates, otherwise you will get charged as a car


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Do you know that’s true or have you heard it?

There is very little evidence on these pages of bods being over charged. Where bods have been charged wrongly, all reports are that the mistake has been rectified and a refund given very easily.

What you maybe mean is: Do not use lanes where motorcycles are EXLUDED. That bikermates shouldn’t use these lanes - irrespective of the possibility of being overcharged - is obvious.
 
I`d seen this recently elsewhere, it seems many of the regional French toll companies are offering a similar service, but as I have an APRR France only tag already, I emailed them to see if it was possible for them to upgrade my account and use the same tag I currently have across the newer area. Their response was that I must either apply for a new (supplimentary) topEurop tag account to run alongside my current tag account, or return my current tag and exchange it for the newer topEurop tag/account. Atm I`m looking into the details of exchanging it, but I also need to look at the difference in cost/fees of using the 2 accounts, as by the time I`ve factored the shipping costs, fees etc, it maybe not worthwhile exchanging
This is their recent email
Bonjour Monsieur O`Bollox,

Vous ne pouvez malheureusement pas voyager en Espagne, au Portugal et en Italie avec votre badge actuel. Vous pouvez donc soit garder votre badge actuel et en obtenir un supplémentaire (offre topEurop), soit échanger votre badge actuel contre un badge topEurop. Quelle solution vous paraît la plus adaptée à vos besoins ?

Google Translation
Hello Mr O`Bollox
Unfortunately you can not travel to Spain, Portugal and Italy with your current badge. So you can either keep your current badge and get an extra one (TopEurop offer), or swap your current badge against a TopEurop badge. Which solution seems most appropriate to your needs?
Maintaining 2 accounts seems senseless to me so I`ve emailed them asking if there`s any extra cost involved, and where do I send my old badge to, If I decide to exchange
 
Do you know that’s true or have you heard it?

There is very little evidence on these pages of bods being over charged. Where bods have been charged wrongly, all reports are that the mistake has been rectified and a refund given very easily.

What you maybe mean is: Do not use lanes where motorcycles are EXLUDED. That bikermates shouldn’t use these lanes - irrespective of the possibility of being overcharged - is obvious.

Even when you use the correct gate, you can get charged as a car, I use a tolling service with a UK office, and the refunds are easy to do.
I once came through a toll tunnel south of Paris, which was restricted to cars, no bikes allowed so didn’t get the very expensive toll refunded on that one.


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Yeah, but my mate's mate, his nan's nephew reckons that if you blink at the wrong moment you get charged as a fucking flying saucer.
True, that.
 
Saneftolling.co.uk


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Looked at that. Set-up costs are higher and you need separate transponders for France & Iberia. Might work out cheaper if you go to Spain for more than half the year as the monthly fees are capped.

For me, the APPR system works out cheaper and more convenient as I will use it a max of 3 months a year - this year just 2 as one trip is to Germany.
 
Update: My new APRR top europ TAG arrived today, its around 3 times thicker than the old TAG (about as thick as a mars bar) and uses a different mounting bracket to the old TAG and isn`t interchangeable, so if you intend to upgrade TAG`s consider ordering extra brackets for each vehicle. The TAG has seperate barcodes for each of the countries when you hand it over to be scanned by the toll booth operator. The welcome pack included an envelope for return postage
 
Update: The TAG has seperate barcodes for each of the countries when you hand it over to be scanned by the toll booth operator. The welcome pack included an envelope for return postage

The whole idea is that it’s detected automatically by the toll booths so you shouldn’t need to get it scanned by anyone!
 
Update: My new APRR top europ TAG arrived today, its around 3 times thicker than the old TAG (about as thick as a mars bar) and uses a different mounting bracket to the old TAG and isn`t interchangeable, so if you intend to upgrade TAG`s consider ordering extra brackets for each vehicle. The TAG has seperate barcodes for each of the countries when you hand it over to be scanned by the toll booth operator. The welcome pack included an envelope for return postage

Nice update, love the mars bar size, so in the pocket it goes. glad you got envelope was sure I had seen it...........:blast
 
So, I've been to Spain, Portugal and very briefly, France.

The APRR tag worked in Spain where you get confirmation by the barrier going up - just approach slowly and you won't have to stop. There was one toll where it did not work, the motorway around San Sebastian as you approach France. That may have been me using the wrong lane as the traffic was heavy.

I have no idea if it worked in Portugal as there are no barriers. They use ANPR so as detailed above, I have my bike reg. no. registered on the website.

None of the transactions have appeared in my account yet but someone above states May transactions were billed at the end of June, so it may take a while for the Spanish & Portuguese systems to rationalise with the French one.
 
and there it is, a September statement showing I used the toll road on 2 days in Portugal on my trip for a cost of €8.41 plus a €2 management fee.

in some places in Portugal there are no cash/card payment options so I can heartily recommend an APRR Iberia account. Just make sure you have the correct vehicle registered as they use ANPR not the tag in Portugal.

I also recommend using the motorways in urban areas e.g. large parts of the road from Porto to Via Real, take the A4 not the parallel non-motorway road. Their tourist roads in the national parks are very good but their everyday roads for the local peasants are in a very poor condition and you end up going from settlement to settlement with very low speed limits on some very bumpy surfaces.

As the A4 goes over the tops of valleys you get some spectacular views.
 
I found the Spanish part of the bill took a week or so longer to be processed and appear onto my bill, but it was accurate unlike the 480 mile leg I did from Millau to Roye on the Somme, as 3 sections where billed classe 1, but once I contacted them they rectified it saving me around 37 euro.
 
Good update from Wessie on the advisability of having the tag and on which roads to chose.
 


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