Eurotunnel with a wide car

Eurotunnel with a wide car

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Discussion

TVR keith

Original Poster:

1,333 posts

221 months

Wednesday 25th February 2015
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Driving inside the Eurotunnel carriage in my Mercedes E class I touched one of the kerbs at very low speed.There is very little clearance between the tyres/ kerbs with this car. Got to the supermarket at Calais and noticed a cut and bulge in a rear tyre that wasn't there before. £192 to replace today.
Having now Googled "Eurotunnel tyre damage" it seems I'm not alone and maybe I should book as having a roof box in future so they put me in with the camper vanswhere there are no kerbs also that if this occurs you should stop just outside the train on disembarkation and ask for a claim form. I didn't know that at the time (or about the damage)
Anyone with a wide car would do well to Google the matter before travel, it might save you from tyre/wheel damage

alxce

417 posts

220 months

Wednesday 25th February 2015
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A very familiar story. I have damaged wheels/tyres on several cars including an E class going up to the top level. It is very difficult to see if you are central as you go up because you can't see the track or the kerbs. Unfortunately as you come off the ramp onto the flat section there are these nasty metal kerbs with something of a point that seem to attract my cars like a magnet.
You are right in that you can avoid this completely if you can get into the lorry/coach carriages but I also found it a lot easier by insisting on going into the bottom level of the normal carriages, at least you can see the track in front of you. I managed to get an AM V8 Vantage both ways on this level without damage, given it's track width and poor frontal visibility I considered this something of a major achievement compared to past experience.
The idea of a potential damage claim against them is news to me, will bear it in mind in future.

gtidriver

3,334 posts

186 months

Thursday 26th February 2015
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It doesnt help that most of the flooring on the trains is now chequer plate thats very crudley cut in places,these are all original trains from the get go so around 15years old or so. There not being replaced either. My advice is book saying your an over height car use the self service lane and go to the coach train. I do it now after seeing the state of the floors in the car decks. Good luck with the claim op..

gtidriver

3,334 posts

186 months

Thursday 26th February 2015
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It doesnt help that most of the flooring on the trains is now chequer plate thats very crudley cut in places,these are all original trains from the get go so around 15years old or so. There not being replaced either. My advice is book saying your an over height car use the self service lane and go to the coach train. I do it now after seeing the state of the floors in the car decks. Good luck with the claim op..

Ocdbeemer

94 posts

140 months

Friday 27th February 2015
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A good post making people aware. If you book an "high" vehicle ticket will you go onto another deck? I booked a high vehicle ticket, joined the queue and ended up with standard height cars. Paid the extra for no need.....

so called

9,074 posts

208 months

Friday 27th February 2015
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Same here with my CLS.
I was behind a Roller and he literally had maybe 1" each side.

SLacKer

2,622 posts

206 months

Saturday 28th February 2015
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Book the high and wide if you have a wide car with low profile tyres. The rub strips on the standard carriage are crap and where they join each other they can chip your wheels. Also the top deck has a steep ramp and it narrows at the top and is difficult to see the sides. You should get a ticket appropriate to the correct carriage when you arrive at the barrier so you should get directed to the right carriage. When I went last the wider carriage was near the front of the train and the cars were loading at the back although due to security checks we were almost last there.

Follow the vans and coaches or ask if in doubt. Sorry about the blurred photo but this is the gap on the wide carriage. It is about an inch on the standard.




Edited by SLacKer on Saturday 28th February 10:14

ubbs

648 posts

216 months

Tuesday 3rd March 2015
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alxce said:
A very familiar story. I have damaged wheels/tyres on several cars including an E class going up to the top level. It is very difficult to see if you are central as you go up because you can't see the track or the kerbs. Unfortunately as you come off the ramp onto the flat section there are these nasty metal kerbs with something of a point that seem to attract my cars like a magnet.
You are right in that you can avoid this completely if you can get into the lorry/coach carriages but I also found it a lot easier by insisting on going into the bottom level of the normal carriages, at least you can see the track in front of you. I managed to get an AM V8 Vantage both ways on this level without damage, given it's track width and poor frontal visibility I considered this something of a major achievement compared to past experience.
The idea of a potential damage claim against them is news to me, will bear it in mind in future.
I did this last year going on to the top deck took a proper chunk out of the alloy luckily no tyre damage but it was the wife's car so I had endure 500 miles of "piss taking"

hilly10

7,076 posts

227 months

Wednesday 4th March 2015
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Thanks for the heads up on this I have already took a chunk out of my 19" AMG wheels on my new E Class so will have to take care Le Man weekend

hilly10

7,076 posts

227 months

Sunday 8th March 2015
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Went through the Tunnel on Saturday I went in the Astravan now I did ask about the wide car issue, the said if you have any worries then just ask and will put you in the wider coaches with the motor homes etc. he said we know all about the problems and most loading staff will sort you out.

TVR keith

Original Poster:

1,333 posts

221 months

Sunday 8th March 2015
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WilsonLaidlaw

37 posts

128 months

Saturday 31st March 2018
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I am on Le Shuttle next week with a Panamera 4 E-Hybrid with 21" wheels. It has a 1.96M track, which is really too wide for the 2M apart kerbs (less than an inch clearance on each side). It has been suggested that if you phone up beforehand, they will change you to a high vehicle but charge you through the nose for doing so. Whereas if you just turn up and ask the staff if you can go into the high vehicles lane, they will let you. They don't want to be bothered with all the faff if you damage your wheels/tyres and put in a claim. This involves stopping loading, getting a supervisor up and filling in forms plus taking photos showing the car at the point damage occurs.

4Q

3,347 posts

143 months

Saturday 31st March 2018
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I've just had a quick look on the eurotunnel website and it's exactly the same the same price to book as an over height vehicle as a standard one. Addining a roof box doesn't alter the price either.

paulwirral

3,104 posts

134 months

Saturday 31st March 2018
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4Q said:
I've just had a quick look on the eurotunnel website and it's exactly the same the same price to book as an over height vehicle as a standard one. Addining a roof box doesn't alter the price either.
This , it's more to do with space availability, vans and cars cost the same but there's not as many high spaces .