Toll tag for France/Spain

[GT03ROB]

Heading down to Spain in 2 weeks time, assume toll tags are the best thing as I will be travelling alone. Any recommendations or are they all much of a muchness?

[omniflow]

I think it all depends on your bank account. Some UK bank accounts allow the types of payments these toll tags use, others (such as First Direct) don't.

I've tried 3 different types of tag and then I gave up.

[smifffymoto]

I see toll booths as a chance to stretch my legs rather than an inconvenience.
Time lost at a few toll booths is far less than time lost at a service area.

[RedWhiteMonkey]

smifffymoto said:

I see toll booths as a chance to stretch my legs rather than an inconvenience.
Time lost at a few toll booths is far less than time lost at a service area.

Eh, you don't normally get out at tool booths on French motorways (I assume Spanish ones are similar). The tag just means you get through quicker and don't have to worry about the idiot in front of you dropping their card, etc. whilst making payment through their car window.

[M11rph]

I've used a Fulli Tag for the last couple of years. Used it in every country it's valid for and without any issues. They are all alike IMO, even the tag bit looks to be the same in most cases.
There's no cost/management fees unless it's used.
https://www.fulli.com/en/tollbadge-offers

[andy43]

I use emovis. No particular recommendation other than they work fine. I needed one for Spain and Portugal and also a separate tag for France because they’re special.
Saves a lot of hassle.
The leg stretching thing would upset a lot of locals.

[ChocolateFrog]

Think we've got that emovis one too.

It's great, zipping past 10 queuing brits at the busier peagè's.

You only get a sense of how much time it saves when you realise that despite them doing quite a bit faster it still takes them 20 mins or more to catch you up.

[Samcat]

I can recommend the Emovis one, I got a deal for the upfront cost as part of the tunnel booking.

Good communication and support via their website.

As others have said, you just cruise past all the other Brits through the 30kph lane, although the first time you do it is like a leap of faith!!

The very frequent Aire de Repos and service stations are for leg stretching.

[saveloy]

I've used Toll Tickets for years. You'll need the Tag for 'Western Europe'.

Kyri

[littleredrooster]

We've used a Bip 'n Go tag for the past few years and it's been an absolute game-changer for for French and Italian journeys.

[Leithen]

Another Emovis user here.

Travelling up from Bordeaux to Le Mans a month ago I played leapfrog with a fast Golf that didn’t have a tag. Straight past him at the tolls, passed 20 mins later, only to catch him again at the tolls, rinse and repeat at least three times.

5 hours in the car before stopping. So easy.

[Venisonpie]

andy43 said:

I use emovis. No particular recommendation other than they work fine. I needed one for Spain and Portugal and also a separate tag for France because they’re special.
Saves a lot of hassle.
The leg stretching thing would upset a lot of locals.

Seconded, just be sure to only have one in the screen at anytime incase of a double blip. Shouldn't happen but when I asked Emovis they recommended it.

[mikef]

Emovis here too. They provide a separate bipper for Spain, but you just swap them over in the holder, 10 second job

Never had any problems in over 10 years

[Mr Magooagain]

RedWhiteMonkey said:

smifffymoto said:

I see toll booths as a chance to stretch my legs rather than an inconvenience.
Time lost at a few toll booths is far less than time lost at a service area.

Eh, you don't normally get out at tool booths on French motorways (I assume Spanish ones are similar). The tag just means you get through quicker and don't have to worry about the idiot in front of you dropping their card, etc. whilst making payment through their car window.

I think smiffymoto is talking from an extreme amount of experience on French autoroutes possibly driving a right hand drive car alone, so there’s a need to get out and go round and pay.
I’m also very experienced at doing this and it takes about 30 seconds and is a handy little leg stretch like.

But I’m in agreement about the toll tags saving time if using the autoroutes at busy times.

Edit to add: There’s no ‘locals’ at toll booth’s.

[Car bon]

Another vote for fulli - been using them for years without an issue.

The same tag does France & Spain, possibly others. It also does some car parks too which was a surprise at the first one I encountered as I couldn't figure out why the entry machine didn´t give me a ticket.

[HocusPocus]

I use a cane with a taped up laundry peg holding a plastic slip containing a Revolut card. Wind down window and touch at toll booths. Ha!

[IroningMan]

We use Bip & Go. Needed a French bank account because neither of our UK banks supported the relevant payment method when we set it up two years ago, but that may have changed since.

Otherwise painless.

[Chauffard]

I found the French system inferior to the American E-Z Pass, you still have to stop and wait for the barrier to rise, which sometimes it doesn't, leading to much gallic hand gestures from the cars behind, 95% of the time it worked, whether this was the fault of the Emovis tag or the tag reader at the barrier, who knows.

[rdjohn]

I use ULYS by VINCI, it works well in both France and Spain - even better on the AP-7 past Marbella as there are toll slip roads that detect your pass 100m before the barrier so it is open by the time that you arrive.

It charges to my BBVA account in Spain

[andy43]

Chauffard said:

I found the French system inferior to the American E-Z Pass, you still have to stop and wait for the barrier to rise, which sometimes it doesn't, leading to much gallic hand gestures from the cars behind, 95% of the time it worked, whether this was the fault of the Emovis tag or the tag reader at the barrier, who knows.

Options are a shrug big enough to be visible to following non-local traffic or waving the tag out of the car window to improve the signal. Top tip : don’t drop it.
Some windscreens can be a bit funny with blocking the signal from what I’ve read, even if you do position the tag correctly.