Ferry vehicle length restrictions?

[Blackpuddin]

We're hoping to put our double-cab pickup on a ferry to France this summer. This will be our first overseas trip in it and I'm wondering about its length. From a tax point of view these vehicles now qualify as normal cars but the ferry companies seem to be specifying a maximum length of 5 metres. AI says our one is 5.3 metres long.
Does anyone have any experience in ferrying pickups? Do they enforce the length thing?
If there was a booking category for pickups I'd choose it for an easy life but I can't see one.
There is a 'van' category which is £40 dearer. I guess that would do it but any chance to save a bit of dosh etc.
Very grateful for any thoughts, thanks.

Edited by Blackpuddin on Sunday 12th April 10:29

[M11rph]

Whenever I'm booking a ferry it requires the vehicle REG, this then brings up the dimensions. Pricing is then confirmed based on the details you've provided. Whether they enforce it if you "under-declare" the vehicle length is up to them on the day.

Worst case scenario you are denied boarding and would effectively lose the cost of your ticket and would need to purchase another to travel. "On the day" pricing is an unknown, it can be the regular price or significantly higher.

[Blackpuddin]

Writing this post has made me think I'll just do the van thing, but you'd think the ferry companies would have addressed this grey area for pickups by now, they're not exactly rare.

[Blackpuddin]

M11rph said:

Whenever I'm booking a ferry it requires the vehicle REG, this then brings up the dimensions. Pricing is then confirmed based on the details you've provided. Whether they enforce it if you "under-declare" the vehicle length is up to them on the day.

Worst case scenario you are denied boarding and would effectively lose the cost of your ticket and would need to purchase another to travel. "On the day" pricing is an unknown, it can be the regular price or significantly higher.

Thanks for this. I'm currently at the 'compare the various crossing options' stage on Aferry.com before I get to the actual booking stage, and that doesn't give you the option to put the reg number in, again a bit annoying.

[croyde]

If you put in the reg doesn't the website decide the cost rather than you just choosing the length of the vehicle?

[Blackpuddin]

As above, I was trying to select the route first and then book but I guess I'll just pick a route and go through the booking process.
Thanks both, you've brought some clarity to what passes for my mind these days. Getting old!

[Blackpuddin]

Hmm, I went through the booking process as if it was a standard car. I put the reg number in and it hasn't said 'this is a van, you need to pay extra' but it does say 'this is for a vehicle up to 5m', which feels iffy.
I'll try again, this time putting it down as a van.

[littleredrooster]

Just as an aside, I notice you're using a third-party booking company. A few years ago, I found out the hard (i.e. expensive) way that it's not a good idea.

I booked a return trip via a supposed discount company, but needed to return home earlier than planned. I phoned the ferry company who told me they couldn't amend it because it had been booked via a third party and I needed to do it via them. I tried to phone them, only to find that the office hours didn't include weekends...it was Saturday morning and we needed to be on the first available ferry, so had no alternative but to cough up for an on-the-day sailing which cost a lot more than the original.

Third party company refused to refund or credit, travel insurance didn't cover such a scenario.

I've just done a price comparison between the company you're using and the ferry operator direct and for a random day in May, the price is identical.

[Blackpuddin]

That's incredibly helpful info, thank you very much indeed!
I'll review my options.

[Blackpuddin]

Just ran through the process with Brittany Ferries direct but it seems to be quite a bit more expensive.

[littleredrooster]

Blackpuddin said:

Just ran through the process with Brittany Ferries direct but it seems to be quite a bit more expensive.

Hmm...strange - it was Brittany ferries that I used. Both were £139 for a random Monday afternoon crossing. What vehicle details did you use, same for both?

[Blackpuddin]

littleredrooster said:

Blackpuddin said:

Just ran through the process with Brittany Ferries direct but it seems to be quite a bit more expensive.

Hmm...strange - it was Brittany ferries that I used. Both were £139 for a random Monday afternoon crossing. What vehicle details did you use, same for both?

Yep, maybe it's because my dates are a bit less 'budget', we're going out on Friday coming back Saturday.
It's a tangled web they weave with inconvenient sailing times forcing you into the dearer boats.

[Bill]

Blackpuddin said:

It's a tangled web they weave with inconvenient sailing times forcing you into the dearer boats.

It's demand based pricing just like everything else in the world.

[Blackpuddin]

Bill said:

Blackpuddin said:

It's a tangled web they weave with inconvenient sailing times forcing you into the dearer boats.

It's demand based pricing just like everything else in the world.

Oh aye

[Jamescrs]

I travel on ferries 2-3 times a year and I have seen that they are pretty specific on where they park the vehicles on the ferries so I imagine they would take issue with you booking as a car and then turning up in a pick up. I think in fairness a pick up is closer to a van than a standard car, whether it's used as one or not is not really relevant.

We have a Ford Ranger at work and i'm pretty sure it's longer than the Transit's we have and pretty much the same height so van category for ferries seems appropriate

[Blackpuddin]

Yes I’m just going to cut to the chase and forget about saving money.