This may not be news to some of you, but here goes…
Up to now I have had a motorway toll tag supplied by SANEF through their Emovis offshoot in the UK. All good, except that they bill me in pounds, which of course involves a currency transaction.
I asked Emovis if I could pay in Euros from my Wise account, and they said no, they only accept payment in sterling.
So I signed up for a tag with Ulys in France - all good with the application initially, but then their system couldn’t process a direct debit from my Wise account (not sure why but it might be because the Wise account is technically in Belgium).
Second attempt directly with SANEF (BipandGo) - success - they were happy to take the money from my Wise account and the blippy thing is on its way to me. Once it arrives I will cancel the Emovis one.
It’s not going to be a huge saving but every little helps, and it’s one less thing to have to change over when I do finally move to France. And I resent paying money to banks for currency transactions!!
I’m guessing that the T’s and C’s Emovis operate under stipulate payment in Sterling. I returned my Emovis tag after moving to France and getting shot of my U.K. registered car.
I have used Bip&Go for years. I have three of their tags that each cover France, Italy and Spain and now I have one of their electric charge cards too. They are great IMO and excellent value.
EDIT: But more importantly Chris, where are you going to put your tag
Interesting. When SANEF stopped accepting payment by UK credit card a while back, it was the thing that made us finally open a French bank account. I didn’t realise they’d accept Wise.
Though having a French bank account made other things easier.
I’m interested: do you often find yourself queueing at the peage? We’ve never really had to wait significantly, and while I was tempted to get a tag, it may not be worth it.
I look on it as a (cheap) luxury. 2 euros for the months we use it, a little time saved, no fumbling for tickets/credit card, and a up to a couple of months before we have to pay.
Just arrived home from a few days in Spain. We use Ulys and going through the 30kph lane is always fun. Listening for the dongle ping and then hoping that the barrier goes up in time. We had some close calls but never failed.
As an aside we tanked up with diesel at €1.67 litre at the Spanish border which was enough to get us home.
Depends when you travel and where you are. Coming into Lyon can be a nightmare st peaks timrs. And akso useful if you have a RHD car abd travel solo - and don’t have very long arms.
One pays a refundable deposit of €30 for the tag and then it’s only €2 a month if you use it, otherwise zero. I think it’s a no brainer. It’s got me around many, many queues and a Jane says, in a RHD a must.
For me it’s not about queue avoidance so much as ease of transit through the péage gates. Driving on my own in a RHD car, it makes it a breeze to pass through without having to get out of the car and walk round to the machine, and fiddle about with change or a card.
On the motorbike it’s even more of a hassle-saver, no need to take gloves off, unzip the jacket, get the wallet out, pay, then reverse the process before moving off.
The only caveat when using a bipper on a motorbike, is to leave a decent gap between you and the car in front when approaching the toll gates. If you follow too closely behind someone who is paying by cash or card, it’s possible for your BipandGo device to trigger the gate prematurely and give them a free pass!
It hasn’t happened to me, but I’ve heard of it happening.
Frais de conditionnement et d’envoi international 10,00
Frais de mise en service et d’activation de badge 3 pays 10,00
Not sure if any of that is refundable though (it seems not). If you are in France it looks like it would only be €10 up front, for mise en service.
Emovis charge a €10 application fee, an €8 a year account management fee, €5 for each month in which the tag is used, plus a €20 deposit to be refunded when the tag is returned.
BipandGo in contrast don’t seem to charge any deposit for the device, their monthly fee when the tag is used is only €1,70 a month, and there is no annual admin fee unless you do not use the tag at all, in which case they charge €10 a year.
Or if you are a frequent toll road user you can opt to pay €16 a year up front and then there is no monthly use fee.
So the Bippers look to be cheaper overall than Emovis as long as you are happy to pay in Euros not pounds. Wish I’d Compared the Meerkat on this before signing up with Emovis some years ago!
Oh, things may have changed then since I signed up a long, long time ago. For example, when I changed my tags to new ones that would also do Italy and Spain they sent me the new ones and said if I didn’t return the old ones I’d be charged €30 (I think) each for them. Your deal seems great.
Anyway, you get the money back when you return the tag. It’s only a deposit.