France/Spain

[buckyhill]

I have driven many times to Spain in a 75 and a rv8. I would suggest that you take a five star cover its worth every penny as we had a engine failure once we went on in a hired car and the 75 come back home for a new engine. Keep to the motorways and the tolls if time is important. I normally drive through which takes me 24 hours from door to door that's Essex to Denia if you want to know the best route pm me
Bill

[ratchet]

Originally Posted by buckyhill

I would suggest that you take a five star cover its worth every penny
Bill

Many companies will not cover cars over 10 years old, and those that do usually have a clause whereby if the cost of repatriation exceeds the cars market value (in it's broken down condition) they will refuse to bring the car back to the UK.

You may be lucky, and be able to get your car repatriated from Northern France to Southern England, but I fear the costs of repatriation from (say) Spain to Scotland will see even the most valuable of 75's/MG's fall foul of the breakdown companies clauses.

I was in France last month, I did have European breakdown cover but I felt a great weight lifted off my shoulders when we got the ZT back on to the ferry..............it did subsequently break down due to a failed waterpump in Aberdeen some 50 miles from home :-).

If taking out European cover, make sure you thoroughly read the small print before you purchase it.

[maxxpump]

I drove down to Blaine's a few months ago and found it a quite nice journey. We went around Paris on the "B" roads then went down to Macon using these same roads (took ages and sucked up fuel fairly fast, lots of villages to go through). We then got onto a toll and proceeded towards Montpelier and then to figures and entered Spain at Port Bou. All in all it took us two days, going at a fair rate, I think the toll roads saved us a bit of time and money compared to going on the village roads. To get down there the tolls cost us not to much (I can't remember at the moment Ill add the pricing later as I have it written down at home somewhere). The tolls on the Spanish side were more expensive than the French side and we avoided them like the plague! The diesel was fairly dirty in France and petrol stations on the "B" roads should be avoided as we did it once and the power difference was poor compared to everywhere else.

I have called the country lanes "B" roads, but I'm not really sure if that was what they were called.

All in all it cost us around £180 to get down there and it was a really nice drive!

Edit: it was roughly a euro per 10 KM on French tolls.

Going south from Dieppe is much easier to avoid the tolls, than going from Calais.
I recommend getting breakdown cover for your trip (we went for swift cover who we didn't end up using). We broke down once, but managed to sort it out myself!

It cost us slightly extra in fuel as we had a full car and a roof box/rack (four men and his dog).

I also forgot my wheel lock key and thank god we didn't get a puncture! (as the key was not standard!)

[Christopher]

For a few years now I have used "Drive24-7 Breakdown" - they are online only, will accept cars older than 10 years (and will repatriate the car) + you can swap the car around that is covered. You pay once for the year and can do multiple trips.Oh and it gives you UK cover too

[Dorset Bob]

Originally Posted by Christopher

For a few years now I have used "Drive24-7 Breakdown" - they are online only, will accept cars older than 10 years (and will repatriate the car) + you can swap the car around that is covered. You pay once for the year and can do multiple trips.Oh and it gives you UK cover too

Thanks Chris, but I have just had a look at the small print and it is the same sort of deal as any other policy that I have looked at.

"OR
The cost of repatriation of your vehicle and or alternative travel for the driver plus up to 8 passengers to a destination within the Territorial Limits of sub section A and B subject to the underwriter’s approval.
The maximum payable for any claim from any one breakdown including any
Reimbursement claim is £1500 or the current market value of the vehicle at the time of the breakdown whichever is lower."

So, when they whip out their Glasses Guide and decide the car is worth £500 that would be the maximum repatriation cost, and that would not bring the car home.

[ratchet]

^^^^ Bob beat me to it

They also have this in their T&C's
WHAT IS NOT COVERED?  Toll charges, ferry charges

I crossed my fingers when I did my trip and hoped that if the worse happened I might have been able to persuade them to at least take me to the nearest French ferry port, and then invoke my UK breakdown cover to get me the rest of the way home.

[Christopher]

Plus I understand on the French toll roads some recovery services don't operate?

[carcathan]

Few additional points that may help -

French toll roads may be quiet most of the time but check the dates for the french holiday getaway - dates in August, when they hit the road they really do clog up the entire network, an absolute nightmare. I've never seen so much traffic on a motorway at 3am (except during Operation Stack!!). Not helped by the Brits and Dutch etc joining the jams.

Paris is like any major city, hit it at the wrong time or when there has been an incident and it will be grid lock - sometimes you sail through others it's a nightmare.

Look at a map carefully (or play around with viamichelin) and see how you can combine good non-toll alternatives with toll roads. If you do go via Calias we find that leaving toll roads at Abbeville to cut over to Rouen and then up to Chartres direction are all toll-free until you join the toll motorway again just above Orleans - means that you cut out Paris and don't add too many more miles or minutes whilst saving on tolls. The Motorway from Vierzon to Brive is toll-free - but you can't evade them much after that!!

If you go that route - try to have a break at Carcassone, south of Toulouse - worth a visit.

Lastly, if you really want to get going then drive through the night. We usually time it to land in Calais around 11pm and then have a nice calm journey and start seeing the beautiful french countryside from Limoges on around dawn (northern France is like southern England anyway!). I like driving whilst the wife and kids sleep - far more enjoyable!! I always find a few shortish power naps before dawn, mid-morning and lunchtime mean we can get to that part of Spain in one hit by late afternoon rather than pay hotel bills on top. But you do need to bank sleep before you go, avoid driving when too tired and be honest with yourself and stop for a few hours rather than trying to press on.

Great fun though - drove to Rome last year, but flying this year - going to miss the drive.