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Vignettes


gogs01
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I travelled through several countries this year and, for those which I knew required motorcycles to have vignettes, I bought them either on line or at the border.


I didn't get a vignette for Hungary and I'm now in danger of having to pay a fine of nearly £400 ! :shock:


For next year I want to have a list of all the countries of Europe (West and East) which require MOTORCYCLES to have a vignette to travel on the highways. Where the vignette can be bought in advance on line that would be an advantage, but if it has to be bought at, e.g., a filling station then a price would be good information too.


Does anybody on this forum know where definitive information on vignettes for MOTORCYCLES can be obtained ? There is plenty on the internet already, but much of it is opinion, much refers to cars and not bikes and there is a huge amount of contradiction and confusion with tolls etc. HELP !! :scratch:

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Easiest answer is avoid the need for one completely.. by keeping off the Motorway. Unless you are in a country where their use is either free.. or you pay an on the spot toll at a barrier. like in France or on the Italian Autostrada.


if you insist on using the motorway and a vignette is required then its certain that these will be on sale at former border crossing points or the last motorway services BEFORE the border... or at worst, the first services AFTER the border. Pull in and check.


time on your hands? look at this site: https://www.tolls.eu/


The Hungarian fine may not follow you home.. it all depends how seriously they take it and what relationships they have with the UK Police. Still.. its a big fine for not having an £8 vignette. and remarkable that its more than double the fine for the same misdemeanour in Switzerlamnd. (a little over £150) But then its fairly odd that the Hungarians consider a Motorbike as equal to a car!!

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That website is useful - thanks. :)


It would appear that there are eight countries which operate vignettes for "vehicles". Very few mention motorcycles, but it looks like Austria, Hungary, Slovenia and Switzerland charge a minimum of between €5 (Hungary) and €36 (Switzerland). As far as I can make out, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Romania and Slovakia do not charge for bikes.


If anybody knows otherwise, please advise. :D

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One way to find out Gordon, for the countries you are not sure about would be to contact the embassy of the relevant country. Just a thought.

 

That is a thought - in years gone by, I used to write letters to embassies or tourist boards before venturing to foreign parts. It should be much easier with today's internet access, but maybe an email to the embassy would do the trick ..... :salute:

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sometimes the bikes are included in the pricing of under 3.5t .. ie switzerland so Caveat emptor .. :thumb:

 

Yes, that is one of the big problems I have come across - sometimes it is assumed that bikes are included with cars / vans, but if they're not mentioned that could also mean they're exempt.

I've already contacted the Hungarian embassy and they have been quite helpful. I don't really want to be paying the kind of prices Switzerland charges for vignettes ...... :shock:

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i`ve looked into the practicalities of stayin in switzerland without a vignettes .. and have traveled around the south shore of the bondersee .. and even with a sat-nav i still ended up on a toll motorway .. fortunately i realised and came off at the next jtn... tedious speed limits .. which all adhere to :bang: ... i`ll buy the ticket next time ... :crybaby:

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i`ve looked into the practicalities of stayin in switzerland without a vignettes .. and have traveled around the south shore of the bondersee .. and even with a sat-nav i still ended up on a toll motorway .. fortunately i realised and came off at the next jtn... tedious speed limits .. which all adhere to :bang: ... i`ll buy the ticket next time ... :crybaby:

 

so.. your sat nav doesn't work... change it.


Swiss motorways and the paid Autostrasse are super easy to avoid. Signs for roads that demand a £30 vignette are always GREEN. and there are 3 main types.

 

Autobahn.png.b3eda291bda780f15bdb4d2184f6dc58.png

Autostrasse.png.da8da463671b655dcf84cf1b160f102a.png

 

or a direction sign... thus.


 

1312502245_PaidRoaddirection.png.90dd144e8144f1b7f30ce43200733922.png

 


I would rather do that than have to pay a little over £30 to use something I can so easily avoid.

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so.. your sat nav doesn't work... change it.

 

who said the sat-nav was at fault ?


unlike your "helpful" comments

 

more than welcome. but i wonder.. you said that:

 

even with a sat-nav i still ended up on a toll motorway

 

So.. it seemed reasonable to assume it was faulty.. but if it wasn't, what went wrong? nobody wants to pay an instant £155 fine.

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most sat navs I've ever used have the ability to restrict the use of motorways. Certainly Waze, Apple Maps, Google maps and my 15 year old Garmin allow you to navigate without using motorways. The function is often buried in sub menus somewhere.

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We got the pollution sticker for Germany for the campervan on our recent trip

We hadn't realised that to get from Garmish to titesee it would have been easier/quicker

to go through a very small part of Austria!

We tried to find out the requirements, using smartphones, with dodgy Wi-Fi,

from the campsite.


In the end we didn't risk it and drove the long way, staying in Germany


It's not easy to find out what you need or don't need! :?


I don't suppose it'll get any easier after Brexit/non-brexit :lol:

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even with a sat-nav i still ended up on a toll motorway

 

So.. it seemed reasonable to assume it was faulty.. but if it wasn't, what went wrong? nobody wants to pay an instant £155 fine.

Using a route that was over complicated ;to avoid the a13 toll road ;with 9 or so waypoints along the bondersee coast road i failed to include the border crossing point... sat nav defaulted to quickest route .. one junction on motorway .. to the next border crossing...and into austria ..


route https://goo.gl/maps/7niqZp9Rgg22


google gives 2 options .. but by missing out the top waypoint ( actual border crossing) i end up on the a13

Edited by Copycat73
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most sat navs I've ever used have the ability to restrict the use of motorways. Certainly Waze, Apple Maps, Google maps and my 15 year old Garmin allow you to navigate without using motorways. The function is often buried in sub menus somewhere.

 

yes .. but if your planning a route across three countries .. germany (free motorways) .. switzerland (avoid motorway tolls) .. austria (motorways but pay the toll sticker ) .. its "easier" to restrict the swiss journey off the motorways using waypoints and then using motorways before and after to save time .. thus not having to change settings ( motorway & toll roads function restriction) at the road side before and after switzerland and still using the one route (gpx.) file.

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fair enough. But I have never planned a whole route to "save time" or even used way points. I just go to a place and then stop for a cuppa and go to the next one. I'm never in such a hurry that I have to have the whole route in one go.

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