Gas and Tolls with US credit card :)

Well, all I can say is, "some do; some don't.". We were in the south of France in May. At one unmanned toll plaza, we had to summon an attendant, because our cc (chip and sig) did not work. Also, it did not work at autoroute service stations, except when processed by the centrally located cashier. When trying to fill up in Avignon before turning in the car, 2 automated stations were no-goes. Finally, at a 3rd, there was a cashier inside the convenience store; and we were able to fill up.

Hit or miss seems to be the trend, but I'm glad it worked for you. Vendors are supposed to be adjusting their machines to accept US cards for an authorized limit without verification - so perhaps your recent experience is proof that this is happening and bodes well for others.

A common mistake is to put your card in the wrong way. We've done that, until we were shown the little arrow which shows the side you should insert into the machine.

Just got back from France 3 weeks ago.....the gas stations and toll booths were hit and miss for us as well! One booth took FOREVER to decide to process our ticked while all of the traffic behind us backed up and used another lane. It seems the toll booths were very picky as to when they wanted to accept our card or not!

The OP was very lucky. It really is hit or miss out there--I know because my credit card with a chip worked fine on one autoroute segment and then was rejected on the next segment (my guess is that the segments were run by different private companies). When traveling on the autoroute, always use the toll booths with the green arrows. This signifies a machine that takes cash, but they also have a credit card slot in these machines. This way, you can try your credit card first and if it doesn't work, you can use cash as a backup (they take coins and bills through 20 euros--if you only have a 50 euro bill you are out of luck).

My experience at tolls in France has been hit or miss; mostly miss. On the other hand, my CC has always worked at unattended gas stations, at least once I got an Andrews Chip and PIN a few years ago. Now it sounds like my chip and signature cards may work also. As to using cash at toll booths, I've never encountered a location that didn't have at least one lane that took cash. Not necessarily a person, but a cash-accepting machine.

with a chip-and-signature card, whether it works at unattended machines is going to be a matter of luck. As shown in http://www.emv-connection.com/emv-faq/#q11 there are 4 authentication methods. Two require a PIN, which these cards don't have. The 3rd is a signature, not possible at an unattended machine. So the last possibility is "no verification" which is going to be dependent on both the machine and the card allowing it, and allowing it for the amount of the transaction in question.

Given the number of threads and comments on this subject in this forum (not to mention a quick Google), it's puzzling to me why so many people aren't prepared with some cash when they know they will encounter toll booths. It's not hard to have the cash. Toll booths in France will accept notes up to 50€, and they always give change. It's also a great way to use up those coins.

We just returned from France and had mixed experiences using CC on the highways. As others posted - have cash available and use cash when possible to avoid frustrations if and when your card doesn't work. I'm not sure if this is a correlation, but it seemed that the tolls that were paid without the "ticket"(that you received when you got on the highway) accepted our chip and signature US credit card. And the ones that were not with a ticket DID NOT accept our credit card.

We looked for the toll booths that have the circle and rectangle symbols (that are indicating cash) and used cash - much easier.

My wife and I have been driving the autoroutes of France for the past month and here is what we have discovered. Mu Capital One Chip card works fine in the toll booths throughout Provence, Normandy, NW France and the autoroute north of Paris in the direction of Brussels. Where that credit card and none by two other US banks worked was the autoroute in the Loire River Valley going to Tours and beyond in the chateau areas and from Tours to Paris. Those autoroutes are operated by VINCI and they will only accept cash and only in certain lanes that are not always well marked. VINCI is not even able to process a credit card number given to them verbally. I can't understand why those jerks at VINCI can't update their computers like the other autoroute contractors since those freeways must be traveled by thousands of US drivers wanting to use their US credit cards.

John from Oregon hit this right. Whether your American card works or not depends on which company administers the autoroute. Those run by SANEF and APRR take your plastic. With no problem. Those run by Vinci will not. I can't speak for the others. We were just there in May and made the run from Paris to Colmar, and then from Mulhouse via Beaune toward Paris with no problems. But the Vinci Route from the Loire Valley toward Paris was another story. It wouldn't even take an American chip and PIN card. I didn't have any problems with gas stations or automated ticket machines.

Since I was driving the Loire through Paris-area route in April, I must have been on the VINCI roads. That would explain why none of my American cc's worked, including my chip and PIN, much to the consternation of hundreds of honking drivers behind me. An actual person eventually saved me.

We just had no issues either -- driving from CDG through Normandy, Loire and back to Paris. One thing we do which has helped is to take along a zip top Baggie for the rental car. All of our coins go in there as we travel, and that's what we go to first for tolls.

we just spent three weeks driving through France. we never tried our credit cards at the tolls - just (as a previous poster noted) put all of our smaller bills (5s and 10s) and all coins into a larger coin purse and paid with cash at every toll. never a problem. we did use our chip/signature cards at the gas stations along the toll roads without a problem.

I just found it so easy to just have cash and not worry about our credit card.