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Paying tolls in France

Posted by (Reston, VA, USA) on

I'm echoing another post - I had carefully acquired a chip & pin MasterCard from USAA for this trip since I am renting a car. So far all the toll machines we have seen have NOT allowed MasterCard and most have not allowed Visa. So cash is king! We have been on the A10, A77, and A85; I'm not sure if this is universal or if we have just been unlucky.

Thanks Bets for the info on Aires - we have stopped at several so far. And thanks to everyone whose advice was so helpful during the lengthy planning process. I'll be posting reviews and a trip report after we return but wanted to post the info on the toll payment options (or lack thereof).

Posted by
219 posts

We just returned a few days ago. We used our Bank of America chip & sign Visa card successfully at all but 2 tolls on our route, Lille to just outside of Dijon & Gray to Beaune and back. The 2 that wouldn't accept our US issued Visa took cash or my daughter's French bank issued debit card.

Posted by
809 posts

Susan, that's very interesting. I tried our c&p card at the first plaza but then saw the images of Visa and MC with big red Xs through them. Did your toll machines show that Visa and MC are acceptable--ie no red X?

Posted by
219 posts

To be honest, my husband was driving. I wasn't really paying close attention to the toll machines. I was in charge of handing him the toll ticket and credit card. When the card was declined at the 2 machines, I was able to get my daughter's card from her. We were ticking off the drivers behind us:-/ Our daughter was half asleep in the back and at first hubby and I didn't understand the message on the machine that it wasn't taking our card. It caught us by surprise because we had had no problems with using our card until then.

Posted by
9110 posts

Toll roads in France are state-owned, but operated by about a dozen companies. All everhowmany have different toll paying systems. There is no pattern on what works from one company to another.

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