Tolls on Highway

1. Cash lane.
2. Chip and pin card.
3. Mag strip still works every once in a while.

Hoard your coins and smaller bills! My wife and I just returned from a trip that involved almost 14 days with a rental car and rarely encountered a person in a booth. Although we can't remember what icons designated lanes for cash, if we recall correctly it was more obvious which lanes didn't so we just avoided them.

Look for a green arrow above the toll booth. It means they accept cash. I've often found that these cash machines also have a slot for a credit card, so you can try it to see if it works and then use cash if it doesn't. By the way, don't assume that because your US card worked on one autoroute, it will work on all of them. It really is Russian roulette out there (I know because I had to back up once out of a toll booth).

Thanks, all.

Just got back. Keep lots of coins and 5E bills and you will not have a problem. Never saw attendants. Some took our Visa but most didn't. Same with gas stations.

Just got back and we had attendants at every place so we just paid cash. We didn't travel in the evenings, but during the day, we always had an attendant so it was no problem. However I did have a chip and pin card on me just in case (didn't use it).

As long as you are at large toll plazas, you will always find a manned booth. However, our first encounter with the credit card problem coupled with no manned booth happened to us fourteen years ago, in 2000, getting off at a small exit with only two machines, no humans anywhere. The different autoroutes are owned by different corporations, which use different brands of machines, some of which accept mag cards, some don't.

The word from another who just got back from a trip to France. We mostly encountered unmanned toll booths. However, these took bills up to 20 euro and gave change, so no problem. We did make a mistake once and got into a lane for cars with fast-pass. There was a "help" button; and when we pressed it, a voice responded in French. Our French was not up to the exchange that followed, so a person appeared who took our money, gave us change, and got the gate to open. Always carry plenty of cash. It works a treat.

I carry a small coin purse packed with one and two Euro coins and a few 50s and 20s when we are road tripping. Couple that with a handful of 5 Euro bills and we are set for the money lane.