Hi, I have always used Via Michelin for planning the route for my car and caravan trips in Europe. I preferred this site as it gave you 3 optional routes with mileage, time and cost including tolls for each. I have just been on the site, there is an option for car but the option for car & caravan is no longer there. Am I missing something?
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I've found Via Michelin to be one of the worst route planners when towing a caravan, it's tried to punt me down some dreadful roads, that thankfully I knew were NOT suitable for a caravan, so ignored it's suggestions! The ONLY time I use it now is to get an idea of continental road tolls!
I've found TomTom MyDrive (https://mydrive.tomtom.com/en_gb/) to be one of the best. You can set caravan/MH dimensions and a host of other preferred criteria, then download route direct to your TomTom Sat Nav (if you have one and an a/c), otherwise just download the route instructions. It's free and not limited to TomTom Sat Nave users.
Given Tom Tom a quick shufty - It's set my current location about a mile up the road. Via Michelin does the same. Google Maps drops it right on our house - (we live in rural France).
On the upside I gave it a route that both VM and Google use between two towns that comes past the end of our road - something local residents are trying to get changed as it is fairly narrow and used by local dog walkers, families, cyclists etc and we have far too many lorries - and in summer, mobile homes using the road.
Tom Tom sensibly uses departmental roads to the north and south of us.
I like the Michellin France Tourist and Motoring Atlas(spiral bound and laminated of course) in conjunction with the trusty old Garmin.
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Quote: Originally posted by roy gallafant on 25/2/2023
Thanks for replying Les. I tried to find Val A's post but couldn't find it so I have contacted via Michelin, let's see if I get a reply.
Roy
Here is what Michelin wrote back to me initially on the 8th February:
We have received your message concerning the "car with caravan" option.
Following work carried out by the “ViaMichelin” teams to improve the route calculator, this option is no longer available and should be back soon.
We apologize for the inconvenience caused.
Michelin advisors remain at your disposal and thank you for your trust.
Cordially,
And in response to a second email suggesting it still wasn't working:
Hello Mrs A,
We have received your last message and have passed on your comments to the teams concerned in order to improve the service.
Michelin advisors remain at your disposal and thank you for your trust.
I'm afraid that after the second email I don't hold out much change of the caravan option being returned.
Curiously, the Autoroutes planner, which uses the Michelin route finder engine, still has a ‘car with caravan’ option on the ‘vehicle type’ option.
This used to be the most accurate predictor I’d come across; lately, I noticed the times were more optimistic than the notes I made a while back.
I have just updated the app om my android and the caravan option is on there. I reinstalled it on my laptop but the option is not on that programme. I will contact Michelin and point this out.
Quote: Originally posted by roy gallafant on 07/3/2023
I have just updated the app om my android and the caravan option is on there. I reinstalled it on my laptop but the option is not on that programme. I will contact Michelin and point this out.
Thank you. It is so annoying when you've been used to using Viamichelin.
Hi, I emailed ViaMichelin re. the caravan option being available for route planning on Android and asked if they will still be pursuing returning the option so that it is available on laptops and computers. Their reply was:-
The caravan option will be deleted from the ViaMitchelin app for our next updates.
When you go on the site there does seem to be a lot of popups for hotel booking but I haven't seen any for campsites so perhaps it is a conflict of interests!
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