We are going to France via Spain on the Brittany ferry Pont Aven in July. We have a 2006 Ford Mondeo Estate and are carry a bog standard roofbox which, when all is empty, takes us 1.5 inches above the 6 foot (1.83m) limit. To move up to the next category will cost us another £100 and the ferry fare is expensive enough as it is! (£900)
Does anyone have experience of this sort of problem whilst travelling aboard by ferry? I'm assuming that once the box and car is fully laden that the car will drop by at least an inch. Are the ferry companies that fussy over the extra inch or so anyway? I realise that they have to have a cut off point, but does anyone have experience of being given a bit of leeway?
This has already been asked before, way back in 2005, but the answers didn't answer my question.
------------- Mmmmmmmmm......beer
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we did take a roof box years ago and they didnt say a word-we never paid any extra,but methinks they are more strict now.you could always try it as long as you are prepared to pay on the day.
Thanks cheb. I did ring the ferry company up and the guy I spoke to said "they'd have to be real jobsworths to charge you for being 1.5 inches over". If I get charged then I'd pay, grudgingly. What I don't want to happen, is to be refused entry to the ferry.
And you might be, that's the problem, especially if you're travelling on one of those ships with the decks which raise and lower to fit in extra levels.
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It may depend who you are using. A couple of friends of mine got turfed off Speedferries a couple of years ago as they had trailers that were over length so at the cheaper end of the market (is there anyone left now?) you might find them tighter.
Our trailer is over length as the locking hitch we had put on added more that we'd allowed for but we've had no problems with either Sea France or P&O - I think as long as you don't obviously look problematic they won't worry about you. Just make sure you're very nice at check in
We've got a cheap bog-standard top-box that goes on a Volvo estate (and an Audi before that). We have never been given a second glance except one time Speedferries kept us in the last group along with transit vans etc and I didn't think they'd manage to squeeze us all in (they did). I should think when you're fully laden and all of you get in the car it'll drop at least an inch and a half. How much does it drop when you just have all the family in it and no camping stuff? That should be an easy experiment to do.
I'll get in so much trouble for this, but when my OH got out of the passenger seat yesterday, I'm sure the car rose an inch!. I'm trying to persudae OH to go camping again in a few weeks. Then we could check the car fully laden but with no passengers, which I'm sure will bring us under the limit and I can also check it with OH and sprog in situ.
How do they check the height before you get on the ferry? Do you have to drive under a dangly thingy that is set to the height or is a case of some official eyeballing each vehicle?
The box sits on two crossbars, which sit on clamps which then clamp to the roofbars on the car. I'd even thought of removing the rear clamps and letting the rear crossbar rest on the roofbars, for the duration of the journey. It's at the back of the box where it's over the limt.
------------- Mmmmmmmmm......beer
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we got measured for height on the return journey from Spain in March this year , a young girl came round with a height measuring stick and checked all the cars/ caravans and motorhomes
In general terms, the measuring is done to gauge where you can be placed on the ferry, not how much extra they will charge you. I wouldn't worry too much about it. An inch and a half (even with a moving deck) isn't going to cause a problem.
We have a Ford Focus estate and roof box. Last year we went from Portsmouth to Caen with Britanny on the Fast cat. I was worried we would have to pay extra for being too high, but when we got to the entry booth, the woman leaned out and checked us against the marker stick and allowed us through, no problem. I think they make an allowance for the odd inch or so!
This year we're going by Eurotunnel (thanks tesco!) and they automatically put cars with roofboxes in the high part, with no extra charge
We sailed from Plymouth to Roscoff last August - I think that was on the Pont Aven.
To be honest, it is such a military exercise to load the ferry, with very tight turnaround times. I don't think they check who has paid what. They just send you into a queuing line along with other vehicles of the same category.
If it were me, I would keep quiet about being a tad higher than the limit you have paid for - it can't possibly be cost-effective for them to waste time splitting hairs with people over an inch here or there.
They do pack you in incredibly tightly. We had our caravan and they lowered the deck above until the fluorescent strips lights were just touching the roofs of the caravans - eeek!
Oh - and our cabin flooded impressively at midnight and we had to be moved to another one, but that's another story that we've already told on here.
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Topic: Roofbox size for ferry II
