Aires with a toad

Christoph

Christoph

Free Member
Joined
Apr 9, 2016
Posts
554
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758
Location
Lytham
Funster No
42,389
MH
VW California
Exp
Since 2014
Morning all, just taken the plunge and bought a Peugeot 107 with an A frame. Just wondered when touring France if we will have to choose Aires carefully to make sure we can fit? Is there any information out there that might help us please? Thanks
 
You may struggle with an A frame in France tbh. As for Aires you will be very restricted at many if them with any toad. Some will be OK but you'd be brave to just turn up and hope for the best.
 
Thanks....happy to use sites if we need to. Just want to get the views of the group in particular those who have had the experience.
 
We don’t take our toad to France because the aires are usually in or near towns and do food shopping on route.

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Pleased to see you are thinking ahead, nothing worse than arriving at an Aire to find spaces taken by someone toad. Although you sometimes see the French with Toads I thought they were illegal in France.
 
Google maps is a handy tool. Use the satellite and street views to see the location before you get there if its a planned stop. Some are big and no issues, some are marked bays and could be a problem.

Plus if its a busy time you may find the Aire jam packed. Winter / out of season maybe not so bad.
 
Personally if I was "Touring" anywhere, using aires, not camp sites, the last thing I would take is a toad.
You will find it tight to park in many,so will have to unhitch the car, is it worth the hassle?, not for me at least, get the bikes out if you can store them.
A Frame use in France, Legal?, well I am not rekindling that old chestnut.:reel::whistle2:
Have a great trip, but I would say if you are touring you will thank me for suggesting travelling without the toad, too much agg.
LES

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Thanks for the replies. Don’t want to get into the legal / illegal debate :unsure: I suppose it’s balancing the inconvenience of towing with the convenience of having the car when you’re there. All depends on the type of trip you want.
 
Just wondering?:unsure:
Given the general availability and lowish cost of car hire nowadays is that a viable alternative to a toad?
If so, it would take a fair few hires to match the cost of the toad, ongoing maintenance, tax, etc.
 
One thing to bear in mind that on official aires you aren't normally allowed to have toads or trailers as they are meant purely for motorhomes. People do use aires while towing but you can certain get mucky looks comments. Don't for one minute think of taking up a second MH spot by parking your toad in it when it's busy, or taking up a prime spot with it if its not, as you will suffer the wrath of the other aire occupants as we've observed when others have done so and be 'asked' to move it so someone in a MH can park there ... they WILL ring the police to come and move it if necessary. However parked sensibly and not causing issues to others, even parking it on the street instead of in the aire, means you shouldn't have any problems.
 
Gellyneck said:
Just wondering?:unsure:
Given the general availability and lowish cost of car hire nowadays is that a viable alternative to a toad?
If so, it would take a fair few hires to match the cost of the toad, ongoing maintenance, tax, etc.
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If you are buying a toad purely to use it for trips away occasionally then IMV it's an expensive toy, however if the car is needed for home use anyway then the maintenance etc issue would be incurred regardless of whether it was towed or not.

As for hiring ... it really depends on the likely use that's gonna be made of the toad, if its used a lot then hiring would be expensive and obviously not so convenient, but if a car was realistically only wanted for a few days on a longer trip it would be more cost effective.
 
Christoph said:
Thanks for the replies. Don’t want to get into the legal / illegal debate :unsure: I suppose it’s balancing the inconvenience of towing with the convenience of having the car when you’re there. All depends on the type of trip you want.
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You might want to consider the inconvenience of being stopped by an enthusiastic police officer and being told to leave your car where it is or getting your passenger to drive it.

This is what happened to an acquaintance of mine..

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LesW said:
You might want to consider the inconvenience of being stopped by an enthusiastic police officer and being told to leave your car where it is or getting your passenger to drive it.

This is what happened to an acquaintance of mine..
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Not to mention the insurance implications :rolleyes:.
 
Gellyneck said:
Just wondering?:unsure:
Given the general availability and lowish cost of car hire nowadays is that a viable alternative to a toad?
If so, it would take a fair few hires to match the cost of the toad, ongoing maintenance, tax, etc.
Click to expand...
If your theory was correct you would hire a motor home! Right?.
 
I would not take a toad to France, Spain anywhere the risk of getting pulled is to great. The other alternatives are car transporter/trailer or if you need a car hire one.
 
Tried the hire car thing... expensive and inconvenient was our experience. The toad is primarily for UK use, we like sites away from the madness so for us it does stack up. Using it abroad is just an extension of use thought at the moment.

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We tow a trailer with car for long stay when going to Spain for winter but if touring aires we wouldn’t bother as it would be to much hassle, we do use aires with the trailer on our journey to Spain in winter but do research them to ensure plenty of space and easy access and of course that’s usually end of November so aires are very quiet.😊👍
 
Thanks Speve... that’s good feedback. 👍
 
We have used our toad in France, Italy, Belgium and even Northern Spain albeit 5 years ago. Not sure I would now, but have seen French registered toads on the road in the past few years.
We mainly stayed on Aires and the odd site, but never experienced any animosity, on the contrary lots of interest in the toad. We were very careful when approaching locations and occasionally separating the toad if it was easier. We certainly never used a space that was required for another motorhome, usually parking the car in an adjacent car park.
We generally stayed between 2-4 days and used the car to explore the wider area. It really became useful when we were parked up on mountain stages of the Tour de France for days at the side of the road.
The first time we crossed into Spain we stopped at the border and asked the Police about the toad, they shrugged and said it was OK, admittedly another officer may of had a different opinion, but we never met him.:giggle:

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Christoph said:
Thanks....happy to use sites if we need to. Just want to get the views of the group in particular those who have had the experience.
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Just unhook there's usually a space for a car I do it all the time and I am 9m plus smart for2 never had any issues in France towing or parking.
 
Geo said:
If your theory was correct you would hire a motor home! Right?.
Click to expand...
We do around 16 weeks a year in mainland Europe to hire would probably cost over £1k a week so over 3 years £48k and that's without all the other short trips. Our last van deprecation was £6k over 3 years, far cheaper to buy.
 

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