EU Tour

[DRDT]

Hi,

Just returned from 4 weeks in Spain and France. Managed to get back before the petrol ran out in France although it was a close run thing. Spain was no problems - must be one of the best road networks in Europe - minimal traffic outside of the towns and mostly DC/Motorway. 98 Octane everywhere at fixed price of about 1.25 Euros/litre - a few more cents on the motorway. France petrol a bit more - 98 octane at anything between 1.31 and 1.50 Euros/litre, albeit still cheaper than UK. Explained the long queues at the last petrol station in Spain just before the French border south of Biarritz. However as the refinery strike began to bite in France I had to use a tankful of 95 Octane but it seemed not to make too much difference to the performance. Having been warned about Gendarme and speed limits in France I observed the limits but saw fewer than normal Gendarme anywhere. I heard one tale of a french driver with a performance car (unspecified) caught doing 240Kph on the M/way. His car was impounded and crushed - apparently legal in France and applies to all speed limits if they are exceeded by a laid down excess.

Car behaved faultlessly over the 2,100 miles and returned an overall 28.8mpg.

[]

 

[GallivanS]

Any pics of the epic journey?

Cheers

 

[rob.kellock]

ORIGINAL: DRDT

I heard one tale of a french driver with a performance car (unspecified) caught doing 240Kph on the M/way. His car was impounded and crushed - apparently legal in France and applies to all speed limits if they are exceeded by a laid down excess.

Sounds like a great trip.

Just curious, what do people think the position is regarding UK insured vehicles which get sent off to the crusher for speeding? "Hello, Direct Line? My car has been turned into a cube but I'm fully comp so can I have a large cheque please?" Can they do this to cars on HP, lease or even hire where the driver is not the owner?

 

[Mark Elder]

ORIGINAL: rob.kellock

Just curious, what do people think the position is regarding UK insured vehicles which get sent off to the crusher for speeding? "Hello, Direct Line? My car has been turned into a cube but I'm fully comp so can I have a large cheque please?" Can they do this to cars on HP, lease or even hire where the driver is not the owner?

In Scotland cars of criminals can be confiscated and sold or crushed depending on value - gets used for serial drunk drivers I believe. The article I read implies it happens even if it's on HP. But is at discretion of the sheriff - so presumably does not happen if a drunk nicks your Carrera GT and gets pulled over by the plod[]

 

[DivineE]

I found the French Police quite reasonable. When our little convey down to Le-Mans was escorted off the motorway by a convoy of Police bikers boxing us in, we were told they had us on radar at 189kph and that we were all still accelerating at the time and were observed going a lot faster when they were trying to catch us.

The guys said at those speeds the cars could be crushed and that in future we should stick under 180kph because at those speeds its only a fixed fine. They wrote 179 on the forms, relieved us of a few euros and told us to have a nice weekend.[] We weren't doing anything dangerous and the road was near empty, but his words kept us under 180 for the rest of the trip, great guys and great Police work in my opinion.

 

[rob.kellock]

180 kph is "only" 112mph - not that hard to achieve in a 911 on a lovely quiet French autoroute. Blimey, even Porsche let you do that in the spyder without risking the tent flying off. Crushing your car for such a transgression seems a tad harsh! Still wonder if that's an insurable risk?