Driving in France? The Crit'Air anti-pollution vehicle sticker

Sesshoumaru

Going on our first holiday in years next week and taking the car by Ferry to France. I was trying to make sure I was prepared for everything and came across this air quality sticker system they use in France. The website of the French embassy in Ireland says Irish cars are not exempt. So I think I managed to figure out what classification my car fits into and got my registration certificate scanned in. So that's ordered now, hopefully will arrive before I leave. But if it did not arrive before I got on the ferry next week, are they super strict about those stickers in France? I'm not going to Paris, heading down to Bordeaux area with family.

Also wondering if anyone has any general advice on driving in France that I might have missed? Grateful for any tips! Thanks in advance!

User1998

Someone else was asking about this a few weeks ago

Sesshoumaru

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119175443#Comment_119175443

Thanks! Should of done a search. There is a huge thread on everything about France/Ferry/Camping etc.

Popoutman

"should *have* done a search" - your sentence no verb.

But back on point - check out the ATMB website to get yourself a French toll-tag https://www.atmb.com/telepeage-tarifs/nos_abonnements_telepeage_atmb/le-voyageur-offre-telepeage-gratuit-sans-engagement/ Nothing like being able to go up to the 30kph tollgates in an Irish-reg car to confuse the hell out of the locals as they expect you to have to screech to a halt, and seeing the surprise on their face when the gates open for you - that's worth the price of admittance in itself. More seriously the ability to toll-tag all the way around the French autoroute system is a godsend, especially in the busy times when there are queues at the toll gates due to the volume of traffic. Still worth taking the autoroutes for the stress reduction on the longer journeys.

Major and other random tips from an Irish driver that has done a fair amount of driving on the continent over the past two and a bit decades:

• Have a provisional route plan in your head of roughly where you want to be at various times on your journey. Google Maps is pretty good for this, but viamichelin is actually better for the planning. It's fine to get lost, and there are many tools available nowadays to get you un-lost, especially if you're got a rough idea of the direction you want to be in.
• Get a decent satnav, either app or device. Preload Google Maps for your route and destination to make sure you're not absolutely dependent on data. I've used OSMAnd mapping to get maps on my devices, and I have been happily using Sygic as a navigation application since before Google Maps did directions. My car's navigation is good, and I do find it useful to have both running but I'm able to figure out quickly which one I want as canon for the journey ahead.
• Don't use the landbridge unless either you absolutely have to, or your destination is actually near Calais/Belgium. The overnight ferry with a cabin to Cherbourg means you'll have the best opportunity to start the next day's driving in as fresh a state as possible. Nothing worse than facing into 12 hours of driving having just driven 4 and already in need of croissants and coffee.
• Headlight beam benders are much better than beam blockers (something like https://saxon-brands.com/product/metro/beam-benders/hg12900 as an example) as they'll push the light to another location instead of just blocking the offending lightpath. Note that some cars have the ability to shift the blocking bar in the HID or projection lenses through the car menu or with a lever in the headlight. I know that the B6 A4 had the lever in the headlight for right/left driving. Great to be able to drive without needing the stickers.
• Avoid getting onto (or worse inside) the Peripherique around Paris if you can at all. It'll add maybe 30 min to go from Cherbourg via Le Mans to Lyon instead of Cherbourg via Paris to Lyon, and will mean much less stress on you unless you're comfortable with French drivers driving in a very French style in their beater cars while you are trying to keep your car shiny and unmarked. Paris drivers cause stress even for other French drivers - let alone obvious tourists. Note - I'm happy mixing it up with Italian drivers in Turin and Milan, and I'll still avoid Paris if I can when in my own cars.
• Make sure you have the copies of your insurance and car documentation with you to show to the various police forces as requested.
• Passport cards are great for ID requests compared to the full-fat passport for any Schengen travel plans. I haven't presented my full passport in the past four years.
• Bring water in the car, and keep drinking a bit every so often. Dehydration reduces both your decision-making effectiveness and overall alertness before you'll feel thirsty, and you'll stay alert for longer. Keep a caffeinated beverage for the hours before the destination.
• On the autoroutes, try to take a pee break every ~hour or so, 5 min out of the car. I found that the appropriate breaks meant I could do 14 hours of driving without falling apart, but I do prefer to do ten driving hours and sleep these days.
• Every ~2 hours or so get a coffee or soft drink at one of the service stations, take a ten minute break.
• Autoroutes are not cheap, but the cost is low when the stress reduction and lack of hassle overall is taken into account.
• Make sure your car is in good mechanical order, spare tyre or spacesaver in good nick, tyres appropriate for both the journey and destination - and in good nick, wheel alignments up to spec as you are likely spending hours at 130kph, windscreen clean and uncracked (Rain-X is great), wipers not streaking, your AA membership or equivalent is up to date - cheap insurance for an otherwise holiday-ending experience.
• Bring spare fluids for the car - a litre of oil, and washer fluid if you have the space. It's an offence in quite a few Euro countries to be on the road without a functioning wash-wipe system.
• Check out the Ibis Budget hotels as sleeping destinations en route if you've got a really long journey to do - safer to spend the ~fifty euros and get nice sleep than try to drive too far in one go. You might lose say 6 hours of travel time, but that's usually not a problem. The Ibis non-budget might be €80, but are a step up in comfort.
• Check for things like spare glasses if your license requires you to wear glasses - spare contacts may not satisfy the Gendarmes.
• Have the required high-vis vests accessible from within the car cabin, so you don't have to exit the car to get them; and wear it if having to exit the car on the autoroute. The Gendarmes are generally efficiently friendly when you're not being stupid with them - and it helps to ensure that they know you're Irish and not from the recent EU-exit location.
• Watch the speed limits, as the French police have become rather rabid about enforcements of the limits these years. In 2005 I could drive for hours at 175 without too much worry about being pulled over, but of late I'll not go above an indicated 142kph on the dry 130 roads. Also watch for the reduced 110 limits when it's wet. Pretty much if wipers are needed or there's water on the road then it's 110kph only. While fines from the cameras may not be enforceable for an Irish car, you could/would get stopped the next time you drive over and get hit with an unpleasant experience.

Hope this helps.