 Poster: A snowHead
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Interesting discussion. I'm going to be hiring a car to drive from GVA to Tignes in late November and looked at the Hertz website for a quote from the Swiss side - and they charge about an extra £20 for a 'winterised' car! So from the above it looks to me as though I'd be better off booking through holiday autos. And I think I will be buying a Tom Tom....
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| And I think I will be buying a Tom Tom.... |
well there's absolutely no need to spend such a huge amount of money to drive from Geneva to Tignes, it could hardly be more straightforward. The French do very good maps and you can get a detailed route from viamichelin.com
It is possibly to be led astray by electronic gizmos which don't know which roads are closed in the winter! Also, any Tom Tom standard for UK will, I think, be illegal in Switzerland, even if switched off and stowed in the boot. There's a very interesting discussion on that somewhere on Snowheads.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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pam w, as far as I know its only those sat-nav devices that have speed camera warnings that the Swiss are getting twitchy about. Many don't have this facility on them.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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ctskifam, if they tell you where the radars are (ie, they don't have to bleep or do anything of the sort as you approach the location) then I understand it's illegal, even though that information is freely available by other means in the public domain.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Im going from the Swiss side- last time I was driving a minibus and hit the cones at the border! hopefully a Ford KA ( or equivilent) is a smoother ride
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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I once followed the directions given somewhere on snowheads for getting to the airport from Chamonix avoiding the Swiss motorway, by going thru central Geneva. We didnt' have a vignette hence the need to avoid the motorway (and they D0 check sometimes at the border). Anyway it was a complete nightmare and my husband and I ended up having a shouting match as we got completely lost around the French/Swiss border and then had to dodge trams in central Geneva. Never again. We picked our friend up at the airport and just chanced it by driving back to the French border on the motorway - luckily it was late at night and noone stopped us.
Mind you if you do have to buy a vignette, I've seen them advertised on ebay.. Last time I bought one we didn't stick it on our windscreen. At the border going into Switzerland one day, the official reached in, took it , peeled off the backing paper and stuck it very firmly on our windscreen so we're stuck with it now...
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1/French speed cameras are like ours - mobile and sneeky - not always logged on satnav systems so don't rely on them !
2/Some hire sites will advise you of the charge for "winter" - some don't - and if you've booked online thinking its all inclusive, it ain't.
Here be dragons - out to getcha !
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| and they D0 check sometimes at the border |
they do check, 100%, every time, when you come from France back into Switzerland on the motorway at Bardonnex though they rarely check going out of Switzerland (ie towards Chamonix). So, even if you get out to Chamonix without a vignette, you won't get back into the airport without one. They really don't cost very much and it's not worth a shouting match in Geneva! I don't understand why people going on holidays costing hundreds, if not thousands, of pounds, make such a fuss about these vignettes. The price of a small round of drinks. I did once persuade a woman selling vignettes not to stick it on my windscreen, because it was a French hired car I had because my own was in the garage getting a new clutch. However, that was unusual; Swiss border guards are not known for their flexibility, or sense of humour, so don't get clever.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Chris Craggs, I have never been asked to pay extra for winter equipment at Geneva, maybe I have just been lucky. Using the Holiday Autos link above has on 9/10 occasions got me a car with Alamo. The 10th one was Avis.
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pam w, I get checked every time through Bardonnex cos I was stupid enough to attach my vignette behind the tinted part of the screen. Which looks pale blue from the inside but black from the outside. Doh!
Every time though.
If anyone is thinking of using frequent flyer cards to get discounts, be aware that the BA discount code actually gives a more expensive rate than the "normal" quoted by Hertz...
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brian
brian
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On the speed camera front - not that I would advise anyone to do anything sneaky but .... I believe it is the case that a French side car in CH or a Swiss side car in France will be immune from the results of gatso photography. There's no cross border reciprocity afaik. 
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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brian, I run a vehcile on French plates that has been gatsoed on the Swiss side and we've had the letter through demanding money with menaces. Maybe shouldn't have coughed up!
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brian
brian
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ctskifam, ah, just done a bit of checking, looks like (not unusually) I was talking dangly bits. 
Probably just as well you coughed up, just read of someone who ignored a hire car fine being stopped at the border on their next visit to Switzerland as they had an outstanding fine listed against their passport number !
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On crossing by (my own) car into CH a little while later my passport was routinely checked and they found a summons against my name and locked me up for two hours while they checked what it was for. I was released on a promise to go and pay my (by then massive 1000 SF inc costs) fine as soon as I reached the Zurich police department which issued it.
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Ouch !
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You know it makes sense.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Poster: A snowHead
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We hired from the French side and drove across Geneva for our first DIY trip to Chamonix and it was all a bit of an adventure. Glad we did it once, but think in future I'd happily pay a few pound more to get a Swiss car complete with vignette and stick to the motorway. It's a bit like thinking would you drive from Gatwick to Heathrow across london avoiding the M25 to save £15.
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FAQ
Enjoy !