Driving to France - Info required

[sunflower71]

We have never done this before and would appreciate any comments...
Driving Calais to Bourg saint Maurice (Alps)
got car ins, anyone know what is best breakdown cover, AA. RAC etc
does the green card come from the ins people?
any other tips will be great.
TIA if you can help.

[mushroom25]

assume you are skiing - if you're arriving at your resort on a saturday, you may do better (if you can, of course) to travel on the friday and "hotel" somewhere like Albertville - that way you can get a head-start saturday morning, miss a lot of the really big jams and get half a day extra skiing in as well.

[dzug]

You don't need a green card any more - your UK insurance covers normally you.

It may not provide the same level of cover you have here so check with your insurer.

Green Flag (and others) will offer cheaper breakdown cover than the AA/RAC who although good are extremely expensive.

[dzug]

sorry - normally covers you.

Have a look at the back of your insurance certificate

[Buenchico]

You don't require a green card for France. A UK licence is valid throughout the EU and, under EU law, any EU insurance policy must provide 3rd party cover throughout all EU countries.

These links might help:
http://www.theaa.com/motoring_advice/overseas/ general_advice.html
and
http://www.theaa.com/motoring_advice/touring_t ips/AA_France_Monaco.pdf

To get good deal on breakdown cover, try booking through your ferry company's website. P&O offer discounts with Green Flag:
http://www.poferries.com/tourist/content/pages /template/insurance_insurance.htm
SeaFrance can give you good prices for RAC cover:
http://www.seafrance.com/seafrance/opencms/uk/ en/passenger/partners/rac1.html

For route planning, nothing matches ViaMichelin:
http://www.viamichelin.com/viamichelin/int/tpl /hme/MaHomePage.htm

For cheap overnight accommodation, try Formule 1:
http://www.hotelformule1.com/formule1/index.ht ml

Chris

[mushroom25]

sorry, forgot - you may well be required to carry snow chains in your car if you're driving into a mountain resort - check with the company you booked with.

[sunflower71]

thanks everyone.