Has anyone got a basic idea of how much it would cost to have an LKW-Maut box fitted here in the UK? I’m trying to convince my boss to have one put into my truck and the main things he is concerned about are firstly the cost and secondly the alterations needed as its a leased truck and must go back as it came. I have a Daf 95 and I see that the Toll Collect website states that Lex Commercials who are the Daf dealership in Hull fit them, which is incedentally where my truck comes from, even though “servicing” is done in Scunthorpe now.
DAF in Ashford Kent fitted mine it took the guy nearly 9 HRS,i have no idea what the hell he was doing,i was begining to wonder if he did.Ive never had a problem with the maut terminals and i could usually do 3 days in about 15mins,so i never had a problem,but boss wanted one fitted,i hope they only charged him for 4 hrs labour.
I know the Maut machines aren’t all that hard (although I’m speaking from very limited experience) I’d just like to have one to save the hassle, especially if I miss my junction accidentally etc or have multi-drops somewhere like the Ruhr with dozens of motorways etc. One thing that springs to mind is when they tried to do my dad for deviating from the route his ticket said, because the motorway was shut and he followed diversions, as he is German and as such speaks German he got out of it after 20 minutes of arguing, but as my German is nowhere near good enough, I doubt I’d have gotten away with it, despite having done nothing wrong in my opinion.
eldor:
I know the Maut machines aren’t all that hard (although I’m speaking from very limited experience) I’d just like to have one to save the hassle, especially if I miss my junction accidentally etc or have multi-drops somewhere like the Ruhr with dozens of motorways etc. One thing that springs to mind is when they tried to do my dad for deviating from the route his ticket said, because the motorway was shut and he followed diversions, as he is German and as such speaks German he got out of it after 20 minutes of arguing, but as my German is nowhere near good enough, I doubt I’d have gotten away with it, despite having done nothing wrong in my opinion.
On another thread I posted this
I have made minor mistakes such as going one exit too far, and taking the wrong route in the busier parts like the Ruhr Valley, going out through the wrong Aachen etc but I think they discount these minor infringements, otherwise, being an ANPR-based system, the VAG would have stopped me on a later visit, as they will if you try driving without a MAUT
Everyone I’ve spoken too in Germany has said pretty much the same as you, one junction too far etc isn’t the end of the world but you know what its like in reality, your a foreigner, dont speak the language and some jumped up tin pot God tries it on with you. As my dad is German this particular tin pot God didn’t get his way but did carry on protesting that he must have a valid ticket for the piece of road he was on, without exception and told him that he’d do him next time…Having a box in the windscreen just cuts out so much hassle in my opinion, atleast you dont have a time limit to do your journey and pratt about finding petrol stations with Toll Collect machines before you can finally get back on the motorway and just get on with the job.
Yes, I just don’t know why they couldn’t have used an identical system to the Austrian Go-Box, which is cheap and cheerful and seems to do the job perfectly well.
JB:
Or the swiss system of mileage in and mileage out? Why go to all the expense of gantry readers etc?
The Swiss are getting too technical for their own good now. They have a digi camera on a stalk that you have to point at your odometer on entry to stop little white lies and fibbing
malcolmj:
i belive the box its self has no cost,but 4hours labour to fit and 1 months toll in advance but i stand to be corrected
The original plan, was for the cost of fitting an OBU to be credited to your MAUT account. That was dropped when they had to put back the MAUY going on line by two years, I believe.
In this earlier thread trucknetuk.com/phpBB2/viewtopic. … 28&start=0
There was a suggestion that they would fit MAUT boxes to cars.
I read recently, in a German news paper (a red top equivalent, so we know how reliable that’ll be), they are planning to start charging MAUT on cars from 2009.
There are already several Bunde Strassen (Natiomals) where they charge MAUT. The one which runs up from the French border near Strassbourg, to near Karlsruhe on the Landau Autobahn is one. Sorry, I can’t remember the road numbers.
I’m not sure, but I think they recently started to charge for the B10, Landau to Pirmasens too. I can check on that the next time I go that way.
There are already several Bunde Strassen (Nationals) where they charge MAUT. The one which runs up from the French border near Strassbourg, to near Karlsruhe on the Landau Autobahn is one. Sorry, I can’t remember the road numbers.
I’m not sure, but I think they recently started to charge for the B10, Landau to Pirmasens too. I can check on that the next time I go that way.
Another one is the road from Switzerland using the Koblenz border, you cant avoid that one either
I’ve never been to Austria so I don’t know about the Go box but it seems ok from what I hear. I like the Swiss system, its nice and easy, apart from getting the ■■■■ card to begin with from those ever so cheerful guys on the border! I’ve never yet had to point that camera at my odometer but I suspect its only a matter of time.
Simon:
I’m not sure, but I think they recently started to charge for the B10, Landau to Pirmasens too. I can check on that the next time I go that way.
The B10 was still free last week, the one from Strasbourg is the B9 and you have to pay for that
Ok, back to basics again. Once the maut box is installed into the truck, do you actually have to do anything with it when driving in Germany or is the cost of the routes you’ve driven automatically calculated and deducted from your account? You dont actually have to program a route into the box before you set off like with the toll collect machines I take it?
Coffeeholic:
The only thing you have to do is make sure it is set to the correct number of axles, after that just drive.
Neil. Im not so sure whether it is just my truck but I lose GPS reception quite often.
It doesnt matter because it comes back if I get anywhere near a German border but I notice other trucks in the fleet still have reception in North Wales when I have lost mine in France.
