UKC

Hi all,

I've booked a DFDS ferry for a Font trip, I have a VW Caddy which is smaller than the medium size car dimensions but I'm worried they're going to charge me for bringing a van when I get to the port. 

Has anyone taken a VW Caddy or similar (small work van self-converted to a camper) as a car to Font?

Thanks for your help! 

Christine 

Does it have side (rear) glazed windows and rear seats.

When I had to use an astra van , I just booked it in as an estate, at about third the cost.

Expected an argument about vehicle use as leisure not commercial at the ferry terminal but no problem, not interested.

It has glazer rear windows but no rear seats...

Have you phoned DFDS to ask?

I've had a Caddy Maxi Window Van for a long time & have never had any questions on ferries or the tunnel. It does have a back seat though & is registered as a car

I've always booked it as under the 1.83 metres height that seems to be the standard cut off for an extra charge even though the official VW height is 1.85

We drive a van, proper van no seats or windows in rear. The key question (at least with Eurotunnel) is if you are using the van for carrying commercial goods, or just as a leisure vehicle. Commercial goods forces you to book through the freight terminal (more expensive, but greater ticket flexibility), where as with personal camping/climbing gear you can just travel with the cars and camper vans.

We have been verbally quizzed that there is nothing inside that 'we have been invoiced for' but never actually had a physical check, however one look inside would clearly show we are full of holiday stuff. In other words it's never been a problem.

Only used the ferry once, but again I think they needed us to confirm when booking that we were traveling for tourism and not carrying commercial goods.

Edit - ours is transit size and does NOT fit under the 1.8m height barriers.

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Why do that when you can speculate on the internet?

I emailed them and they said ‘it must be booked at per the log book’. My log book says it’s a ‘car based van’. I think I could argue it as long as I don’t get a jobsworth at check in, just wonder if it’s worth paying now to make sure I get on. I haven’t heard from anyone saying they’ve been charged extra on the day so 🤞

Book it as a car. I had no problems with my Peugeot Partner and that's the same size as the caddy. 

I'd say they'd be hard pushed to argue that "car based van" doesn't fit into either category.

FWIW I don't think they'll care much at the point of check-in - they'll just want everything to fit in the car deck as expected. 

I've got a large self converted van, and I always check the motorhome and van prices, booking whichever is cheaper. I've never been questioned on it or asked to show my logbook.

I've just used DFDS (Newhaven Dieppe) with a French registered Peugeot Expert van, rented from a French supermarket to bring some of our UK belongings to France.

I booked it as a private van and it was no more than an SUV.

No issues at check-in on either side.

Surely it's smaller than a big car e.g. a range rover? Can't see there being any difficulty about classing it as a car!

The question of whether or not you are carrying commercial goods is important to ferry companies for tax reasons as well as them sometimes just wanting to charge extra for vans.  There's no VAT on ferry tickets if you're off on holiday, but they are obliged to charge VAT on a lot of 'commercial' journeys.

We've taken our VW Transporter T4 as a car for 10 years on the Newcastle-Amsterdam DFDS. This year it seemed to have to go in as a "large car" but under the dimensions, we're <6m and <2m high so we have always justified it on "space used".