As I do a lot of riding/driving in France I am getting more and more frustrated in my search for fuel at night or weekends off the autoroutes. None of the unmanned/automatic stations will accept my English credit cards and trying to persuade a friendly local Frenchman to use their card at the pump in exchange for my cash can sometimes get a little fraught; some will, some won't and most think you are just another crazy "Rosbif."
Has anyone got a solution, can you get a fuel carnet or even a French credit card (If you are not resident in France). Searching for that elusive manned fuel station does get rather tedious....!
Rod
Its because they operate on the "Carte Bleu" network, which is essentially french chip+pin as far as I can see.
More and more shops are using the chip+pin now on foreign cards so in theory this will spill over to the petrol pumps, but at the moment there is no simple solution.
The only solution I've found is to wait by the pump for a helpful Frenchman and offer him the cash equivelant for putting some fuel in your tank using his card.
I've done this several times and each time the trusting French have offered to put the fuel in first before asking for the cash - very nice people !
No solution I'm afraid Rod, but I have just the same problem. I've been rdduced to popping onto an autoroute for a few miles just to get some fuel.
The problem is that the French went over to chip & pin well before we did and the system they use for the pumps is the older, incompatible one. I've never (well hardly ever) had a problem with C&P at either cashpoints or normal tills.
I did look into getting a French card but it just seemed too difficult. Some useful hints & tips here....... http://www.visordown.com/forums/showthread.php?t=202687&highlight=france+card+petrol