Verified October 2026Independent guide

How much is the M6 Toll?

A car pays £12.00 for the full M6 Toll at the contactless rate, or £10.20 with a free Breeze account. Shorter 1 or 2-zone trips cost less, and other vehicle classes pay £5.90 to £20.90. This tariff took effect on 7 July 2026, up 40p from the previous £11.60 car rate. Below: every vehicle class, each junction pair and all the payment options, from an independent guide. No cash accepted.

Car, full route, contactless

£12.00

All 3 zones, no account

With a Breeze account

£10.20

ANPR billing, no stopping

Saving with Breeze

£1.80 per trip (about 15%)

How the Breeze account works →

Prices updated 7 July 2026

M6 Toll prices rose on 7 July 2026. The full-route car rate went from £11.60 to £12.00 contactless, and from £9.80 to £10.20 with a Breeze account.

These are the current rates, per the operator's pricing page (m6toll.co.uk). One-zone Breeze rates were unchanged. See the old-vs-new breakdown →

Length27 miles (43 km)M6 J3a to M6 J11a

Time saved (peak)About 25 minoperator’s median at peak, full route vs the M6

Open24 / 7 / 365Closes only for incidents

Plan your journey

Tap any two junctions. The route lights up across the M6 Toll and you see the toll for your vehicle, the zones it covers, which way the road lets you drive it and where the toll is taken.

Plan your M6 Toll journey

Click any two junctions to see the fare between them and which way the road lets you drive it, or pick a popular journey below.

Vehicle class

Payment

Toll cost

£12.00

3 zones · standard

Zones covered

Zones A, B and C

Which way can you drive it?

Northbound (T1 to T8): yes, toll taken at the Great Wyrley mainline plaza, between T6 and T7.

Southbound (T8 to T1): yes, toll taken at the Weeford Park mainline plaza, between T4 and T3.

The toll is the operator’s published tariff for the number of zones the journey covers. Directions and toll points come from the operator’s junction map.

Not every junction works in both directions. T2 is exit-only, southbound, so you cannot start a journey there. T5 is join-northbound and leave-southbound only. T7 and T8 are join-southbound and leave-northbound only. Full entry and exit table.

With a Breeze account: £10.20 per trip (save £1.80). Ten single trips a week for 52 weeks = £936.00 a year difference.

T1 Dunton

Connects to M42 J9, A4097 Kingsbury Road.

Nearby: Curdworth, Minworth, Coleshill, and the NEC and Birmingham Airport via the M42

T8 M6 J11a

Connects to M6 J11a, plus the A460 and A4601 at Laney Green.

Nearby: Cannock, Wolverhampton, Stafford and the M6 north

Standard contactless prices

Full price list →

The price you pay depends on how many of the three zones you travel through. A full M6 J3a to M6 J11a journey is 3 zones. Tap a contactless card at the barrier or set up an account for ANPR billing.

Vehicle	1 zone	2 zones	3 zones
Class 1 Motorcycle	£4.00	£4.90	£5.90
Class 2 Car	£6.90	£9.50	£12.00
Class 3 Car with trailer or caravan	£10.40	£14.10	£16.90
Class 4 Van, minibus, motorhome, 2-axle HGV or coach	£14.50	£17.30	£20.20
Class 5 HGV or coach, 3 to 6 axles	£15.70	£18.20	£20.90

What you need to know

Payment

Card only, no cash

Contactless cards, smartphones and Breeze or Lite accounts. No cash.

Zones

Three zones, pay only what you use

Since May 2024 the M6 Toll uses zone pricing. ANPR works out exactly which zones you covered.

Worth it?

Rush hour yes, off peak usually no

Time saved varies hugely with the time of day. We track it scenario by scenario.

The route at a glance

Route map27 miles, 8 junctions, 3 zones

Zone A

Zone B

Zone C

M6 J3a / ColeshillM6 J11a / Cannock

Zone A: T1, T2Zone B: T3, T4, T5, T6Zone C: T7, T8

See the full junction guide for which T-junction to use for your destination, or the zone breakdown if you are only making a partial journey.

Dive deeper

2026 cost by vehicle

What different vehicles actually pay on the M6 Toll. The car rate is the headline, but four other vehicle classes change the maths.

Car cost

£12.00 contactless, £10.20 Breeze

Motorbike cost

£5.90 contactless, £4.90 Breeze

Van cost

Class 2 or Class 4 explained

HGV cost

£20.20 to £20.90

Towing cost

Car-with-trailer is Class 3

Per-junction route cost

Partial journeys cost less. Pick the route closest to your trip.

T1 to T8 full route

£12.00 car, 3 zones. The full 27-mile road, M42 end to M6 J11a

T1 to T3

£9.50 car, 2 zones. The M42 end to the A38 at Langley Mill, for Tamworth and Drayton Manor

T1 to T6

£9.50 car, 2 zones. The M42 end to Burntwood, the last junction in Zone B

T3 to T6

£6.90 car, 1 zone. Langley Mill to Burntwood, both ends inside Zone B

T3 to T8

£9.50 car, 2 zones. Langley Mill to the M6 at J11a

T6 to T8

£9.50 car, 2 zones. Burntwood to the M6 at J11a, across the Great Wyrley plaza

Birmingham to Manchester

End-to-end cost with petrol

2026 cost reference

Straight answers to the 2026 cost and price-change questions people actually search.

Price increase: 7 July 2026

Car rose £11.60 to £12.00, old vs new

M6 Toll cost 2026

Full price tables, every class and zone

Breeze account

Cost, discount and how to open one

Contactless payment

Cards, Apple Pay, fuel cards

Missed payment

If you drove through without paying

Birmingham toll charge

M6 Toll vs Clean Air Zone

Planning a specific trip

Destination-specific guides for the most common reasons people pay the M6 Toll.

To Drayton Manor

T3 exit, family day-out routes

To Alton Towers

Full route £12.00, then M6 north

To Birmingham Airport

T1 + M42 J6, flight-day insurance

To the NEC

Event-day traffic bypass

To Stafford

Full route plus 13 miles free M6

From London

M40 / M42 corridor to the Midlands

M6 Toll vs free M6

Head-to-head specs and timing

Best time to use it

Hour-by-hour decision matrix

All UK toll roads

Dartford, Mersey, Tyne and others

More junction-pair routes

Every common T-pair has its own page with rates, distance and timing.

T1 to T4

NEC to Weeford

T2 to T4

Wishaw side to Weeford

T2 to T6

Sutton to Cannock

T2 to T8

Sutton to M6 J11a

T3 to T7

Tamworth to Churchbridge

T4 to T6

1-zone central

T4 to T8

Weeford to M6 J11a

T5 to T8

A5 corridor northbound

Common questions

How much does the M6 Toll cost for a car in 2026?

A standard car (Class 2) pays £12.00 for the full 3-zone route at the contactless rate. With a Breeze account the same journey is £10.20, a saving of £1.80 (about 15%). Shorter journeys cost less: 2 zones is £9.50 standard / £8.40 Breeze, 1 zone is £6.90 / £4.00. This tariff took effect on 7 July 2026, up from the previous £11.60 car rate.

What are the M6 Toll charges for all vehicle types in 2026?

Full-route (3-zone) charges from 7 July 2026, at the contactless rate: motorcycle (Class 1) £5.90, car (Class 2) £12.00, car towing a trailer or caravan (Class 3) £16.90, van, minibus, motorhome or 2-axle HGV or coach (Class 4) £20.20, and HGV or coach with 3 to 6 axles (Class 5) £20.90. Classes are set by axles and height at the front axle, not by weight. With a Breeze account each class pays less: £4.90, £10.20, £14.50, £17.60 and £18.20 respectively. Shorter 1 or 2-zone journeys cost less again. All prices include VAT and are reviewed quarterly by the operator.

Can you pay cash on the M6 Toll?

No. The M6 Toll does not take cash. You can pay by contactless card or device at the barrier, or set up a free Lite or Breeze account so the toll is taken automatically via ANPR with no stopping.

Is the M6 Toll open 24 hours?

Yes. The M6 Toll runs 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The only closures are for police incidents, scheduled maintenance overnight or extreme weather.

How much time does the M6 Toll save?

The operator's own analysis of June 2025 puts the typical (median) peak-time saving at about 25 minutes for the full route compared with the M6 through Birmingham, with the largest weekday average at 45 minutes. Its website also shows a live estimate for each direction, recalculated every 30 minutes from Google route data. Off peak, when the M6 is flowing, the saving is smaller. It always depends on the traffic on the day.

Is the M6 Toll free for motorcycles?

No. Motorcycles (Class 1) currently pay £5.90 for the full 3-zone route at the standard rate, or £4.90 with a Breeze account. Motorcycles have paid since the road opened in 2003, when the full-route rate was £1.00.

What happens if you don't pay the M6 Toll?

ANPR cameras capture every number plate. If no payment is registered, the operator raises a Payment Notice against the registration. You have 6 days from the trip being validated to pay the toll online at customers.m6toll.co.uk/payment-notice; after that, additional charges of at least £70 are added and unpaid notices go to a debt recovery agency. The M6 Toll does not issue council-style PCNs. See the penalties page for the full process.