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How to beat those pesky automatic toll-road charges if you're driving a rental

Sugarcubesea

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I've got to figure that out for my upcoming trip in December to FL. Those toll charges in a rental sure add up...
 

rickandcindy23

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Use Waze. It's an APP, and you can tell it to avoid toll roads. Works great. We have been in states with toll roads on a lot of routes, and we use Waze to avoid all tolls. Just put in the address, and Waze will find a route.

We were shocked to find out how crazy the per-toll charge would be to the rental car company in Boston. We rented Hertz, and when they told us what we would pay, Rick said, "We won't be using the tolls."
 

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I've got to figure that out for my upcoming trip in December to FL. Those toll charges in a rental sure add up...
Get the SunPass transponder. You can purchase it at many grocery or pharmacy stores in FL. You register your rental car and you are set -- you can cruise past the toll booths in the SunPass lane and pay a lower toll at the same time. You can use the transponder for future visits; just register the rental car plates with your smart phone each time.

Kurt
 

louisianab

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We brought our ezpass/izoom wrapped in foil in a checked bag to the greater DC/Baltimore area. Worked fine.
 

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Get the SunPass transponder. You can purchase it at many grocery or pharmacy stores in FL. You register your rental car and you are set -- you can cruise past the toll booths in the SunPass lane and pay a lower toll at the same time. You can use the transponder for future visits; just register the rental car plates with your smart phone each time.

Kurt

@PigsDad - don't you have to be sure the rental car transponder is deactivated though? I thought I read that shutting the rental car transponder back in its case is not a sure fire way to stop the rental car transponder from registering with toll gates as you drive through.....
 

Talent312

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I once found a rental car's transponder in the glove box.
I would think that's sufficient to give the driver's priority.
.
 

Sugarcubesea

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Get the SunPass transponder. You can purchase it at many grocery or pharmacy stores in FL. You register your rental car and you are set -- you can cruise past the toll booths in the SunPass lane and pay a lower toll at the same time. You can use the transponder for future visits; just register the rental car plates with your smart phone each time.

Kurt

How can I buy it before the trip? Thank You, Great Idea
 

Sugarcubesea

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@PigsDad - don't you have to be sure the rental car transponder is deactivated though? I thought I read that shutting the rental car transponder back in its case is not a sure fire way to stop the rental car transponder from registering with toll gates as you drive through.....

Good Point, I will need to read up on this...thanks
 

PigsDad

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How can I buy it before the trip? Thank You, Great Idea
I think you can go to the SunPass website and order one, but you will pay shipping and it may take a couple of weeks to ship. I just found it easy to just pick one up after I got there. Of course, you only need to do that one time, then you have the transponder for future trips.

Kurt
 

PigsDad

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@PigsDad - don't you have to be sure the rental car transponder is deactivated though? I thought I read that shutting the rental car transponder back in its case is not a sure fire way to stop the rental car transponder from registering with toll gates as you drive through.....
Honestly, I've never had a car that had the transponder from the rental company. They ask if I want one, and I say no. I mostly use Budget or Alamo, so other companies may be different.

Kurt
 

vacationhopeful

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All toll roads and bridges in my multi-state area are "Easy Pass" ... and I have transponders in my both vehicles ... on one account with auto-refill.

There are a few turnpike exits which are NO LONGER manned ... only "Easy Pass" access for both OFF and ON. And the turnpike 'rest area' dining and gas stations SELL "Easy Pass" transponders and prepaid cards for your account.

It is the 'way' of the future ... for toll collecting.
 

Talent312

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You can buy a SunPass online, and open an account ($10 deposit),
The transponder will be mailed to you w/in 4-5 days w/no shipping fee.
https://www.sunpass.com/en/signup/transponderclassify.shtml

From SunPass/com...
What happens if I drive with multiple transponders in my vehicle?

When driving through a toll lane, all transponders in the vehicle may register. To avoid duplicate charges only one transponder should be mounted. Any additional Portable Transponders should be placed in the Radio Frequency(RF) shield bag... To request online via SunPass.com or the Mobile App, login to your SunPass account and select “Online Support”...

.
 

dreamin

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I rented a car from Sixt in Fort Lauderdale for 3 l/2 weeks in February. I would never rent from Sixt again but that's another story! Their charge for a transponder was $8.95 per day plus tolls. The clerk recommended the Sunpass. We purchased the Sunpass Mini for $4.99 which is readily available everywhere. When we registered the transponder on our Sunpass account there was an area for rental cars where we entered the dates of the rental. It was very convenient to just breeze through the Sunpass lanes at the toll booths. When we returned the vehicle, in our rush to catch our flight, we forgot to remove the Sunpass from the windshield. The small print specifies that this is the renters responsibility. When we returned home I was able to deactivate the transponder from our account. There was one 80 cent toll charged to our account from the person who rented the car after us. Sunpass told me if I hadn't deactivated the transponder I would have been responsible for all tolls. Sixt told me they are not responsible for removing the transponder and apparently the Sunpass Mini is difficult to do. Lesson learned....don't forget to remove the transponder! You can also purchase the Sunpass Portable for $19.99 which would be easier to remove and could be used on other vehicles but you would still have to remember not to leave it in the rental car.
 

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How do you avoid toll charges in Arizona where there are no toll? We were charged $118.38 when we got home and our credit card bill came. Impossible you say, well, here's the story.
We were in Arizona for 2 weeks and rented a car from Advantage at the airport. We put on approx. 1600 miles on the car in the two weeks. Came home saw the rental charge and then the 2nd charge.
Called Advantage and they said it was put on by the Highway Dept. and they transferred me to that number. It turned out being Florida and they said we went through 13 toll areas and the other part of the bill was a service charge from Advantage. Advantage did nothing to help us such as saying what our mileage was. I was requested to send receipts to show we were in Arizona during that time period.
What I did was fax a copy of our credit card statement. It took me about 2 weeks and 5-6 phone calls to prove we were in Arizona. The car we rented had paper plates that said Florida on them.
Now I'm just waiting for the credit card reversal. I tried giving Florida the make,model, and information about the plates but was told they don't care and don't investigate. Another words you are guilty and then have to prove your innocent. I will never rent from Advantage again considering all that was needed was for them to say what the mileage was and that would have shown we could never have made it to Florida and back.
Bart
 

bbodb1

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Perhaps another takeaway from this is when renting a car from a company that uses transponders, be sure to rent using a credit card that you have nothing else tied to (no recurring or automated charges). That way, when an incorrect charge is made on the card as a result of the transponder, dispute the charge and do not pay the bill. That will get the credit card company's attention and help bring them into the game.
 

moonstone

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Use Waze. It's an APP, and you can tell it to avoid toll roads. Works great. We have been in states with toll roads on a lot of routes, and we use Waze to avoid all tolls. Just put in the address, and Waze will find a route.

We were shocked to find out how crazy the per-toll charge would be to the rental car company in Boston. We rented Hertz, and when they told us what we would pay, Rick said, "We won't be using the tolls."

Similarly we set our GPS to 'no toll roads' when we are in Orlando. Neither of us have data on our phones to use Waze or other apps. In the 40+ years of driving around and through Orlando (I know toll roads probably haven't existed that long there) we have only ever paid 1 toll for a short trip and back then it was a few quarters in the bin at the booth. Years ago there was a bad accident on a non-toll road we were going to take to get a family member to the airport and since we were pressed for time DH jumped on the toll road to go around the accident area, then back on the non-toll roads. When we are on vacation we aren't in a hurry so we don't see the sense in saving time and spending extra money on toll roads.


~Diane
 

sfwilshire

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How do you avoid toll charges in Arizona where there are no toll? We were charged $118.38 when we got home and our credit card bill came. Impossible you say, well, here's the story.
We were in Arizona for 2 weeks and rented a car from Advantage at the airport. We put on approx. 1600 miles on the car in the two weeks. Came home saw the rental charge and then the 2nd charge.
Called Advantage and they said it was put on by the Highway Dept. and they transferred me to that number. It turned out being Florida and they said we went through 13 toll areas and the other part of the bill was a service charge from Advantage. Advantage did nothing to help us such as saying what our mileage was. I was requested to send receipts to show we were in Arizona during that time period.
What I did was fax a copy of our credit card statement. It took me about 2 weeks and 5-6 phone calls to prove we were in Arizona. The car we rented had paper plates that said Florida on them.
Now I'm just waiting for the credit card reversal. I tried giving Florida the make,model, and information about the plates but was told they don't care and don't investigate. Another words you are guilty and then have to prove your innocent. I will never rent from Advantage again considering all that was needed was for them to say what the mileage was and that would have shown we could never have made it to Florida and back.
Bart

Same thing happened to me, but I was in Texas. I don't recall the rental company, but I've never rented from Advantage, so it wasn't them. I drove less than 100 miles while in Texas, but "incurred" several toll charges in Florida during that time frame.

Sheila
 

sfwilshire

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Similarly we set our GPS to 'no toll roads' when we are in Orlando. Neither of us have data on our phones to use Waze or other apps. In the 40+ years of driving around and through Orlando (I know toll roads probably haven't existed that long there) we have only ever paid 1 toll for a short trip and back then it was a few quarters in the bin at the booth. Years ago there was a bad accident on a non-toll road we were going to take to get a family member to the airport and since we were pressed for time DH jumped on the toll road to go around the accident area, then back on the non-toll roads. When we are on vacation we aren't in a hurry so we don't see the sense in saving time and spending extra money on toll roads.


~Diane

I often use the "no toll" option on the GPS, but traveling from Nashville to the FL Panhandle, there seemed to be no viable option to avoid the toll roads.

Sheila
 

moonstone

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I often use the "no toll" option on the GPS, but traveling from Nashville to the FL Panhandle, there seemed to be no viable option to avoid the toll roads.

Sheila
Have new toll roads been added on that route? From Nashville I-65 is non-toll, then I-10, or US 98, also non-toll (last time we drove them) to get to any of the panhandle cities.


~Diane
 

sfwilshire

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Have new toll roads been added on that route? From Nashville I-65 is non-toll, then I-10, or US 98, also non-toll (last time we drove them) to get to any of the panhandle cities.


~Diane
Not sure. I just know we couldn't see any reasonable way to get past one section without paying a toll. It was around $5 as I recall, but it has been two or three years ago. We crossed the same section when we drove home to Knoxville from there.

Sorry I don't have a better recall.

Sheila
 

1st Class

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How do you avoid toll charges in Arizona where there are no toll? We were charged $118.38 when we got home and our credit card bill came. Impossible you say, well, here's the story.
We were in Arizona for 2 weeks and rented a car from Advantage at the airport. We put on approx. 1600 miles on the car in the two weeks. Came home saw the rental charge and then the 2nd charge.
Called Advantage and they said it was put on by the Highway Dept. and they transferred me to that number. It turned out being Florida and they said we went through 13 toll areas and the other part of the bill was a service charge from Advantage. Advantage did nothing to help us such as saying what our mileage was. I was requested to send receipts to show we were in Arizona during that time period.
What I did was fax a copy of our credit card statement. It took me about 2 weeks and 5-6 phone calls to prove we were in Arizona. The car we rented had paper plates that said Florida on them.
Now I'm just waiting for the credit card reversal. I tried giving Florida the make,model, and information about the plates but was told they don't care and don't investigate. Another words you are guilty and then have to prove your innocent. I will never rent from Advantage again considering all that was needed was for them to say what the mileage was and that would have shown we could never have made it to Florida and back.
Bart


Same thing happened to me, but I was in Texas. I don't recall the rental company, but I've never rented from Advantage, so it wasn't them. I drove less than 100 miles while in Texas, but "incurred" several toll charges in Florida during that time frame.

Sheila

My BIL had a bizarre situation with EZPass. He had a defective transponder and after contacting the EZPass folks was told to mail it back and they would send out a new one. He placed it in the foil protective package and sent it on its way. The following month he saw the toll charges from his home to the address in NJ, about 300+ miles away. He had been charged for the time the transponder spent in the UPS truck! Thankfully, they did quickly remove the charges from his account.
 

csxjohn

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I don't have a problem with paying tolls, it's when you get to a place that takes only transponders that causes anxiety. I ended up buying a SunPass transponder from the web site and carry it on the plane or in the car.
 

Talent312

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I don't have a problem with paying tolls, it's when you get to a place that takes only transponders that causes anxiety. I ended up buying a SunPass transponder from the web site and carry it on the plane or in the car.

I hope your transponder doesn't doesn't put you on the hook for landing fees. :D

A lot of those cashless toll plazas are also toll-by-plate (if there's a sign).
But otherwise, you could just get off at the next exit and meander back.
.
 

WinniWoman

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Are there any toll roads in and around Vegas and from Vegas to Utah and around Utah near Zion and Bryce? I am assuming not but just want to make sure.
 
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