Surprise Toll Fees With Car Rental

Never even heard of this...


http://www.moneytalksnews.com/car-renters-beware-this-unpleasant-surprise-cost/

Different rental agencies have different policies on this and the policies differ from state to state and even location to location. SOme agencies offer plate pass where there is no huge convenience fee. SOme have a daily fee in addition to tolls, some charge a fee for only the days where you also incure a toll. Some cap that fee, some don't.

I rented a car in Washington DC in June from Budget. It came with a FastPass(?) gadget attached to the windshield. Nobody mentioned it, or how to use it. We figured out it had a flip-up/down paddle arm that engaged it, or turned it off when not needed.

So during our trip, during the two or three times we went on a toll road, we'd flip the paddle thing down, go through the lane for whatever the gadget was named, flip up the paddle thing, and on down the road we went. At the end of our trip we turned in the car, paid our bill, and that was that.

A month later I noticed a charge on my credit card for $25.75 from "Budget CarToll". Did I spend that much in tolls? I doubt it, but how would I know? There was no explanation or any other form of notification of what I was charged for, or why.

At the time I figured it included taxes and such that probably added to the fees, so I didn't dispute it. Now, after reading this article, I'm wondering if I should question it. Budget had my full contact info, enough to add the charge to my credit card. You'd think they'd have the courtesy to tell me what they were charging me for - unless they're trying to hide something. Hmm...

Dave

$15 + .65

We traveled from Maryland to Virginia earlier this year and forgot to set our GPS to miss tolls and saw one but thought we had avoided it. Turns out the toll was .65 but because it activated the rental car toll sticker we got hit up for $15.65

Have never heard of this. Rented cars in the past. If we did go through tolls- don't remember- I assume we paid cash. I also assume you can take your EZPASS thing with you and use that?

Will be renting a car next year in Colorado so I have to check into this further. Not sure if there are toll roads where we are going.

mpumilia said:

Will be renting a car next year in Colorado so I have to check into this further. Not sure if there are toll roads where we are going.

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The only toll road that I'm aware of in CO goes northwest from the airport, a nice shortcut that we used about 12 years ago when we went to WY. It's my understanding that now there is no manual toll pay.

On our prior trip 4 years ago when we went west I70, they still tried to sell us an upgrade to sense tolls so that we wouldn't be billed a penalty.

mpumilia said:

Will be renting a car next year in Colorado so I have to check into this further. Not sure if there are toll roads where we are going.

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The whole I-470 loop around Denver is a toll road. Other than that, there are toll lanes on I-25 through Denver, US36 on the way to/from Boulder, and on I-70 in the mountains west of Denver. You can easily avoid all of these toll roads/lanes if you aren't in a hurry.

Kurt

I see that they opened an express toll lane on I70 in 2015, but it appears that there are still free lanes. We never had heavy traffic on I70 west of Denver in June, but from what I read, ski season is rough on weekends.

PigsDad said:

The whole I-470 loop around Denver is a toll road. Other than that, there are toll lanes on I-25 through Denver, US36 on the way to/from Boulder, and on I-70 in the mountains west of Denver. You can easily avoid all of these toll roads/lanes if you aren't in a hurry.

Kurt

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Actually will be flying into Durango and renting a car there.

mpumilia said:

Actually will be flying into Durango and renting a car there.

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No toll roads in the mountains or Durango.

@DaveNW
I am renting from Budget in Boston and was just on their website. This is what they charge for e-tolls:

e-TollTM

Zip through toll booths for only $3.95 for each rental day!
In Summary: Breeze from highway to highway without having to keep toll change at hand. E-Toll is installed in many cars in California, the Chicago area, Colorado, Florida, the Northeast U.S. (from Maine to North Carolina), Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas, Washington, and Puerto Rico.

If you use e-Toll, you will be charged a $3.95 convenience fee for each day of the rental, including any days on which e-Toll is not used, up to a maximum of $19.75 per rental month, plus incurred tolls at the cash rate. There is no charge for Budget e-Toll unless you use it.

We had major charges to our card from a rental in the Miami/Fort Lauderdale area where they have "cashless tolls", expect this:

Following are the fees charged by the major rental car companies. If a company is listed as opt-in, you must decide at the time of rental if you want to participate in automatic tolling. Failing to do so can expose you to large administrative fees per infraction.

Where opt-in is automatic (or if you fail to opt-in but use a Sunpass lane anyway) the charges will appear on you credit card without notice some time later, usually long after the car is returned.

Dollar, Thrifty, Sunshine:
Customer must opt-in (decide) at the time of rental.
If renter participates, there is a $8.99 daily fee each day of the rental whether a toll was used or not.
All tolls are included in the daily fee.
The maximum fee is $45.99 per week
If customer does not opt-in and a cashless gantry or SunPass lane was used, a $15.00 fee per infraction will be added at the end of the rental.

Advantage, Hertz, Firefly:
Participation is automatic - no decision is made at the time of rental.
If a renter accesses a SunPass Lane or cashless toll, the renter is charged a $4.95 per day service fee plus the actual toll.
The daily service fee is charged for the entire rental period, up to a maximum of $24.75 per month, including days when neither a SunPass Lane nor a cashless toll is used.

Avis, Budget:
Participation is automatic - no decision is made at the time of rental.
If a renter accesses a SunPass Lane or cashless toll, the renter is charged a $3.95 per day fee plus the actual toll.
The daily service fee is charged for the entire rental period, up to a maximum of $16.75 per month, including days when neither a SunPass Lane nor a cashless toll is used.

National, Alamo, Enterprise:
Participation is automatic - no decision is made at the time of rental.
If a renter accesses a SunPass Lane or cashless toll, the renter is charged a $3.95 per day fee plus the actual toll.
The daily fee is only charged on days a cashless toll or SunPass Lane is used.
Maximum administration fee is $19.75 per rental period.

Roger830 said:

I see that they opened an express toll lane on I70 in 2015, but it appears that there are still free lanes. We never had heavy traffic on I70 west of Denver in June, but from what I read, ski season is rough on weekends.

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Every weekend is tough on 1-70 eastbound and westbound depending on time. This Sept with the spectacular colors in the mountians it's been very much like ski season. And, yes there are still free lanes.

But what if you take your own EXPASS or SUNPASS?

mpumilia said:

But what if you take your own EXPASS or SUNPASS?

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We just returned from Orlando. We took our SUNPASS, registered the rental car on the SUNPASS website before we left the airport, used the toll lanes around Orlando and didn't have any charges with Avis.

mpumilia said:

But what if you take your own EXPASS or SUNPASS?

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Bnov said:

We just returned from Orlando. We took our SUNPASS, registered the rental car on the SUNPASS website before we left the airport, used the toll lanes around Orlando and didn't have any charges with Avis.

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Correct. Having your own transponder means you will be charged to that transponders account when you use toll lanes/roads. Most of the companies, especially in Florida, use a system called PlatePass. So if you drive through a toll without paying or without your own transponder, the system takes a photo of the plate. They then run that plate against those in their toll system. So if you rent a car, be sure to register it with SunPass within a day or two. If there is no match to their toll system, they send it over through PlatePass, if it is in the PlatePass system, that system takes care of paying the toll and billing back to the rental company. The rental company then bills the toll and fees back to the renter at the time.

FYI, WAZE did a darn good job keeping me off the toll roads the last time I was in Orlando.

Thanks to this thread I questioned my Hertz agent when I rented a car this weekend. If I use the Hertz toll pass I pay 5.95 + toll. He clearly told me I would be paying 5.95 for each rental day even if I only used the toll pass once. Ouch!

Ok. I am going to ask a dumb question, but now that we are flying into Denver and not Durango and going to drive E470- there is a toll. So-can we use our EZPASS from NY there? Or- do we have to go with Alamos' outrageous charge for the transponder- of which we are automatically opted in? I just don't get the whole thing. SMH...

We do not want to take the alternate route to Estes Park- I-25 I think it is- because, although scenic, it will take an extra half hour and it will already be a long day of traveling. We just want to get to the resort at that point and do scenic later.

mpumilia said:

Ok. I am going to ask a dumb question, but now that we are flying into Denver and not Durango and going to drive E470- there is a toll. So-can we use our EZPASS from NY there? Or- do we have to go with Alamos' outrageous charge for the transponder- of which we are automatically opted in? I just don't get the whole thing. SMH...

We do not want to take the alternate route to Estes Park- I-25 I think it is- because, although scenic, it will take an extra half hour and it will already be a long day of traveling. We just want to get to the resort at that point and do scenic later.

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No, Colorado isnt part of EZPASS. Below is from the EZPASS New York website. I went through a similar problem in CA. It can be very annoying.



Toll Facilities Participating in E-ZPass®

Many toll facilities participate in E-ZPass®. For details, please click on the map or one of these links:

• Delaware
• Illinois
• Indiana
• Kentucky
• Maine
• Maryland

• Massachusetts
• New Hampshire
• New Jersey
• New Jersey - Delaware
• New York
• New York City Area

• North Carolina
• Ohio
• Pennsylvania
• Rhode Island
• Virginia
• West Virginia

mpumilia said:

Ok. I am going to ask a dumb question, but now that we are flying into Denver and not Durango and going to drive E470- there is a toll. So-can we use our EZPASS from NY there? Or- do we have to go with Alamos' outrageous charge for the transponder- of which we are automatically opted in? I just don't get the whole thing. SMH...

We do not want to take the alternate route to Estes Park- I-25 I think it is- because, although scenic, it will take an extra half hour and it will already be a long day of traveling. We just want to get to the resort at that point and do scenic later.

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No, EZPASS will not work. If you want to avoid the "convenience charge" (aka, rip-off charge), you will have to avoid E470. It really isn't that hard to avoid, is not any more or less scenic (you are just on E470 around Denver, which is on the plains), and unless you are arriving at rush hour times, I doubt the time difference is more than 15 minutes in real driving time.

It is up to you to decide if that 15 minutes is worth the huge charge from Alamo. You could look into getting your own ExpressToll pass -- not free, but you can look into it: https://www.e-470.com/

Kurt

gmarine said:

I went through a similar problem in CA. It can be very annoying.

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Tell me about it! I just went through the same thing with Avis in CA a couple of weeks ago. I screwed up and drove on a toll road on one day of my 5-day rental -- $7.61 toll, plus $3.95 per day "Convenience Fee" (all 5 days), for a total of $27.36. That was one expensive alternate route!

Kurt

PigsDad said:

No, EZPASS will not work. If you want to avoid the "convenience charge" (aka, rip-off charge), you will have to avoid E470. It really isn't that hard to avoid, is not any more or less scenic (you are just on E470 around Denver, which is on the plains), and unless you are arriving at rush hour times, I doubt the time difference is more than 15 minutes in real driving time.

It is up to you to decide if that 15 minutes is worth the huge charge from Alamo. You could look into getting your own ExpressToll pass -- not free, but you can look into it: https://www.e-470.com/

Kurt

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I did. It costs $35 just to register and start, so not worth it.

PigsDad said:

No, EZPASS will not work. If you want to avoid the "convenience charge" (aka, rip-off charge), you will have to avoid E470. It really isn't that hard to avoid, is not any more or less scenic (you are just on E470 around Denver, which is on the plains), and unless you are arriving at rush hour times, I doubt the time difference is more than 15 minutes in real driving time.

It is up to you to decide if that 15 minutes is worth the huge charge from Alamo. You could look into getting your own ExpressToll pass -- not free, but you can look into it: https://www.e-470.com/

Kurt

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Looks like it is $19 for the week plus the tolls and make sure we use express lane ( I would think they are alll express lanes if no cash is accepted).

Even though we could avoid it I would rather pay it because we probably will need it to come back to Denver for the flight home and it takes even longer than going out from Denver on the alternate route. Also- might be one on way to Boulder or elsewhere
we decide to go. Plus- you never know if we make a wrong turn or something and end up on one. If we opt out we could be in for big fines and just not be worth it.

For $19- I guess there goes the price cut I just got from AutoSlash on the rental!

We will be on vacation - can't deal with this stuff. Well gave one less dinner out then.

What a scam! I guess they want to penalize non residents. As if we don't spend enough money as tourists!

If I read the second response to the FAQ's posted by Alamo, Colorado is one of the states where you are only charged for the days that you use a toll road and the charge is $3.95 plus the toll. I would call Alamo and see that this reading is correct.