gerberdaisy1234
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Oct 12, 2007
Do you know if Alamo has sunpass transponder in their vehicles? I want to purchase one but wonder if they have one affixed already. Thanks
Alamo cars come with the Sunpass. I forget the fee but it's like $3/day plus tolls, but Alamo only charges you the per day fee on days you actually use use it. Much more reasonable than most rental car agencies.
For those who aren't going to be using the tolls heavily, though, there's a middle ground.
Just go through the tollbooths and pay in cash.
Unless you're going down to Miami on the turnpike, cash tollbooths are all over the Orlando/Port Canaveral area. Even to Fort Lauderdale.
I find it very simple to get a roll of quarters and some ones and just go through the tollbooths. No transponder and no paying the rental car company for us of THEIR transponder.
It looks like the maximum rental for the transponder with Alamo is $19.75 ($3.95 per day that you go through tolls) plus the cost of the toll.
https://www.sunpass.com/rentalcar (scroll all the way to the bottom)
I've been stressing about this and was considering buying a transponder once we arrived but this seems like the easiest option. Even if we pay a little more...
No you do not have to tell ALAMO anything up front ... they (and National and Enterprise all) have the most reasonable policy on electronic tolling in Florida for rentals IMO:
Participation is automatic.
Opt-in decision is made when the driver elects to use EXPRESS, SunPass ONLY, E-PASS ONLY or LeeWay ONLY lanes.
Nothing to decide at time of rental.
$3.95 fee per usage day (24 hr. interval) that customer incurs tolls, plus tolls (at posted cash/TOLL-BY-PLATE rates)
$19.75 maximum fee per rental period plus tolls (at posted cash/TOLL-BY-PLATE rates)
So then does Alamo just charge the card you have on file for the tolls and the fee?
For the infrequent visitor to the Orlando area this is a great policy. If you just want the convenience of not having to stop and pay the toll or if you are going to be in areas with electronic only tolling (ie: Miami area), this is a very reasonable option. You can still avoid the charge if you want, by going through the pay lanes in the Orlando area.I believe that's how it will work. It's my plan to opt in using express lanes. To me this is an AWESOME time saver and makes the whole toll thing much easier. I couldn't buy a transponder and/or pay tolls for less so win, win. I only wish this information was more readily available. I had to go to the SunPass website to learn about this.
most rentals don't use a physical transponder anymore, the cars are 'fleet registered' under toll by plate where the system captures the tag number and bills accordingly. If you use a transponder of your own, it overrides 'toll by plate'.
all explained here: https://www.sunpass.com/rentalcar
In simple terms an electronic toll bridge or lane will first look for a transponder to process. If no transponder is found the system "captures" the tag. First they look at SUNPASS to see if the tag is attached to a transponder, then they look to see if it is registered to a fleet account, and lastly they process as unregistered.
This is why it is important to register the tag in SUNPASS, and not simply rely on the transponder "working". Similarly, when you return the rental, remove the tag from your account promptly.
Thank youWe fly to WDW several times a year, and rent from Alamo most times, most recently 3 weeks ago.
We have a Sunpass, and we bring the transponder to WDW with us. As soon as we pick out a car, we log into Sunpass mobile app on i-phone to register the rental vehicle plate. Takes less than 2 minutes. We love using the Sunpass lane. If toll station fails to read the transponder, because we registered the car (as PP notes) plate on Sunpass site, it should default to our account anyway.
If you did not have Sunpass, and did nothing else, Alamo's Sunpass-process would kick in. You'd pay for the toll plus the daily use fee. (I do not believe Alamo passes toll savings on. It's the "rack" rate for the toll).