Anyone have success fighting ez pass fee from car rental company?

[amcnj]

A friend recently took a trip using a rental car. They had their own ez pass device so told the car company to turn off the device the car was equipped with. Apparently one of the toll plazas failed to detect their device, so the car company charged for the $1 toll plus a fee of 3.95 per day for the first five days, basically a $20 fee.

I know on most trips I make it is not unusual for the device to not register at one or more toll plazas, and then ez pass matches your license plate to your account and just adds the charge. So I am assuming that happened here, but to the rental car’s account.

Has anyone else had this occur? Did you just pay the charges, or were you able to get the car rental company to waive the fee?

 

[seashoreCM]

Did he drive through the toll booth too fast? For toll arches or gantries it may be desirable to go a little4 less than the speed limit for good measure.

Could he review his own toll billings in advance and work directly with EZpass (or whatever home toll agencyt he uses) and make up any missed tolls?

Would the rental company waive the charges for days not related to the missed toll, after you submitted transcripts of your own toll billings plus last minute make up payments?

If it would make you or your friend or any eavesdroppers happy I could begin any forum reply I make to a question on this topic with an opening sentence like, "Use of your own transponder in a rental car is unreliable."

 

[sam_gordon]

A friend recently took a trip using a rental car. They had their own ez pass device so told the car company to turn off the device the car was equipped with. Apparently one of the toll plazas failed to detect their device, so the car company charged for the $1 toll plus a fee of 3.95 per day for the first five days, basically a $20 fee.

I know on most trips I make it is not unusual for the device to not register at one or more toll plazas, and then ez pass matches your license plate to your account and just adds the charge. So I am assuming that happened here, but to the rental car’s account.

Has anyone else had this occur? Did you just pay the charges, or were you able to get the car rental company to waive the fee?

Did they register the rental car license plate w/EZ pass before leaving the pick up location?

Sorry, but I think they're on the hook for the $20. I mean it couldn't hurt to call the rental agency and make the case, but the rental agency got the bill from the toll plaza, so they're totally within their right for the fees.

 

[Capt_BJ]

actually the rental companies use a third party for the toll services

and concur, at least with SUNPASS, you put the rental tag info in their system to prevent this very thing from happening. The 'system' looks for a transponder first then reads the tag electronically and checks their database for the tag being associated with an account. I often don't even have the SUNPASS in the car but the tolls show up in my account ... no foul.

 

[erionm]

Not all toll roads in Central FL accept E-ZPass. Only toll roads operated by the Central FL Expressway Authority (CFX) accept E-ZPass. Toll roads operated by either the FL Turnpike Enterprise (FTE) or FL Department of Transportation (FDOT) do not accept E-ZPass at this time.

Can you get the name of the toll plaza that was charged back to the rental agency? With that, one of us locals can determine if the toll was E-ZPass compatible or not.

Only the toll roads shown in purple on the map linked to below accept E-ZPass:
https://www.cfxway.com/wp-content/u...Map-of-CFX-Roads-Accepting-E-ZPassFinal-1.pdf

 

[pens4821]

I didn't have this exact thing happen, but I was paying cash for all my tolls. For some reason, same thing, one booth read the transponder and I also got charged $20 something for a $1 toll. I called the number of the outside company (I'm almost certain they sent me a bill but charged my card on file already), and they took it off without any issue. Now I did say I had the receipts if they needed me to send it in, he said he would just wave it. It was much more painless than I expected, only took about a minute on the phone.

 

[JohnneeO]

I was able to receive a refund via my CC company (Chase). I had called them to complain (I can't even remember now why I had decided to call them), and they just took it off my bill. In the end, I was satisfied because I was made whole, but I still don't like the fact that the Avis was able to collect ther fees.

 

[amcnj]

Thanks to all who responded. They did not put the rental on their account temporarily. Though I wonder how that would work, as I know when I have a missed toll, it can take a day or more before the charge gets matched up to your account. Would you have to leave the rental plate on your account till it is matched? What if someone else now used that rental car and racked up some tolls? Or even if someone else rented that same car later the last day of your rental period, when you had charges too?

I guess it gets messy since the car rental company and ez pass agency are involved. I had initially suggested contacting ez pass and seeing if they would move that toll charge to their account, and if so, then there would be no tolls on the rental car plate so the car company would have to waive the fee. But I don’t really know if that is all possible. Their initial thought was to dispute the charge with their credit card company.

So far they had only contacted the rental company and their policy is to charge per day, up to five days, even if used once during the rental period.

I will relay the info about how the rental companies often use a third party to handle the tolls and maybe they will get further contacting them directly.

Oh and the missed toll happened in upstate NY and was an ez pass plaza.

 

[ljcrochet]

id they register the rental car license plate w/EZ pass before leaving the pick up location?

EZpass says to just use the transponder normally in the car and not register it to a rental car. Unlike sunpass which you register with an end date.

 

[erionm]

EZpass says to just use the transponder normally in the car and not register it to a rental car. Unlike sunpass which you register with an end date.

That seems to vary based on the state. From a google search, E-ZPass New York says don't add rental cars, but E-ZPass New Jersey says to add them.

 

[sam_gordon]

EZpass says to just use the transponder normally in the car and not register it to a rental car. Unlike sunpass which you register with an end date.

I got an EZ pass last year. I've used it in two rental cars and our personal vehicle (in Florida). I've always had the license plate of the car I'm in registered. That's the backup in case the transponder doesn't get read correctly.

 

[rangerxenos]

I didn't have this exact thing happen, but I was paying cash for all my tolls. For some reason, same thing, one booth read the transponder and I also got charged $20 something for a $1 toll. I called the number of the outside company (I'm almost certain they sent me a bill but charged my card on file already), and they took it off without any issue. Now I did say I had the receipts if they needed me to send it in, he said he would just wave it. It was much more painless than I expected, only took about a minute on the phone.

I did the same thing, they tried to charge me $20 for a .50 toll. I called and they waived it.

 

[rangerxenos]

I got an EZ pass last year. I've used it in two rental cars and our personal vehicle (in Florida). I've always had the license plate of the car I'm in registered. That's the backup in case the transponder doesn't get read correctly.

To my knowledge EZ Pass doesn't work in FL, I think they use Sun Pass?

 

[sam_gordon]

To my knowledge EZ Pass doesn't work in FL, I think they use Sun Pass?

Oops, sorry, I used Epass... https://epass.cfxway.com/EpassWeb/

 

[ljcrochet]

I got an EZ pass last year. I've used it in two rental cars and our personal vehicle (in Florida). I've always had the license plate of the car I'm in registered. That's the backup in case the transponder doesn't get read correctly.

THis is the information from ezpass
Do not add rental car information to your E-ZPass account. However, you can use your E-ZPass Tag in any vehicle of the same class. Please ensure that your E-ZPass Tag is properly mounted as per installation instructions in all vehicles in which the Tag is used. A Tag that is not mounted properly may prevent the Tag from being read in the lane. If your Tag does not read, you will be subject to the terms of your car rental agreement that apply to E-ZPass usage, toll transactions and/or violation transactions.
https://www.e-zpassny.com/en/faq/rentalcars.shtml

To my knowledge EZ Pass doesn't work in FL, I think they use Sun Pass?

EZ pass works one one road in central florida. I once got charged by EZ pass and sunpass for the same toll. Neither sunpass or EZpass would refund me. EZpass said they were investigating. Sunpass said to contact EZpass

 

[joelkfla]

EZ pass works one one road in central florida. I once got charged by EZ pass and sunpass for the same toll. Neither sunpass or EZpass would refund me. EZpass said they were investigating. Sunpass said to contact EZpass

E-ZPass works on all CFX roads in FL, but not on FL Turnpike operated roads. Sunpass wouldn't refund it, because your E-ZPass would not be recognized and charged at SunPass toll points, only at E-Pass toll points. You should have contacted E-Pass (CFX).

 

[ljcrochet]

E-ZPass works on all CFX roads in FL, but not on FL Turnpike operated roads. Sunpass wouldn't refund it, because your E-ZPass would not be recognized and charged at SunPass toll points, only at E-Pass toll points. You should have contacted E-Pass (CFX).

I did. I sent EZpass the statements from them and sunpass showing both tolls. They said they were investigation it. It has been months. I actually forgot about it till this thread.
It was our first trip to WDW as southern florida residents. After that trip, and I got the ezpass statement, I took the ezpass down and put it in the special baggie.

 

[erionm]

I did. I sent EZpass the statements from them and sunpass showing both tolls. They said they were investigation it. It has been months. I actually forgot about it till this thread.
It was our first trip to WDW as southern florida residents. After that trip, and I got the ezpass statement, I took the ezpass down and put it in the special baggie.

If you have BOTH SunPass and E-ZPass, you may want to consider switching over to an E-Pass Xtra transponder from the Central FL Expressway Authority (CFX). The E-Pass Xtra transponder works in FL & GA and everywhere E-ZPass is accepted.
https://www.cfxway.com/e-pass-xtra/

 

[joelkfla]

I did. I sent EZpass the statements from them and sunpass showing both tolls. They said they were investigation it. It has been months. I actually forgot about it till this thread.
It was our first trip to WDW as southern florida residents. After that trip, and I got the ezpass statement, I took the ezpass down and put it in the special baggie.

I said E-Pass, not E-ZPass. E-Pass is the transponder issued by the Orlando area toll agency CFX, E-ZPass is the northeast USA consortium. See the last paragraph of the last FAQ here.

SunPass is the transponder of the Florida Turnpike, which does not recognize E-ZPass, so you could not have had a duplicate charge by SunPass & E-ZPass.

 

[ljcrochet]

I said E-Pass, not E-ZPass. E-Pass is the transponder issued by the Orlando area toll agency CFX, E-ZPass is the northeast USA consortium. See the last paragraph of the last FAQ here.

SunPass is the transponder of the Florida Turnpike, which does not recognize E-ZPass, so you could not have had a duplicate charge by SunPass & E-ZPass.

EZpass works on Epass. Since i have an EZpass that was who i had to contact.