we have three of these and they do not activate til you use them. they expiration date becomes a year from the date you first used it.
recommendation, do not do this for over one year. (very important, if you want to pay off but it is after your renewel date it will be the difference between the cost of the pass and what you owe for the remainder of the year) Instead, 30 days before it expires call them and pay the 99 plus tax to renew it. It will save you about 90 dollars over the annual flex pay amount. This is what we plan to do. The flex feature is a great feature but I would not do it for more than one year, it is not cost effective after that.