budget car rental and toll issue

[wdwrunner]

Any help is appreciated on this.

I just got back from Orlando where I rented from budget. It was fine. A bit of a hard sell but I kept saying no.
Anyway our issue was with a toll plaza on rt 417 south, namely the first one after the airport heading to see. We threw the $1.50 in coins in the basket and waited and never got a green light so we went ahead and told the person at the next toll plaza. He gave us the sun pass # . We called right then but it was too early. They told us to call on Monday. We called and no violation is showing up in the system YET but they suggested we let budget know. That's a nightmare getting a real person on the phone.

Long story short..anyone know how I can rectify this ? How much will budget nail me? What can I do?

Any help appreciated.

 

[formill]

We had this but I am of no help........we just paid it. There was a somewhere around $15 charge from Budget to process the charge then the toll charge on top.......we got charged for two tolls..........there was only one where like you I remembered it.......we kept dumping and dumping change in well over the toll price and it never went green.......the other one I have no clue where it was. Very annoying but I was not sure what we could possibly do. Budget sent me emails with the fees/charge and put it on the credit card.

 

[wdwrunner]

Thank you..as long as it is not $100 or something I am ok with it. (Though there goes my good deal of $77 for a five day rental) . Lol

Thanks again.

 

[seashoreCM]

Write to both the toll agency and the rental car company right away. Don't wait until you get back home.

The only safe way to avoid these problems is to use only those toll roads and toll plazas with manned lanes, and get a receipt each time. On 417 (Greene's Way) exit to Disney using the Route 535/Route 536 exit; there is no exact change plaza there.

Some toll plazas require that you go down what looks like an exit ramp to pay the toll if you do not have a Florida transponder and did not sign up for the rental company's toll paying option. If you missed the turnoff, you get nailed when you go under the electronic archway that looks somwhat like an overhead sign bar and might even have some destination signs on it.

 

[jwongclan]

Write to both the toll agency and the rental car company right away. Don't wait until you get back home. The only safe way to avoid these problems is to use only those toll roads and toll plazas with manned lanes, and get a receipt each time. On 417 (Greene's Way) exit to Disney using the Route 535/Route 536 exit; there is no exact change plaza there. Some toll plazas require that you go down what looks like an exit ramp to pay the toll if you do not have a Florida transponder and did not sign up for the rental company's toll paying option. If you missed the turnoff, you get nailed when you go under the electronic archway that looks somwhat like an overhead sign bar and might even have some destination signs on it.

Wow, thanks for the heads up! Are there any of these kind of tolls from MCO to Port Canaveral?

 

[Capt_BJ]

did you happen to check the page on the SUNPASS site that outlines the various rental car companies policies, fees and procedures?

https://www.sunpass.com/rentalcar

it is a good thing to review b4 you choose who to rent from ....

for Budget, as I read this, says if you choose NO when you got the car but go thru an electronic toll, they simple automatically change you to a YES at the regular $3.95 a day rate, plus toll charged (max fee of $16.75 a month plus tolls)

much better than some other companies that will charge an admin fee or $15 per toll incurred to a maximum of $105 .....


++++
it is not uncommon for an exact change basket to get clogged ... people throw trash, and bills and in unmanned areas certain folks will stick a rag or paper in the basket and sit in the bushes to go and collect the monies . . .

 

[wdwrunner]

Thanks for the link, Capn_BJ.

I double checked my receipt and Budget did not automatically add the $3.95/day but then again I didn't blow through the toll. I stopped and deposited money in the basket, it just never registered. I was causing a line so I proceeded forward, got the light and horn sound.

I TRIED to call them (sunpass) AND I stopped at the next booth but to no avail. Getting a real person on the phone was difficult enough but then when I did, no one saw a "violation" but I understand it can take up to a month.

It is what it is I guess.. $15 isn't so bad IF that is all it is. (even though I was right and did pay the toll!).

Thanks again..
Kris

 

[Capt_BJ]

additional info

this is what the TURNPIKE says
http://www.floridasturnpike.com/tools_paytoll.cfm

•At exact change lanes, wait for the green light; if the light says red, check the coin return on the collection basket. Damaged and foreign coins will be returned. As long as you have deposited the correct number of coins, even if the light stays red, continue through the lane. Customers are never expected to pay more than the posted amount. You will not receive a violation in the mail.

now 417 is NOT TURNPIKE but rather an "Orlando Orange County Expressway Authority" road

IF they follow Turnpike protocol I doubt you'll ever hear about this again.

On BOTH the Turnpike and Expressway Authority roads, when a vehicle does not pay a toll the system takes a picture of the plate and will revert to Toll by Plate. First the SUNPASS records are checked and if there is a Sunpass associate with the plate the toll is simply processed. IF there is NO SUNPASS then the state sends a bill once a month to the owner. In your case this COULD mean that BUDGET might come back for the daily fee plus the toll, once they finally get the bill.

https://www.oocea.com/TravelersExpressways/UnpaidTolls.aspx

{SunPass is Florida’s prepaid electronic toll program. For customers without SunPass, the alternative is TOLL-BY-PLATE, a collection system that takes a photo of a vehicle’s license plate as it travels under tolling equipment installed overhead and mails a bill for the tolls incurred over a 30-day period, plus a $2.50 administrative charge, to the registered owner of the vehicle also from the TURNPIKE site}