Cashles Tolls

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

I ran into the one near Celebration and 417 to go to the Publix once too. I always have plenty of change on me though so it wasn't a problem then.

I now have a portable Sunpass Transponder since I seem to be driving to Florida so often.

 

[jtowntoflorida]

I am not a big fan of the un-staffed toll booths that take exact change only. Luckily I've always had the right exact change. But what if you don't? Do you just blow through the gate? Back up and try to get back on the freeway? Hopefully I'll never have to find out.

"Exact change" just means that you won't be getting money back if you put in more than the required toll. In the past, we just pay the overage and chalk it up to a "tax" for not keeping enough quarters on us.

On our last trip, we had to dig into our pressed penny tube to pay the tolls because somehow, we had zero cash, including coins. I'd never been so happy that my kids picked THAT habit up! LOL.

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

I've always wondered the same thing myself. Anyone got an answer?

I am not a big fan of the un-staffed toll booths that take exact change only. Luckily I've always had the right exact change. But what if you don't? Do you just blow through the gate? Back up and try to get back on the freeway? Hopefully I'll never have to find out.

You can drive through them and then you'll get a ticket in the mail. He was in Orlando for a work conference and did that once. We live in Georgia. I think it was around 50 dollars or so? It was awhile ago and I don't remember exactly.

 

[Sytrace]

They send a bill in the amount of the toll that you would have paid, plus a small "processing fee" Ironically, the mailing address to remit payment is in Georgia. lol

 

[tabistar]

I am not a big fan of the un-staffed toll booths that take exact change only. Luckily I've always had the right exact change. But what if you don't? Do you just blow through the gate? Back up and try to get back on the freeway? Hopefully I'll never have to find out.

Last Thanksgiving week, we got off an exit to go to Chick-fil-A for lunch. We didn't have enough change, so we drove through, absent any other options. We never heard anything about it. Not my finest moment, but sometimes you just have to go with it!

 

[Sytrace]

If you are driving a rental car it is harder to track down. lol
And I am not sure how they would process out of state license plates or if one toll at 1.25 would be worth the effort to track you down.

It happens to the best of us. Sometimes, you don't have cash and you are pretty stuck and have to go thru the toll.

 

[chicagogrl]

Can you buy something that is prepaid?

 

[mom2rtk]

If you are driving a rental car it is harder to track down. lol
And I am not sure how they would process out of state license plates or if one toll at 1.25 would be worth the effort to track you down.

It happens to the best of us. Sometimes, you don't have cash and you are pretty stuck and have to go thru the toll.

My understanding is that the rental car companies get the fine, and that they can and do charge it back to the person who rented the car, along with a hefty fee.

 

[bumbershoot]

I am not a big fan of the un-staffed toll booths that take exact change only. Luckily I've always had the right exact change. But what if you don't? Do you just blow through the gate? Back up and try to get back on the freeway? Hopefully I'll never have to find out.

DH got on one (ironically on the way to the store to get some ones for the tolls). There was a container with envelopes in it specifically to send your toll in. EASY. He took the envelope, we tossed in a check for the amount of the toll, and never heard a word from National or sunpass (though they did cash the check).


Also, a google of "sunpass missed toll" yields:

Please mail missed toll payments (check and money orders only, indicating vehicle plate information, date, time and location of toll plaza or mile marker) to FDOT Turnpike Enterprise, PO Box 310, Ocoee, FL 34761-0310. DO NOT SEND CASH. Please be sure to retain a copy of your cancelled check/money order in the event a SunPass toll violation is generated. This may assist in closing the document.

It does go on to discuss rental cars, but what they say wasn't necessary for us. A quick check in the mail solved the whole thing before they talked to National.

Once getting off 417 near Celebration to hit a Publix before checking in. Other time was an on-ramp to 528 going to airport after day at Sea World.

Cashless? You sure it wasn't just exact change?

I ran into the one near Celebration and 417 to go to the Publix once too. I always have plenty of change on me though so it wasn't a problem then.

You're indicating that that one is an exact change toll.

If you are driving a rental car it is harder to track down. lol

EASY to track down; they find that it's registered to the agency, the agency looks up who had the car and sends you the bill with their fee on it! DH has gotten two (I think) in TX; one was righteous and one was not (the car had already been turned in by him when the toll was incurred). National was easy to deal with both times.

 

[mom2rtk]

I ended up going through a couple of cashless tolls in Tampa. Beware that Dollar Rent A Car charges a $15 "administrative fee" on top of the toll if you go through one. So I got a bill for $34 from Dollar after going through two of those tolls in Tampa.

That would have still been less than the $10/day they wanted to charge us for their toll service up front. We were going to be in FL for 9 days. Definitely not worth $90.

 

[Sytrace]

Perhaps it is different for car rental violations. I send mine to Atlanta Georgia with a slip that they mail me with an invoice number and amount of the toll that was missed and a processing fee.

As for rental car tracking, I have no doubt they could easily track it...thus the lol at the end.

 

[chicagogrl]

I can't get the transponder since they need a license plate number. Don't have that since we are renting a car.

It is also called open road tolling. We have that here.
We do have lanes where you can use change though.

In the areas where it is all electronic, you drive through the toll it takes a picture of your license plate and have to send in Your payment by mail with the monthly processing fee of $2.50.

But each rental car company has different policies. Some make you decide at time of you pick up your car on whether you want the sunpass? Some charge you daily fee even if you don't go through a toll.

 

[jtowntoflorida]

I can't get the transponder since they need a license plate number. Don't have that since we are renting a car.

You can sign up for the transponder using your car's license plate and then after picking up your rental car, going into your online SunPass account and changing the plate number to the rental vehicle. After you drop the rental off, you change the plate number back to your own car. Easy peasy.

For me, though, that's still not as easy as having a few single and quarters to throw into the tolls.

 

[chicagogrl]

Good idea! I will probably just get change now that I know what I need.
I am not driving where the cashless tolls are. They are towards Miami for now.

 

[LOL!]

You can sign up for the transponder using your car's license plate and then after picking up your rental car, going into your online SunPass account and changing the plate number to the rental vehicle. After you drop the rental off, you change the plate number back to your own car. Easy peasy.

For me, though, that's still not as easy as having a few single and quarters to throw into the tolls.

Yup. I've even forgotten to go online and enter the rental car plate info and never had a problem. I think as long as you have the transponder in the vehicle and it registers at the checkpoints with a valid account to debit there's no reason for them to have to reference the plate number.

I despise toll roads and think the entire process is nothing but one big money grab, surpassed only by red light cameras as examples of government greed. But unfortunately the law is on their side and they use it to their advantage if you don't play ball by taking what would normally be an inconsequential amount and turning it into ridiculously high administrative and penalty charges. An unpaid $5 toll can quickly turn into hundreds of dollars of pain in the butt. Buying a transponder and keeping around $10 in the account avoids all of that.

 

[Lucius Best]

Cashless? You sure it wasn't just exact change?

You are correct, meant to say that exit near Celebration was unmanned/exact change.

 

[coolbrook]

We were in Orlando this year and drove to a mall to buy some shoes. We don't usually leave WDW when we are there so we are not familiar with which roads are toll and which aren't, have an old car with no GPS. We needed to get off the highway at a certain exit to get to the mall and before we realized there was no way (not even exact change or quarters) to pay for the toll except Sunpass, we had already entered the exit ramp. My husband worried the whole trip that we would get a big fine in the mail when we got home since we could tell they had cameras. We did get a bill for the toll and processing fee which was small with a photo of our license plate in the mail. It is confusing and frustrating, and feels like the local governments are just trying to milk the tourists for every penny they can get.

 

[Lucius Best]

That would have still been less than the $10/day they wanted to charge us for their toll service up front. We were going to be in FL for 9 days. Definitely not worth $90.

It wouldn't be $90, the rental car companies have weekly rates or maximums, for Dollar it would probably be around $50? And Dollar only hits you with that $15 fee if you don't sign up in advance but then use it. Did some research before Tampa trip, other car rental places have cheaper plans, we used Avis.

You definitely don't need it if you're sticking around WDW. Previous poster was talking about Tampa, we decided it was worth it on that trip, not worth the time/trouble to figure out the back roads to avoid the multiple cashless/open road tolls.

 

[karrit2000]

I went through the unmanned one a number of years ago. I think it was the exit 3 one. I didn't know it was unmanned and I didn't have the exact change. I kept waiting for a bill from the rental car company but I never got one. Of course that was well over 5 years ago so things have changed since then. Now if I am driving I always get off at exit 6. Usually use ME so I don't have to worry about it

 

[pilferk]

Just rented my car at Dollar and they flashed an alert warnng me about cashless tolls. I assume this is to push me to by the ez pass deal at 10 bucks a day, as they tried a few years back. Only leaving property a time or two, just wondering if these so called cashless tolls are anywherin the icinity of WDW. Thanks.

You'll be fine, unless you have some plans to drive down to the Miami vicinity. That's the only area currently completely "cashless" in Florida.