Don't Bother with Sun Pass or renting a transponder from the rental car companies!

[rhettreaux]

Hi Everyone,

I'm traveling down to Florida and since I'll be staying in both Orlando and St. Pete's Beach, I looked into the cost of getting a SunPass for the car I'm renting. Alamo will rent me a Sunpass transponder for $3.95 per day, plus the cost of any tolls. If I wanted to buy a SunPass transponder, it costs $19.95, plus I would need to load my account with a cash balance. I looked through the SunPass website FAQs, and it did not say anything about getting a refund upon returning the transponder.

On the SunPass website, though, it said the pass had interoperability with the Georgia Peach Pass and North Carolina NC Quick Pass transponder programs. That got me wondering about how the terms of those programs compared with the Sunpass terms.

I didn't check on the NC Quick Pass, but after asking a bunch of questions, I purchased a Georgia Peach Pass over the phone (1-855-PCH-PASS (724-7277)). There is no cost for the pass, but you have to put a minimum cash balance of $20 on the pass. If you have an unused cash balance on the account when you are finished with the pass, you can return the pass and they will send you a check for the remainder. The pass works in Florida, Georgia, and North Carolina. They told me I'd receive the pass within 7-10 days. The pass itself is about the size of a Band-Aid, and the customer service person I spoke to advised me to just tape it in the window of the rental car so it would be easier to remove when I turned the car back in. I gave her my New Hampshire vehicle information when I opened the account.

Georgia has a website http://www.peachpass.com/ and a mobile app supporting the peach pass program. Once you set up an online account, you can go onto the website and manually change the vehicle information for the pass. This was important to me since I don't know any of the vehicle information for the rental car I'll be getting.

The way I look at it, I have nothing to lose. Even if the pass somehow doesn't work, I can return it and get my $20 back. The only cost to me is the actual cost of the tolls, which is also discounted to the lower SunPass rates in Florida if you have a Peach Pass Personal Toll Account, which is different than the Pay n GO! Peach Pass Account which is sold in stores in Georgia. If you have a Pay n Go! account you must convert to a Personal Toll Account before you can use the Peach pass in Florida.

So, if you're planning to be driving a rental car around Florida and don't want to stop to pay cash at every toll stop (and there are a LOT of them in Florida) OR pay $19.99 for a SunPass OR pay $3.95 a day to the rental car company to rent their transponder, give the Georgia Peach pass a try. I'll update this post to let you know how well it worked for me when I get back.

 

[rymahoney]

How many tolls is there from Mco to Disney and back? Is it worth it. We are renting a car and staying on site for 10 days. We will use rental car but never leave Disney property. Thanks.

 

[ice cube]

There are 2 tolls if you take 528 to I 4 they are both on 528....the first toll is just after you get onto 528 and the second is about 2+ miles down but make sure if you don't have a pass to stay in the far right lane because it will seem like your getting off 528 but its just the toll...

 

[bumbershoot]

How many tolls is there from Mco to Disney and back? Is it worth it. We are renting a car and staying on site for 10 days. We will use rental car but never leave Disney property. Thanks.

Not enough to buy a transponder, IMO. We get a roll of quarters and around 10 ones, keep them handy, and we're good.

 

[Woodview]

Pay CASH .... as advised Stay in Right Lane & Exit to Pay Cash or Cash & Receipt

You rejoin after payment .

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

I just rent from a company that only charges me on the day I actually use the plate pass. Then I make a decision on what to do after I see the lines for the toll booth.

I am sure the above method would save me $10, but it's not worth the hassle of dealing with the State of GA (and I live her LOL!)

 

[cluvsdisney]

Not enough to buy a transponder, IMO. We get a roll of quarters and around 10 ones, keep them handy, and we're good.

We do the same thing. So far, we've never had much of a wait at the toll booth to pay cash...maybe 4 cars max in many trips.

 

[Donna M]

If you take 417 to WDW, there are a couple of tolls. The really important thing is to stay to the right when you approach the toll, it's almost like an exit. If you go through the high speed lane and you rented from Dollar or Thrifty, they will sock you with a hefty administrative fee ( $15 )for not signing up for whatever they call their toll program.

 

[ashleyrm]

Good to know. Of course, I just paid the $19.99 for a sunpass.

 

[Stinky_Pete]

If you take 417 to WDW, there are a couple of tolls. The really important thing is to stay to the right when you approach the toll, it's almost like an exit. If you go through the high speed lane and you rented from Dollar or Thrifty, they will sock you with a hefty administrative fee ( $15 )for not signing up for whatever they call their toll program.

Thank you! Glad to hear 417 still has cash tolls, as I was wondering about it.

A couple years ago I had a rental from Dollar and went to St. Pete. My navigator didn't select "no tolls" on his app and we ended up going through a couple of the no cash tolls. $36 charge from Dollar! UGH!

 

[linzjane88]

I just purchased the Sunpass sticker thing. I know it says it has to be adhered to the window to work (IE not removeable) but I have read enough reports of taping it to the window/holding it up for me to experiment with trying it. I am terribly impatient and I HATE waiting in toll lines so I figured I would give this a shot.