Got a fine for not paying one of those "Florida tolls"

[crzy4dsny]

I've driven to Florida 6 times. 99% of the time I park the car and it sits the entire time! We do not venture out. This past July we were down for 2 weeks, the first week off site at a host hotel for an event my daughter was involved in. While there and driving around I had to go through a toll 2 times, the only two times in my life. I know for a fact that I threw $1 in each time. The second time I think I may have pulled away before the light turned green as I am not familiar with this type of toll. Every other toll I deal with is E-Z pass. I drive thru and keep it moving. I recently got a bill for $3 saying I failed to pay the toll with pictures of my truck. Just for the principal, knowing I paid the toll, I want to fight the "fine". Has anyone had any luck winning one of these?

 

[bumbershoot]

Not in FL but in TX , DH has successfully fought it.

 

[Maistre Gracey]

Not familiar with that kind of toll..?? Not sure if the light was green? You aren't familiar with red or green lights?

Maybe I'm reading too much into your statement.

MG

 

[uccats97]

Leaving MCO in a rental car, I missed a toll. I saw the sign at the last minute but there was a curb type divider keeping me from being able to move to the cash lane. I had no choice but to drive through the Sun Pass lane. There was a charge on my credit card from the car rental company for almost $7! What a joke! I have no idea who to call to fight that one. Good luck! And let me know who to contact if you decide to fight it, lol.

 

[Alesia]

Leaving MCO in a rental car, I missed a toll. I saw the sign at the last minute but there was a curb type divider keeping me from being able to move to the cash lane. I had no choice but to drive through the Sun Pass lane. There was a charge on my credit card from the car rental company for almost $7! What a joke! I have no idea who to call to fight that one. Good luck! And let me know who to contact if you decide to fight it, lol.

You wouldn't have grounds to fight it - you didn't pay the toll. It doesn't matter if it's accidental.

 

[uccats97]

You wouldn't have grounds to fight it - you didn't pay the toll. It doesn't matter if it's accidental.

I wouldn't expect not to have to pay at all. I just assumed almost $7 probably had a fee tacked on and would like that fee refunded. How can they expect people to cross a physical barrier in order to pay a toll, especially on a brand new road, at night, that one has never traveled before? Good thing I always use Magical Express! Only rented the car for a quick visit to Tampa.

 

[bumbershoot]

Not familiar with that kind of toll..?? Not sure if the light was green? You aren't familiar with red or green lights?

Maybe I'm reading too much into your statement.

MG

Not everyone has toll roads where they live. Not everyone uses them even if they have them; I refuse. As long as there are other options in my area I will continue to refuse.

So the type where you throw coins in and wait for a light is WEIRD, when you're not used to it. I once double-paid one of those because it went 1.00, .75, .50, .25...1.00. Like I hadn't even paid it. So I tossed another dollar in, while taking pictures as it went down and then skipped zero and went straight to 1.00 again, and continued on.

The op was likely focused on tossing in coins and wasn't sure when it went red or green or whatever.

 

[AquamarineSteph]

We rented a car down in Miami once and drove along an area with major construction. It said it was a toll road, but there was NO booth, no place to pay, no stops to pay - nothing. We didn't know what to do but keep driving because it was an interstate type road. We don't have toll roads here, so we weren't even sure if we'd read the signs correctly. Then the rental car company sent us a bill not only for the missed toll payment but their 'administrative' costs which were almost $30.

Since then I have done a better job when arranging the car rental so that we aren't charged some weird amount for something we would have done if we could have figured it out.

 

[Woodview]

Sorry You were Driving & There are Huge yellow warning notices saying

Toll booth Ahead .... Cash Lanes Keep Right

No Excuse ....... Your Fault ....

No Excuse that you do not have Toll roads where you Live.

 

[AquamarineSteph]

Actually, no, there weren't any cash lanes or toll booths on this section. We were a little lost, and it was our fault because we didn't know where we were going. But there was NO place to pay a toll on this stretch of road.

 

[goofy4tink]

We rented a car down in Miami once and drove along an area with major construction. It said it was a toll road, but there was NO booth, no place to pay, no stops to pay - nothing. We didn't know what to do but keep driving because it was an interstate type road. We don't have toll roads here, so we weren't even sure if we'd read the signs correctly. Then the rental car company sent us a bill not only for the missed toll payment but their 'administrative' costs which were almost $30.

Since then I have done a better job when arranging the car rental so that we aren't charged some weird amount for something we would have done if we could have figured it out.

Actually, no, there weren't any cash lanes or toll booths on this section. We were a little lost, and it was our fault because we didn't know where we were going. But there was NO place to pay a toll on this stretch of road.

You were probably on the Fl Turnpike, which has overhead plate readers...no toll booths! They send out bills. The only times I've driven this road, I was in my dad's car....he knew he was going to get a bill, so no big deal.

 

[Disney Ron]

Leaving MCO in a rental car, I missed a toll. I saw the sign at the last minute but there was a curb type divider keeping me from being able to move to the cash lane. I had no choice but to drive through the Sun Pass lane. There was a charge on my credit card from the car rental company for almost $7! What a joke! I have no idea who to call to fight that one. Good luck! And let me know who to contact if you decide to fight it, lol.

Were you in an Alamo rental? If so Alamo has system called TollPass. When you approach a tollbooth you can either get into the cash lanes to pay or you can choose to just drive through the SunPass lane and Alamo charges your credit card a $3.95 usage fee plus whatever the price of the toll you went through is. I used it on 528 just the other day while on vacation so my credit card will be billed the $3.95 usage fee plus the $2.25 toll for a total of $6.20.

BTW, we just came home yesterday and the sign before the tollbooth said $100 fine for failure to pay toll so consider yourself lucky you were only charged $7.00.

 

[kamik86]

I have seen many toll types. For example in MA they are OBVIOUS. the booths are across the road, you can't physically miss them. You know when you paid and it registers because the little boom gate (not sure if this is a real term so will explain the kind with one long arm on a pivot) goes up to let you pass.

The first time I saw the tacoma-narrows bridge I wondered how many just don't read signs and skip the toll at all, becuase you can just drive right on by if you have the version of easy pass whatever they call it out there. However if you want to pay cash or card you have to get off on a little road that looks like an exit adn the tools are there. So its MUCH faster to get through then in MA but much easier to confuse.

I paid it in cash the first time, then realized that was dumb, its a work trip, If I pay in cash it comes from my incidentals. If I pay with my corporate card the company pays and I save $5. Not sure what happens if you just blew past it without paying or having a pass.


Thanks for reminding me to get my own pass again though. I'll be taking a rental to boston soon so taking the mass pike with tolls. The rental car company would be much more expensive if I used their pass so I'll get my own and just use that.

 

[Psychodisney]

I got one of those one time too. I try to get receipts from the toll booths as I go through but unfortunately, there are unmanned booths at some exits without receipts. That's where my fine came from.

 

[Geoff_M]

I have a question about a blown toll booth in Orlando. In late June my son accidentally got into a 'Sun Pass only" lane on a a toll road in Orlando. I was told about it over the phone (I was back home), so I did what I do when this has happens when we're in Illinois (my family has a history of getting in the wrong lane on tollways), I went to the web site of the toll road and looked for an option to pay the toll on-line. Illinois gives you the option to self-report by giving the date, plaza, and plate number and you can pay the toll with no extra charges as long as you do it within the grace period. Apparently Florida doesn't give you this option.

I went to the Florida site and went to the link about paying unpaid tolls, and it requires s "Document Number" in order to proceed. So it seems that you must first wait for Florida to mail you a ticket for the blown toll... with an additional fine attached, no doubt. Oh, joy! So, two months has passed since my son's mistake and we haven't gotten anything in the mail. Does anyone have an idea of how long it takes for them to mail these things out???

 

[Maistre Gracey]

Not everyone has toll roads where they live. Not everyone uses them even if they have them; I refuse. As long as there are other options in my area I will continue to refuse.

So the type where you throw coins in and wait for a light is WEIRD, when you're not used to it. I once double-paid one of those because it went 1.00, .75, .50, .25...1.00. Like I hadn't even paid it. So I tossed another dollar in, while taking pictures as it went down and then skipped zero and went straight to 1.00 again, and continued on.

The op was likely focused on tossing in coins and wasn't sure when it went red or green or whatever.

But they admitted they weren't sure if the light turned green yet.

MG

 

[sam_gordon]

I've driven to Florida 6 times. 99% of the time I park the car and it sits the entire time! We do not venture out. This past July we were down for 2 weeks, the first week off site at a host hotel for an event my daughter was involved in. While there and driving around I had to go through a toll 2 times, the only two times in my life. I know for a fact that I threw $1 in each time. The second time I think I may have pulled away before the light turned green as I am not familiar with this type of toll. Every other toll I deal with is E-Z pass. I drive thru and keep it moving. I recently got a bill for $3 saying I failed to pay the toll with pictures of my truck. Just for the principal, knowing I paid the toll, I want to fight the "fine". Has anyone had any luck winning one of these?

Can't you use the pictures to show you went through the cash only lane? Is it possible you threw in a Canadian (or other nationality) coin that didn't register? Is it possible the coins didn't go in the hopper?
Even if you've never been through one of these kinds of tolls before, it seems strange to me to ignore a red light right in front of the car, especially if I can see a green light (that's not lit).

I think you can show that your truck was in the cash only lane and say you paid, but I don't know that it's worth it to save $3.

 

[pooch]

Did this on the Mass pike a few months ago, tried to flag down a toll worker, too much traffic to back up & go through the correct lane, pulled into the administrative office but no help there. Got a notice in the mail with a $50 fine. Appealed based on "my first offense" and they reduced it to a $5 fee plus the toll.

 

[Maistre Gracey]

Did this on the Mass pike a few months ago, tried to flag down a toll worker, too much traffic to back up & go through the correct lane, pulled into the administrative office but no help there. Got a notice in the mail with a $50 fine. Appealed based on "my first offense" and they reduced it to a $5 fee plus the toll.

Similar thing happened to me. Could not cut enough lanes in Delaware to get to the cash lane. Reported it at the next toll which was actually in Maryland. They said I'd get a notice in the mail.

A month later I got a notice for a $4 toll plus a $25 fee.
I appealed while expressing it was unsafe to cut that many lanes so quickly. At the same time I sent in a $4 check to cover the toll. Two weeks after that I received confirmation my appeal was granted and the penalty was waived.

MG

 

[crzy4dsny]

Not familiar with that kind of toll..?? Not sure if the light was green? You aren't familiar with red or green lights?

Maybe I'm reading too much into your statement.

MG

Ya....I think you are, now I remember why I don't come on these boards anymore.