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

[Maistre Gracey]

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

Lol!!! Oh for Pete's sake!!!

A licensed driver in any state is familiar with red & green lights... Right?

The driver said "I'm not sure if the light was green yet when I went through".

Where is the arguement here??

 

[PatMcDuck]

I got one, I was ticked off, because I purposely brought a roll of quarters with me from home (NJ). I also think I pulled thru too fast, that is how we always did it in NJ (before most of us switched to EZ Pass). Stupid yes, looking back at it. By no means did I zoom thru, tossing coins with abandon. And I knew 100% that I paid the tolls (happened twice that trip!) Worse, I got hit with ANOTHER charge from Alamo. I did not think I could fight it and win.

Since this, I got a SunPass Transponder, and quickly add my rental car on the phone app.

 

[seashoreCM]

" ... plus a $30.00 fee"

The rental company rep. might say, "You should have signed up for our toll paying optional coverage."

The other alternative I suggest is looking for manned cash lanes wherever possible and waiting in line to get a receipt.

The lower portion of Florida's Turnpike (Miami area) is electronic toll only. I would think that the entrance ramps would be signed "Sunpass/E-Pass/Leeway only" or something like that.

For those visiting New England this fall, the Mass. Turnpike is changing over to EZ Pass only in October. The toll booths will be taken down and the road will look like any freeway. Drivers without EZ Pass will be billed by mail at a somewhat higher rate.

 

[stitchlovestink]

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.

My time is worth more than the amount of time and effort it would take to get the fee portion waived. If they even agree, which I doubt the rental company will. It's pretty clearly stated in EVERY rental agreement. I have rented from Hertz, Budget, Enterprise, Dollar, Thrifty...all within the last couple of years and the info regarding tolls was there...clear as day.

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.

Yep, around Miami you definitely need Sunpass, no toll booths, just overhead readers.

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.

AGREE! $7 not a huge deal...could be way worse! Need to pay a little closer attention.

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???

MD doesn't have the option to self report either. I would have thought you would have heard something by now. Watch your registration/tags with your home state for suspension. If your mail is anything like ours, the notice could have gotten lost. Some states reciprocate and will suspend tags for unpaid fines.

 

[Capt_BJ]

The lower portion of Florida's Turnpike (Miami area) is electronic toll only. I would think that the entrance ramps would be signed "Sunpass/E-Pass/Leeway only" or something like that.


there are big signs at the beginning and end but they don't say what you suggest because the road is NOT electronic toll only. If you use the road and do not have a transponder or other payment system in place, the state sends a monthly bill by electronically reading your tag and getting your address that way. A SMALL service fee is applied.

But what about a rental? Most rental cars today pay a third party to manage the toll collection for their fleet - "or other payment system". When a rental gets a photo taken of the tag the 'system' sees the car as fleet registered and the toll is processed with the bill going to the 'third party' - no fine, they actually get the discount rate. It is the third party that sends a bill to you and any administrative fee - their fee, not the State's. Your rental contract explains this - who reads that? Some rental companies charge A LOT for this service, some charge much less. Some require a decision up front. Some say you choose to participate by "using the system". Some charge only for days used. Some charge for full period of the rental if you opt in. Ya gots to research it.

https://www.sunpass.com/rentalcar

 

[stitchlovestink]

The lower portion of Florida's Turnpike (Miami area) is electronic toll only. I would think that the entrance ramps would be signed "Sunpass/E-Pass/Leeway only" or something like that.


there are big signs at the beginning and end but they don't say what you suggest because the road is NOT electronic toll only. If you use the road and do not have a transponder or other payment system in place, the state sends a monthly bill by electronically reading your tag and getting your address that way. A SMALL service fee is applied.

But what about a rental? Most rental cars today pay a third party to manage the toll collection for their fleet - "or other payment system". When a rental gets a photo taken of the tag the 'system' sees the car as fleet registered and the toll is processed with the bill going to the 'third party' - no fine, they actually get the discount rate. It is the third party that sends a bill to you and any administrative fee - their fee, not the State's. Your rental contract explains this - who reads that? Some rental companies charge A LOT for this service, some charge much less. Some require a decision up front. Some say you choose to participate by "using the system". Some charge only for days used. Some charge for full period of the rental if you opt in. Ya gots to research it.

https://www.sunpass.com/rentalcar

But the terms have been a part of every rental contract I have signed... it's there in black and white. If one is surprised at this, I am betting that you didn't read anything and just signed wherever they told you to. Which then becomes "your fault". Ignorance isn't a valid excuse.

 

[DisneyMommyMichelle]

I can't stand that Florida does not allow you to pay missed tolls online within a certain time frame like they do here in IL. The one thing I do when we rent a car is ask about the tolls and they tell you that you can add on a certain amount to use their I-pass/E-Zpass or whatever it is they use. We got a fine for a toll on our trip to the east coast last year and my husband called to fight it based on a first time offense and how there is just no room to maneuver if you have no clue what is coming up and traffic is heavy. He also included just enough money to cover the actual toll and they waived all the penalties.

 

[Kaytie]

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?

Try any the contacts here https://turnpikeinfo.com/contact/contact-info.php?state=florida

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.

Probably it's more at they expect drivers to be aware of the type of road they're on, and be alert to/pay attention to existing signage.

 

[MillauFr]

This the reason why I will always use a transponder when driving on toll roads. Paying by coins leads to frequent errors. The error rate with a transponder is far less.

 

[Capt_BJ]

I had a violation recently in a 'northern' place with 'self report' reclama option (A request made to the authority to reconsider its decision or action)

{NORFOLK VA ... going thru a tunnel from Norfolk to Portsmouth? No warning of the toll until past the last exit and no way to pay cash .... they do "toll by tag" as does FL in many places which is good until ......}

entered all the data requested and system replied "found you" please enter CC info .... charge quickly applied

weeks later I get a bill from the rental company for the toll, and auto participation in electronic toll etc etc

WHAAATTTTT

seems I entered a bad TAG number in the 'self report'

BUT THAT DID NOT STOP THE STATE TAKING MY MONEY .. the system said "found you" .... ??????

rental company BTW said NOTHING about all electron tolls in the area when I picked up the car ......

********

SOOOOOO

Florida/Orlando ain't the only place with this issue ..... but this site only considers Orlando ... which gets a bunch more visitors then Norfolk

 

[maxiesmom]

I can't stand that Florida does not allow you to pay missed tolls online within a certain time frame like they do here in IL. The one thing I do when we rent a car is ask about the tolls and they tell you that you can add on a certain amount to use their I-pass/E-Zpass or whatever it is they use. We got a fine for a toll on our trip to the east coast last year and my husband called to fight it based on a first time offense and how there is just no room to maneuver if you have no clue what is coming up and traffic is heavy. He also included just enough money to cover the actual toll and they waived all the penalties.

Paying online is awesome! We got stuck in a horrible traffic snarl going around Chicago last year (shocker, I know!) and there was no way in heck we could have made it over to pay the toll. We simply went online once home and it was taken care of easy peasy.

 

[Hisgirl]

This has happened to us twice. The first time I shook my head in confusion, since I knew we had paid cash lanes going and coming. The second time it happened, I called and said I wanted the number of the toll locations. I did some research and both supposed 'drive through' tolls were in Miami. We were in Orlando. They took off the charges.

 

[AngiTN]

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

MG

Maybe they are red/green color blind. DH is. He has no idea what color the lights turn. I have to tell him. No idea what he'd done if he were alone. Thankfully, no toll roads here in TN so we never deal with it unless driving to FL

 

[TheDisneyNurse]

Are you sure you didn't drive past toll-by-plate? They have no operator, gate, or anything. And they send the bill to the home address registered to the car. The toll-by-plate bill also features a lovely picture of your car, as well.

The fine for skipping out on a toll is wayyyyyyyy more than $3. Probably at least near $200.

 

[joelkfla]

Are you sure you didn't drive past toll-by-plate? They have no operator, gate, or anything. And they send the bill to the home address registered to the car. The toll-by-plate bill also features a lovely picture of your car, as well.

The fine for skipping out on a toll is wayyyyyyyy more than $3. Probably at least near $200.

I think I heard on the News that FL Tpk now processes all missed tolls as Toll by Plate. They've done away with issuing citations.

 

[Disneylover99]

Does anyone know how missing a toll affects Canadian drivers?

 

[TheDisneyNurse]

I think I heard on the News that FL Tpk now processes all missed tolls as Toll by Plate. They've done away with issuing citations.

Oh, sweet! Good to know