How much should I budget for tolls?

archdandy

DIS Veteran
Joined
Apr 1, 2011
Messages
1,349
We are coming from about 20 minutes north of Barrie, Ontario and taking the border across Detroit and then driving the I75 the whole way. How much should I budget for tolls? We've never driven before and I want to make sure I have enough for both ways.
 
When we drove in May, I don't recall it being huge amounts. I think the border was $5, and then nothing much until we got to the Florida turnpike, and then it was less than $5 or so I'm pretty sure.
 
Would love to hear how your drive goes. We are also 20 min north of Barrie but worried about how long the drive is.
 
I am from Barrie. Last time we drove was 2011 and took I-75. If memory serves me correctly, we left Barrie on Thursday around 5 am. Car was fully gassed up an ready to go and snacks and drinks were in the cooler in the back with DD. Took 407/401/402 and crossed at Sarnia Blue Water Bridge around 8:30 or 9 - yes we made FANTASTIC time and beat all rush hour traffic. We had no wait at the border. Stopped 3 or 4 times for gas/pee/snack/stretch breaks. If we had to do one, we tried to do them all. Finally stopped in Clinton, TN for the evening around 5 or 6 pm. Swim, dinner, sleep and back on the road around 4:30 am. We took a slower pace because we were TIRED but were checked into our hotel room and sitting by the pool eating pizza before 6 p.m. When we go this year we are taking an extra day though to do the drive down and to account for traffic and bad weather.

I don't remember spending a lot of money on tolls at all. I think I had $20 worth of American change in my little coin purse I kept in the car for just tolls and we didn't use it all.

On the way home we stopped at the Cumberland Inn in Williamsburg, KY. We loved it and will definitely stop there on our next trip.

:)
 

I'm from the Barrie area too ;). Not sure we are brave enough to drive it yet. But maybe when the kids are older and we can explore things on the way too ;)
Have a great trip!
 
I tried to post last night but it didn't work ( some error came up). Then I posted this morning and both posted appeared. Sorry for the double post LOL.
 
We rented a car in Orlando, stayed in Disney for a week and then spent a week in Miami and Fort Lauderdale. The car rental agency recommended we rent a device that auto-pays the tolls, and they would just pass the charge on to us. She said there were lots of tolls and that this would save us a lot of time because we can just drive through, plus we didn't need to worry about exact change.

We went through 1 toll the entire time. We weren't driving from Ontario, but still, we didn't encounter any tolls.

If I had to guess, I would say that a budget of $50 ($25 each way) would be plenty.
 
I am from Barrie. Last time we drove was 2011 and took I-75. If memory serves me correctly, we left Barrie on Thursday around 5 am. Car was fully gassed up an ready to go and snacks and drinks were in the cooler in the back with DD. Took 407/401/402 and crossed at Sarnia Blue Water Bridge around 8:30 or 9 - yes we made FANTASTIC time and beat all rush hour traffic. We had no wait at the border. Stopped 3 or 4 times for gas/pee/snack/stretch breaks. If we had to do one, we tried to do them all. Finally stopped in Clinton, TN for the evening around 5 or 6 pm. Swim, dinner, sleep and back on the road around 4:30 am. We took a slower pace because we were TIRED but were checked into our hotel room and sitting by the pool eating pizza before 6 p.m. When we go this year we are taking an extra day though to do the drive down and to account for traffic and bad weather.

I don't remember spending a lot of money on tolls at all. I think I had $20 worth of American change in my little coin purse I kept in the car for just tolls and we didn't use it all.

On the way home we stopped at the Cumberland Inn in Williamsburg, KY. We loved it and will definitely stop there on our next trip.

:)

Thanks for the detailed response! So that $20 last you both ways? I guess I should get the bank to give me it in change, like quarters. The bank I go to is always grumpy about doing a conversion for me so I'm guessing they won't be happy about having to give it to me in change :thumbsup2 We have PC Financial and there are no branches in our area so we have to go to CIBC but they don't like doing it because they aren't "our bank".
 
Would love to hear how your drive goes. We are also 20 min north of Barrie but worried about how long the drive is.

I'm actually planning on doing a detailed "trip report" of just the drive down and back and posting it here in the Canadian board. It always seems so many people ask a lot of questions about it so I figured it might help some of them out. I'm pretty nervous about the drive. DH and I have never done a road trip this long before and we are planning on driving straight through.
 
Thanks for the detailed response! So that $20 last you both ways? I guess I should get the bank to give me it in change, like quarters. The bank I go to is always grumpy about doing a conversion for me so I'm guessing they won't be happy about having to give it to me in change :thumbsup2 We have PC Financial and there are no branches in our area so we have to go to CIBC but they don't like doing it because they aren't "our bank".

Just a heads up....some of the tolls may not take Canadian change....especially the ones not manned by people. It goes by coin weight and our coins are different. And our banks don't carry US change usually.
 
Just a heads up....some of the tolls may not take Canadian change....especially the ones not manned by people. It goes by coin weight and our coins are different. And our banks don't carry US change usually.

Okay, so I would probably have to stop somewhere in the US to get change made from a US $20? Won't I need change for the tolls across the border? Sorry for all the questions, I've never really needed to convert money before.
 
Okay, so I would probably have to stop somewhere in the US to get change made from a US $20? Won't I need change for the tolls across the border? Sorry for all the questions, I've never really needed to convert money before.

We found several of the tolls did have a person at them, and we just used bills. And when you hit the border they will take bills as well as Canadian money!
 
Thanks for the detailed response! So that $20 last you both ways? I guess I should get the bank to give me it in change, like quarters. The bank I go to is always grumpy about doing a conversion for me so I'm guessing they won't be happy about having to give it to me in change :thumbsup2 We have PC Financial and there are no branches in our area so we have to go to CIBC but they don't like doing it because they aren't "our bank".

My brother is a truck driver so I bought some change off him as he is always in the States and therefore has a big jar of American coins. Yes, I think it lasted us both ways.
 
Thanks for the replies. I was able to get $26 in American through a bank in town today so hopefully that will be enough. They didn't have change to give me but I guess we can just get some at the border. Only two days until we leave! :goodvibes
 















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