MCO Budget charge for tolls

[LocaRoja]

Rented with MCO Budget late last month. Paid for ALL of my tolls by cash. Today Budget hits my cc with a charge of nearly $17 for tolls. I did see the toll thing behind the mirror on the windshield, but it was turned to the "off" position.

I didn't get any receipts for my cash payments. What recourse do I have? I am so annoyed.

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

For an excellent summary of rental car toll programs in Florida, see the following link:

https://www.sunpass.com/rentalcar

If you rented your Budget car for more than 5 days and you were charged "nearly $17," you were probably charged Budget's $14.75 maximum convenience fee plus actual tolls at the cash rate (such as two $1 tolls).

It's possible you were charged for tolls that the previous renter or next renter incurred with the same vehicle. Ask Budget for an accounting of when and where the tolls were incurred. If Budget accidentally charged you for tolls incurred before or after your rental, that should be fairly easy to get corrected.

A problem that renters have in Florida is that it's now very easy to overlook a toll or two. The cash lanes look like exits, while the main road continues at freeway speed under an open road tolling reader. If you pay close attention to the signs, you won't miss any cash tolls -- but if you're not expecting an exit and you're thinking about your vacation, it's easy to go under the open road tolling reader without even realizing you've done so. In that case, you legitimately owe the convenience fee and the toll(s).

Both the Beachline toll road (airport north exit) and 417 toll road (airport south exit) have two tolls in each direction. There's another toll on 417 if you continue past the International Drive / World Center Drive exit.

Do you recall what route you took from MCO to WDW and how many tolls you paid in each direction?

 

[LocaRoja]

We took 417 south. We go to DW every year and are very familiar with the toll booths. I drove through the cash lanes on the far right side in each instance (there were 2 each way if I remember correctly).

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

We took 417 south. We go to DW every year and are very familiar with the toll booths. I drove through the cash lanes on the far right side in each instance (there were 2 each way if I remember correctly).

From the airport, if you exit from 417 at exit 6 (International Drive), there are 2 tolls. If you keep going to exit 3 (Osceola Parkway), there's a 3rd toll.

Both exits serve Walt Disney World.

If you paid all tolls in cash, it's likely Budget charged you for tolls incurred before or after your rental.

In any case, ask Budget to provide the location and date/date of each toll incurred.

 

[formill]

We had the exact same thing happen to us with our last rental with Budget over Christmas- we paid all tolls in cash as well- there was one toll where we went in the exact change lane and put in the exact change and it said we still owed......dumped some more money in and it still said we owed.......we drove on.....from then on we only went to manned toll booths- the odd time at an exit it was exact change only - but we ended up with 2 charges and the big charge for them paying these tolls for us........... I did not bother with calling them or anything although I know I should have- I just did not want the nuisance of it all. The report we got stated the date and the hwy I believe-we were all over the place over the 2 weeks but it seemed they were for our van not a previous renter by the dates. I want to be more cautious next time but not sure what to do differently- it would not be fun at all to keep track every time we go through a booth! We have rented a car at MCO several times and never had this happen before.

I am fairly certain we never missed any of the toll booths - they were very well marked and there was always 6 or 7 of us in the van so someone would have noticed- we paid a lot driving around the area that is for sure! And then more when we came home!

 

[seashoreCM]

A few suggestions:

1. When at all possible, get a receipt for tolls paid in cash.

2. Use the exact change lane only if absolutely necessary and, if it misfires, go look up the address of the toll agency on the internet (if not posted at the toll booth) and send in an extra payment (or a dispute letter) using snail mail.

 

[goofy4tink]

I always go through an attended gate if at all possible. Then, if renting a car, I get a receipt...just in case. I have heard way too many stories of rental companies adding these charges. You know, it's not as if they weren't charging huge amounts for the rental to begin with. I've yet to get a low rate!!

 

[nhmommy]

Does anyone know if I can bring my EZ pass from home or are all the tolls in Orlando sunpass only?

 

[richmo]

Does anyone know if I can bring my EZ pass from home or are all the tolls in Orlando sunpass only?

Sorry, EZPass doesn't work on the Sunpass system. Leave it at home.

On the original question, I think you should call Budget and tell them you paid for all your tolls in cash. I think they'll probably drop the charge. If they don't, you are entitled to ask them for an accounting of exactly when you went thru SunPass lanes.

 

[LocaRoja]

OP here with update.

1) I went through ALL attended booths and paid cash directly to a human.
2) Just called Budget. They redirected me to a 3rd party company, "e-tolls" that made the charge on my card.
3) I learned that the state took a picture of my license plate at 1 of the 2 tolls I paid while heading to DW on 417 S. So, yes the rental car provided sun pass was off. And yes, I did pay cash for this toll ($1.50). And without a receipt, they won't do anything about it.
4) As I had the sunpass off, I wasn't charged the daily use fee for the sun pass, but rather a $14.75 service charge.
5) The agent waived the service charge, but I still have to pay the $1.50 toll they charged me for.
6) I asked how to avoid this double charge in the future and it requires having a receipt for every toll you pay manually by cash.

Live and learn

 

[justustoo]

I live out of state and am considering purchasing a Sunpass transponder ( will be using. In rental car), when I tried to buy online, it requires I indicate my county, but only lists counties in FL. Does this mean only FL residents can buy the SP transponders, or can I still get one by faxing an application? Also, when it asks for license plate, do I just put my lp # then call and add rental lp # when I pick up car?

 

[gmeh1]

I live out of state and am considering purchasing a Sunpass transponder ( will be using. In rental car), when I tried to buy online, it requires I indicate my county, but only lists counties in FL. Does this mean only FL residents can buy the SP transponders, or can I still get one by faxing an application? Also, when it asks for license plate, do I just put my lp # then call and add rental lp # when I pick up car?

If you create an account with sunpass, they have a drop down menu for different states. Create an account and get the sunpass that way. Put in all your own personal information and then when you rent the car, call and have it registered. Make sure you cancel that after you return the car. Very important.

 

[justustoo]

If you create an account with sunpass, they have a drop down menu for different states. Create an account and get the sunpass that way. Put in all your own personal information and then when you rent the car, call and have it registered. Make sure you cancel that after you return the car. Very important.

Thanks - I did find the Out of State tab on my computer ( didnt see it when looking on ipad?) and have ordered a transponder. I will make sure to remove the rental as soon as we get back to MCO - thanks for the reminder! So I can just keep the transponder as long as I want , and for our trip in Nov just add that rental, and so on?

 

[elaine amj]

We rented a car for the first time in Orlando. We didn't realise you had to turn the Sunpass "OFF". No one at the rental counter mentioned it and while I had read some stuff about it before the trip, I didn't really pay too much attention to it (my fault *sigh*).

We went through our first toll attempting to pay cash and next thing I knew, the Sunpass was charged. Lesson Number 1.

We then tried to figure out how to turn the darn thing "OFF" (we were a bit stressed when we realised we had been dinged and it took us a few minutes to figure it out) From the text on the Sunpass, I thought we were just charged for each day we were using it (we had a 6 day rental).

We parked the car for 3 days (for our Disney cruise) and when we returned to Orlando, we tried to pay cash at the next toll and got zapped with the Sunpass yet again. Somehow it had turned back "ON". (I SWEAR it was turned "OFF" when we parked the car). We turned it off again and paid cash the rest of the trip.

Eventually after returning home we got hit with a big bill. I called to ask about it and if you have it "ON" at any point, you are charged the convenience fee for EVERY day of the rental - whether you use it or not, whether it was on or not. I complained that no one explained it to me and the guy immediately offered to refund me the convenience fee with no hassle.

I still paid for the tolls (had no problems with that) but at least the darn convenience fee was waived.

Next time I rent a car in Orlando, I'm going to study up how to bypass use of this Sunpass - what a ripoff it is. I'm OK with paying a convenience fee as it IS convenient - but it's ridiculous to charge for every day of the rental, whether it is used or not.