I also just signed up for the transponder that can move from car to car. What do I need to do when I get a rental car????
Some rental car companies offer a TOLL by PLATE option. You go through toll plazas in the transponder lane and if you don't have a transponder, then the toll authority takes a photo of the rental car's tag (license plate) and bills the rental car company which then bills you. If you have a transponder of your own, then it pays the toll and no photo gets taken and the rental car company does not bill you.
Other rental car companies actually have mounted a transponder onto the windshield, in a little metal box. If you plan to use their transponder, you slide open the door on that box so that the toll equipment senses that transponder and bills it and the rental company bills you. If you have your own transponder, keep the door on that little box closed and make sure the transponder you own is held up on the windshield as you pass through tolls.
In all cases, you use the lanes marked SunPass (or E-PASS in Orange County) and not the cash lanes.
Make sure your account is loaded with funds; I recommend you tie your account to a credit card so that it is automatically replenished if your balance falls below $10. Also, it is recommended that you phone SunPass and give them your rental car information. However, if you forget to or unable to (such as a night arrival) you can still use your transponder because the toll plaza will sense your transponder and bill it regardless of what vehicle it is in.
I don't foresee coming to Florida once a year....at least not for awhile. I guess I need to figure out how many tolls there are (and if there are actual tollbooths to take my cash) between West Palm and Disney.
The West Palm Beach area is within a section of Florida's Turnpike which is known as a "closed-system". You obtain a ticket when you get on the Turnpike and you turn-in the ticket and pay when you leave the Turnpike. The "closed" area ends just south of Kissimmee. Thus, if you're a cash-payer, you'll get a ticket when you get on at WPB and when you reach the end of the closed area near Kissimmee, you'll come to a toll plaza where you stop, turn in that ticket and then pay the incurred toll. From there northward you're in an open-system are where tolls are paid at exit and entrance ramps. However, the toll you paid back at Kissimmee includes some future miles and assuming that you're going to leave the Turnpike at either the Beachline Expressway (SR 528) or at the I-4 exit, there are no more tolls. Thus, one toll plaza to get a ticket and one to pay; that's it. The toll though is around $13.
For those with a SunPass, you use the SunPass only lane when you get on and off and don't get a ticket. It knows where you got on and knows where you exited and bills your account accordingly. You also save around $3 on the toll.
BobK/Orlando
. I had read I believe here on the Dis that you COULD use the mini if you taped it to the windshield......then just removed it with the tape and it could be used again....not sure I want to invest $25 for something that I am not going to use very often.
