Missed tolls letter - how easy is the disputing process?

[Chumpieboy]

We always rent a car and have our own sunpass transponder that we install in the rental cars.

Not sure why, but the FL DOT registered our sunpass as being used on a recent trip but still reported the rental's license plate as not having paid. We received a letter recently from the central clearinghouse that many rental companies use to issue fines for unpaid tolls.

The dispute form on the company's website seems straightforward - I entered that I wouldn't pay their fees [*] since I had a personal transponder, and attached a report from the sunpass site showing our transponder activity and that the dates/times/locations matched up exactly with the alleged violations.

I assume that will take care of it. Then we get another letter adding on additional violations that were received from FL DOT. So I call the number on the letter. They state that it takes 10 business days to process all disputes (not sure why it takes so long but I'm willing to let the process work). But they can't see any of the previous activity on the account, including the information I'd previously entered. All information somehow goes into a black hole from which it emerges after 10 days with a resolution. In the meantime, the letters state that the credit card on file with the rental car company will be charged next week.

Has anyone with a legitimate reason to dispute this had any luck with the process? Is this company (https://www.rentalcarticket.com/) easy to work with? Like I said, I'm willing to let the process work itself through, but their inability to find my information makes me worry...

[*] $15 "Administration fee" per infraction? ***? But don't worry, they will only charge you a maximum of 7 "administration fees". How very nice of them!

 

[vicki_c]

All I can say is that when I had a violation in a rental car, my notice came through the rental car company, not any kind of clearing house like you posted. Are you sure the notices you got are given legit?

 

[Chumpieboy]

All I can say is that when I had a violation in a rental car, my notice came through the rental car company, not any kind of clearing house like you posted. Are you sure the notices you got are given legit?

Good question. Yes it seems legit. The notice had specifics about my reservation (car tag, resv number, date and time of resv) matched with the exact timestamps of when the car went through the sunpass lanes (verified against my account activity on the sunpass website). The notice had all kinds of warnings against sending credit card information, SSN, or other personal data in any correspondence. If it were a scam, they'd be asking for that information. (Or is that what they WANT you to think?!?!)

I also called Dollar and they confirmed that they outsource the processing of toll violations to this company and get a cut of the $15 convenience fee.

 

[Gr8t Fan]

When we purchased our SunPass we had to register the year, make, model and license plates connected to our account. Perhaps that is where the mix-up is occurring - you were in a rental so the car wasn't "registered" to your SunPass account?

EDITED TO ADD: Here's some info from the SunPass web page regarding the use of SunPass in rental cars:

SunPass Customers:
SunPass customers using a rental vehicle may have their tolls applied to their SunPass account. Customers with SunPass Portable transponders may use their transponders in their rental vehicles. (It is strongly recommended that SunPass customers access their online SunPass accounts or contact the SunPass Customer Service Center to add the rental vehicle subscription to their account for the rental period.) If the transponder is not in your vehicle or functioning properly, tolls from other agencies will not be posted to your SunPass account, and may be charged to you by the rental Service Provider. Please remember to remove your transponder upon return of the vehicle.
SunPass customers that do not have their transponders in the vehicle are subject to the tolls, fees and charges set forth below and in their rental agreements.

 

[vicki_c]

Caution, thread derailment ahead:

We will have a rental in January and also have a Sunpass (just got the new version of it in fact). I have heard this before about adding your rental car, but we never have and haven't had an issue, our tolls were properly charged to our account and we didn't have any issues with the rental car company. Maybe I will try and do this for this upcoming trip. I assume you have to wait until you have the car though and need the license plate number or registration or something? Is that how you do that? Seems like a hassle when you're trying to leave the airport (and where there is zero connectivity in the MCO garage, in my experience, at least for our GPS).

Has anyone who has done this with a rental explain the process?

 

[MIChessGuy]

Caution, thread derailment ahead:

We will have a rental in January and also have a Sunpass (just got the new version of it in fact). I have heard this before about adding your rental car, but we never have and haven't had an issue, our tolls were properly charged to our account and we didn't have any issues with the rental car company. Maybe I will try and do this for this upcoming trip. I assume you have to wait until you have the car though and need the license plate number or registration or something? Is that how you do that? Seems like a hassle when you're trying to leave the airport (and where there is zero connectivity in the MCO garage, in my experience, at least for our GPS).

Has anyone who has done this with a rental explain the process?

I will be doing exactly this in a few weeks. I get the impression that registering the rental car with Sunpass is intended as a backup measure in case the transponder cannot be read for whatever reason. What happens then (I assume) is that a camera captures your license plate, FDOT's computer matches that rental car plate to your personal Sunpass account, and your account gets charged exactly the same as if the transponder had worked normally. But if you don't register the rental with Sunpass, they will ding the rental car company which in turn will bring the big hammer down on you with tolls, charges, fees, etc.

I was worried that data connectivity inside the MCO garage might be weak. Maybe Plan B is to exit the garage and just pull into a Wawa or whatever, then spend a few minutes there registering the rental car with Sunpass. (There is also a toll-free line, but probably nobody there on a weekend night.)
I am also curious to know about others' experiences in this regard.

 

[vicki_c]

Thanks for the input! Well if you do it and can post back before the 23rd of Jan, let me know how it goes.

 

[houseofduck]

When I have used sunpass on rental cars in the past, I wait until I get to my destination (resort, friend's house, ...) and then add my rental information. When you add a rental, it asks for a start and end time for the rental car.

I figure, since this information is only used in the cases where the transponder fails, it doesn't matter if the information is added an hour or two later. I don't think our transponder has ever failed, so I haven't really tested it, yet.

 

[MIChessGuy]

When I have used sunpass on rental cars in the past, I wait until I get to my destination (resort, friend's house, ...) and then add my rental information. When you add a rental, it asks for a start and end time for the rental car.

I figure, since this information is only used in the cases where the transponder fails, it doesn't matter if the information is added an hour or two later. I don't think our transponder has ever failed, so I haven't really tested it, yet.

But as I understand it, if the transponder doesn't "talk" to the overhead toll gantry, the FDOT system will know that my rental car is on my Sunpass only if I've already added the plate. If I wait until arriving at my hotel, the system might think that I've decided to use the rental company's toll payment option. Maybe it depends on how quickly all these things actually happen. If all this stuff is reconciled at the end of the day, say, then probably you're right. I'm just a little worried that it apparently does not take much for the rental company to try to ding people for allegedly unpaid tolls.

 

[houseofduck]

Our SunPass transponder has never failed, but, we also have an ezpass transponder. That one has failed going through toll booths. When this happens, the transaction is posted usually a few days after the transponder failure. I don't know if it is the same with SunPass, but it doesn't seem to be an instant process with ezpass.

 

[judi]

I add my rental car to my sunpass while still in the rental garage. We have been able to do this with no problem. Make sure you mark the rental box, they will ask for a rental start and end date and time. Really easy as long as you remember your password ;-)

 

[mmouse50]

I forgot my transponder on my latest trip (December, 2015) so I had to pay the tolls for my rental car. I didn't read a toll correctly and only put in 1.25 and the toll was 1.35 (it was a unmanned toll booth without the arm). I received a Dollar Rent A Car Toll Charge Notice and it was WWW.DOLLARRENTALFINE.com - it has a number to call 877-759-5823 or you can pay online at the above address. I will be having to pay 16.35 for a .10 toll difference but there is no way for me to prove differently.

 

[MIChessGuy]

I add my rental car to my sunpass while still in the rental garage. We have been able to do this with no problem. Make sure you mark the rental box, they will ask for a rental start and end date and time. Really easy as long as you remember your password ;-)

This is my plan. I have seen varying assessments of the data connectivity from inside the MCO garage, so I guess I'll have to hope for the best.

 

[Chumpieboy]

I will be doing exactly this in a few weeks. I get the impression that registering the rental car with Sunpass is intended as a backup measure in case the transponder cannot be read for whatever reason. What happens then (I assume) is that a camera captures your license plate, FDOT's computer matches that rental car plate to your personal Sunpass account, and your account gets charged exactly the same as if the transponder had worked normally. But if you don't register the rental with Sunpass, they will ding the rental car company which in turn will bring the big hammer down on you with tolls, charges, fees, etc.

I was worried that data connectivity inside the MCO garage might be weak. Maybe Plan B is to exit the garage and just pull into a Wawa or whatever, then spend a few minutes there registering the rental car with Sunpass. (There is also a toll-free line, but probably nobody there on a weekend night.)
I am also curious to know about others' experiences in this regard.

You have a couple of days to register the rental car. Waiting until you are checked in (using the hotel's Wifi) should be fine. If you notice your activity on the SunPass site, there's the timestamp of when you went through the toll sensor, and the timestamp when the transaction is recorded. The latter is several days later.

In my case (I'm the OP in this thread!!) The alleged violations were 11/28. The violation letter was dated 12/20. Plenty of time to register the car even after the trip is over.

 

[Chumpieboy]

I forgot my transponder on my latest trip (December, 2015) so I had to pay the tolls for my rental car. I didn't read a toll correctly and only put in 1.25 and the toll was 1.35 (it was a unmanned toll booth without the arm). I received a Dollar Rent A Car Toll Charge Notice and it was WWW.DOLLARRENTALFINE.com - it has a number to call 877-759-5823 or you can pay online at the above address. I will be having to pay 16.35 for a .10 toll difference but there is no way for me to prove differently.

Yikes. Ridiculous $15 fee aside, they're dinging you for the full toll even though you only still owe .10?

 

[DVC-Don]

You have a couple of days to register the rental car. Waiting until you are checked in (using the hotel's Wifi) should be fine. If you notice your activity on the SunPass site, there's the timestamp of when you went through the toll sensor, and the timestamp when the transaction is recorded. The latter is several days later.

In my case (I'm the OP in this thread!!) The alleged violations were 11/28. The violation letter was dated 12/20. Plenty of time to register the car even after the trip is over.

Sometimes that does not work. I tried to register the last rental I had back in October, but the SunPass site would not let me as it said that plate was registered to another SunPass account.

 

[MIChessGuy]

Sometimes that does not work. I tried to register the last rental I had back in October, but the SunPass site would not let me as it said that plate was registered to another SunPass account.

Ah, that is something I hadn't thought about. Was that a situation where the previous renter of your car didn't update his Sunpass account after vehicle turn-in? I suppose you can still adhere your own Sunpass transponder and check later to see if tolls are being properly charged to your personal account. Strange.

As an aside, my Sunpass portable arrived in the mail today. (Only 1 week from order placement to delivery, even during a holiday period -- not bad.) I still plan to add the rental to my Sunpass account while inside the MCO garage, assuming I can get a data connection. It'll be the most suspenseful Saturday night I've had in some time.