Purchase sunpass transponder Alamo rental

[nacho113]

Thank you

Are there tolls between Disney and Universal?

No, just a straight drive up I-4

 

[gerberdaisy1234]

No, just a straight drive up I-4

Thanks. Trying to figure out how many tolls for trip

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

I found it easier just to shell out a total $3.00 in cash for the toll booth. It will take more time to program the Sunpass with the rental car info than it would be to hand over $1.50 twice each way.

 

[Capt_BJ]

It will take more time to program the Sunpass with the rental car info

takes vry little time ... there's an app ... all you need is the tag #

 

[LD500]

We will be renting from Alamo so I believe it's $3.95 per day we use the toll roads plus the actual toll fees.

Which lanes can we take at the toll booths? I see the mention of Sunpass, Leeway, Express.
Can we take any of the lanes except for the Cash Only lanes?
Want to make sure we don't take a lane that is disallowed and have to pay Alamo a whopping admin fee.

Thanks!

 

[katallo]

We are also thinking of purchasing a transponder. Great to learn the transponder will override the Alamo Plate Pass since we are renting from Alamo. Does anyone have experience (pros and cons) with the mini transponder? We will be there for a few weeks so thought Sunpass would be so much more convenient. Do you find ordering prior to your trip more convenient than purchasing one when you arrive?

 

[Capt_BJ]

SUNPASS will work for all of the various electron toll systems in Florida ... use the electron lane no matter what the sign says (same for 'toll by plate' as used by the rental companies)

The MINI glues to the windshield and is destroyed when it is removed .... buy the portable ($20) version and you can move it from car to car; I've had mine since the 90's (actually it was replaced for free but that's a different story) The MINI can only have one tag associated with it at a time. With the portable you can register many tags - because it is intended to be moved around as needed (technically, once the TAG is associated with a sunpass you don't even need the sunpass in the vehicle . . . I have multiple cars on one pass, and the pass lives in a drawer in the kitchen most of the time!)

{there are folks that say they have removed and reused a MINI. If you go to the web site for SUNPASS this is clearly not the intent ... I had one at one time and when I removed it, it came off in multiple pieces.}

I'd get it ahead of time (order from website and it goes in the mail in a few days) and set up the account from your home computer using you home car's tag. SUNPASS says it can take 24 hours for the account to go active. When you get here you can add the rental's tag is just a few seconds using a free APP.

If you wait 'til you get here you must find a place that sells the pass, set up the account - hope there are no toll issues b4 the account goes active - and setting everything up with out a full computer screen might be a little more cumbersome (if you tend to fat finger phone keys like I do!)

 

[Dacky619]

It will take more time to program the Sunpass with the rental car info

takes vry little time ... there's an app ... all you need is the tag #

Yep, I was able to do it a DW put our son in his car seat, took 20-30 seconds.

 

[gerberdaisy1234]

Yep, I was able to do it a DW put our son in his car seat, took 20-30 seconds.

Just make sure you take off when you return. I had put in a return time about an hour after the were due to return the van to be safe. I didn't go back and delete from our account. Well we pixie dusted someone. They must have rented out pretty quickly because there were additional tolls heading back towards Disney before they time I had listed. Even though we took the transponder out the tag was listed on our account.

 

[PatMcDuck]

i got one after going to FL, bringing a roll of quarters with me from home, just in case I exited the highway thru an unstaffed toll on the way to WDW. Paid my tolls the whole trip. Got home and was hit with fees and penalties from 2 "missed" tolls. Not only had to pay the tolls again, but Alamo hit me with big charges as well. (my error may have been not waiting for the quarters to all be counted, I guess, in NJ we used to be able to toss and go). In any case, I did not want to always go thru the manned booths and get a receipt, so I got the SunPass. It takes 30 seconds, maybe, to add a rental car to the account via the phone app.

 

[dioxide45]

Thank you

Are there tolls between Disney and Universal?

No, not as long as you are traveling along I4.

 

[dioxide45]

most rentals don't use a physical transponder anymore, the cars are 'fleet registered' under toll by plate where the system captures the tag number and bills accordingly. If you use a transponder of your own, it overrides 'toll by plate'.

all explained here: https://www.sunpass.com/rentalcar

In simple terms an electronic toll bridge or lane will first look for a transponder to process. If no transponder is found the system "captures" the tag. First they look at SUNPASS to see if the tag is attached to a transponder, then they look to see if it is registered to a fleet account, and lastly they process as unregistered.

This is why it is important to register the tag in SUNPASS, and not simply rely on the transponder "working". Similarly, when you return the rental, remove the tag from your account promptly.

Great explanation. People get confused a lot when rental car companies offer toll payment services. As you indicated, the car rental companies don't use physical transponders. At least not with SunPass. SunPass is great. We bought one years ago and it has more than paid for itself.