Rental car, staying offsite and Sunpass

[s u]

WE are staying off site and will have a rental car.
We will be staying in Davenport and going to and from the parks. We will do some shopping, but not beyond going to Target, Walmart and to the Outlet mall on International.
I can't remember if there were roads from the airport to Davenport or to DTD or to the outlet mall that would require a Sunpass. Does anyone know?
I've geared you can buy them right in the airport. Can anyone confirm this?

 

[amie416]

I don't know about the routes you'll be taking, but each rental car company has different fees and policies regarding sunpass. The fees can really add up! Check this website for details on the specific company you're renting from. https://www.sunpass.com/rentalcar

But you don't need to use SunPass at all, just slow down to pay any tolls in the cash lane and avoid the additional fees.

 

[s u]

The reason I ask is because we were in Fort Lauderdale last summer and many toll booths didn't have an option to pay cash. You HAD to have a Sunpass. As a result, we were charged some pretty hefty fees from the car rental agency on top of the tolls. Has anyone encountered this in Orlando? Or do all the booths give you both options?

 

[ccudmore]

I just ordered a surpass online yesterday. The new mini transponder is just a removable sticker you put on your windshield. Costs $4.99 including shipping to Canada. The $5 is worth it to save the hassle of slopping for tolls. And it's a lot cheaper than the crazy rates rental car companies charge to rent a transponder.

 

[ccudmore]

And some tolls booths do not have attendants. You need to have exact change or a transponder.

 

[migel]

From either Sanford airport or MCO to the Davenport area, I've never hit any toll booths that did not have a cash option. There are ones near Sanford airport that do not have attendants and require exact change however.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

I just ordered a surpass online yesterday. The new mini transponder is just a removable sticker you put on your windshield. Costs $4.99 including shipping to Canada. The $5 is worth it to save the hassle of slopping for tolls. And it's a lot cheaper than the crazy rates rental car companies charge to rent a transponder.

Can you move the Mini and re-use it again on another trip?

This link seems to suggest you can't:

https://www.sunpass.com/pdf/MiniWebPDF_E-10-2014.pdf

("Will not work if removed from windshield", as opposed to the Portable, which says can be moved from car to car)

If the mini can be moved, I was thinking it would be a fabulous idea....but since you're forced into an initial $10 minimum funding, unless it can be used multiple times, we're going to be paying quite a bit for convenience.

 

[hcortesis]

This is an amazing idea. What timesaver. And more than once have I forgotten to "flip up" the switch on the transponder when picking up our Avis rental car and then been billed automatically $3.95 per day (not including tolls) for every day thereafter of our rental agreement. That is a MAJOR SCAM for Avis I have to say.

We travel back and forth to the airport during our trips so this transponder will be a great timesaver.

As mentioned though, doesn't look like the mini will work more than once so for us, the portable transponder is the way to go. I think I'll order one today and respond back once it arrives

 

[hcortesis]

I just ordered a surpass online yesterday. The new mini transponder is just a removable sticker you put on your windshield. Costs $4.99 including shipping to Canada. The $5 is worth it to save the hassle of slopping for tolls. And it's a lot cheaper than the crazy rates rental car companies charge to rent a transponder.

I have tried to order the transponder but it asks me for a license plate number. Since I will have a rental car, I don't know the license plate. How do you get around this.

 

[ccudmore]

I'm treating the mini sticker as throw-away. I'll get a new one for each trip. Reports on the Transportation board are that you see the residue from previous stickers on lots of rental cars you pick up.

As for rental cars, when I purchased it I entered my home license plate to start. Then when I get the rental car, I'll use the SunPass iPhone app (or their web site) to add the rental car. There's a link to "Add Vehicle" to the transponder.

 

[hcortesis]

Great idea on the App. I ended up calling Sunpass today about the required license plate info. She said to call when I pick up my car. I like your idea better.

 

[bankr63]

Hmmm, kind of like the idea of SunPass Plus parking at the MCO airport too. The boys have to hop over to the airport to pick up A+ on Saturday when she arrives. It might make getting in and out of the airport a bit quicker too!

Also a pretty good chance we'll be arriving around evening rush on a weekday, so I could take 417 around the city instead of crawling through on the I-4.

Great food for thought here!

 

[mike28j]

I just ordered the $20 transponder. After a $1.04 toll at a sunpass only toll road became $13 on a 3 day rental, I decided to bite the bullet and get one. I downloaded the app on my Ipad 2 and it crashes when I try to access the vehicle section, looks like I'll be calling or trying to access their website when I pick up the rental(s) in March.

 

[dennise]

We used to get the Sunpass mini, but it can only be used once, but once you have an account set up, unused funds can be carried over. We have since purchased a permanent one that can be used in any vehicle. Once we get our rental we go online and enter the licence plate number and are good to go. We paid $25 for it. It sure saves time and having to dig for change. If not activated immediately, I think it will still cover any tolls you have gone through for the previous 24 or 48 hours. We got in the wrong lane one time and got a hefty bill for it, so the Sunpass works well for us. You can purchase them at Publix and CVS pharmacy.

 

[stefanospops]

We have the transponder and love it. We bought it at Publix for $20 and take it home with us if we fly. They have an app that you can use to input the licence plate of the rental car as well. It can also auto-load after you go below a certain preset value that you determine. Even better is that the US government has mandated all toll roads need to communicate with each other by October 2016. Below is a link to the whole article from sunpass suggesting it may even work with Ontario's 407ETR meaning if you have a 407 transponder you can use that for sunpass roads. But the most pertinent text is: Meanwhile, on the larger stage, the federal initiative Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21 Century (MAP-21) mandates that all toll systems in the U.S. will be interoperable by October 2016.

See the whole article here. The idea of being able to drive down and not worry about any toll road is nice. I just wonder what the "roaming" charges will be. In any case, we love the sunpass transponder since we tend to drive from Orlando all over Florida. See full article here: http://www.floridasturnpike.com/sunpassages/14.fall/steering-column.html

 

[migel]

I also just ordered the portable transponder online via the Sunpass website. Just under $22 USD taxes in, and free shipping to Canada.

 

[canadiankim]

Okay so please can I get some clarity.

Its been 2 years since I travelled to my happy place and last time there we didn't have a transponder and one wasn't pushed by the car rental company. We are fully aware of the attendant less booths where you have to have exact change (got caught out one year at Celebration and thought police would drop from the sky since we didn't have the 50 cents needed )

So if I choose to, can I still pay at booths or have the right change and not bother with a sunpass or should I bite the bullet and get something like everyone is talking about in this thread.

We are going for 11 nights, will travel to Bradenton for the beach and maybe to Tampa but that's about it.

Thanks in planning!

 

[wmson2000]

To the original poster:
If you're staying in Davenport area - no tools to Target on Highway 192, no tools for WalMart on Highway 535 or Highway 27. No tools to the outlets (premium or north international dr). You will have tolls from the airport to your lodging.

Sunpass sticker is NOT removable (to confirm what some others have said). I have seen people "hack" the system and put the Sunpass sticker on a "cell phone screen protector" sheet and then tape it in their rental car (and then take it with them). I know you're supposed to register your license plate and car make with Sunpass - so not sure if that causes a problem moving the sticker from car to car?? I just got a new car. I had the Sunpass sticker in my old car. It was destroyed when I removed it. I ordered the portable $20 Sunpass transponder with the suction cups for the new car.

 

[stefanospops]

I suggest that if you go to Florida frequently then the transponder is worth it. We go down two or three times a year. Sometimes we drive, sometimes we fly,but the convenience of the transponder and not worrying about slowing down or do we have exact change, etc. But as a pp mentioned, you don't need to go on toll roads for most of the places in and around Orlando. Just get yourself about 3 or 4 dollars worth of quarters and that should last you the trip.

 

[Snowbird267]

Speaking from experience, the "screen protector" solution works well, and makes the SunPass Mini easy to move from one car to another. It will not allow it to work on a plastic windshield though. Although the information on the SunPass site that says it uses the windshield as an antenna is incorrect, the design does require a glass dielectric for impedance matching. The thin screen protector between the sticker and the windshield does not prevent this. Just peel off the backing and stick the SunPass onto the smooth side of the protector, then attach the sticky side of the protector to the windshield as directed. Squeeze out the bubbles as you would when applying to a cell phone. You can then peel it off and re-apply on another vehicle when you wish. When you sign up for your SunPass account, don't forget to ask about the promotion which credits your account $4.99 for the cost of the SunPass Mini transponder.