Sunpass

[ebmouse]

Trying to wrap my old brain around how these work. I have a mini to use on our next trip. We are renting with Alamo. How will the mini work over the one already installed in the car?

 

[nacho113]

Alamo, National and Enterprise don't use a transponder in the vehicle, they use PlatePass. Plate Pass takes a photo of the vehicles licence plate when going through a Sunpass lane (if no Transponder is detected). Then the owner of the licence plate is billed for the toll (in this case, the rental car company), and they pass the toll on to you plus the applicable service charge.
If you put a transponder in the vehicle, the Sunpass lane will detect the transponder and bill the account that is linked to the Transponder (Platepass will not be used).
When you arrive at your rental car in the parking garage, you should use the smartphone app for Sunpass and enter the car info and licence number into your Sunpass account.
This way if your transponder doesn't get read properly, Platepass is able to match the vehicle licence number to your Transponder and you don't get double billed.

 

[ebmouse]

Ahhh. Got it. Thank you for explaining it so well.

 

[oddman]

Thanks Nacho. Alamo don't post information on this sort of thing, you took the pain out of figuring it out...

 

[Capt_BJ]

I'll be curious to see if the APP works for you

the APP is intended to be used with the $20 version which can be moved from car to car ... adding and removing TAG #s if a feature

the MINI is intended for one time use on one car ... it glues to the windshield and is destroyed when you remove it .....

I never tried to use the APP on a MINI ..... when I owned both a portable and a MINI, the web sites that came up for 'services' were different.

From the SUNPASS web site:

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.


From: https://www.sunpass.com/rentalcar

Most major rental car companies now offer their customers the option of including tolls with the credit card used to rent the vehicle.

How does it work? Cameras take a photo of the rental car's license plate as it goes through the toll lane and sends a bill for the tolls to the rental company's tolling program vendor. The vendor collects the toll plus applicable service fees from the customer's credit card, and pays the toll to the road agency. The service fees are retained by the vendor, not the toll road.

 

[rspencer38]

So according to https://www.sunpass.com/rentalcar, renters with Alamo don't need to do anything? Simply drive through the Epass/Prepaid lanes and the company will directly bill?

$3.95 fee per day of usage plus toll

 

[GrnMtnMan]

So according to https://www.sunpass.com/rentalcar, renters with Alamo don't need to do anything?

True.

Simply drive through the Epass/Prepaid lanes and the company will directly bill?

Yes, a few days after your rental, directly to your credit card.

$3.95 fee per day of usage plus toll

Yup. As you can see on the page you linked to, it one of the more reasonable pricing structures. Some of the companies charge you for every day of your rental, regardless of whether or not you go through a toll. I've personally used this, and have been billed appropriately as advertised.