Sunpass/ Tolls

[dsv77]

when we were in Florida last week we picked up our car from Dollar at Sandford, at the time the desk clerk asked if we wanted to buy a sunpass, without thinking I just said no , but after being caught in some lenthy Qs at the tolls it now seems like a good idea.
Has anyone ever bought one? and do you know how much they cost? as the cost of tolls seems to be rising all the time especially if you are going back to Sandford on the 417

[jolliffee]

Around $5 or $25 plus tax from PUBLIX etc. I've got one just to save time since I hate Q's

There are two types, see http://www.sunpass.com/MiniWebPDF_E.pdf

[dsv77]

Am I right in thinking the $25 one actually has no credit in it ? and how do you know if you have any credit left in it , in case you go through a toll and end up with a toll penlty?

[parthiban]

I considered this the last time I was out there, but a few people who live there advised against it as they're not the most reliable and often they won't register it as you drive through.........then you'll get a ticket and have to go through all the motions to sort it out.

Seemed like potentially too much hassle for a non resident, has anyone had any trouble using one?

[parthiban]

Just read this article which states that with 5 of the rental companies (Avis, Budget, Dollar, Thrifty and Hertz) you don't need a sunpass, as the toll recognises the vehicle and you will be billed by the rental car company. Looks like it costs a bit extra to do it, but might be worth it as it reduces hassle all round.

http://www.tollroadsnews.com/node/3155

[Robert5988]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Just read this article which states that with 5 of the rental companies (Avis, Budget, Dollar, Thrifty and Hertz) you don't need a sunpass, as the toll recognises the vehicle and you will be billed by the rental car company. Looks like it costs a bit extra to do it, but might be worth it as it reduces hassle all round.[/quote]

There was a sticker in my car(Budget) saying you could use the Express lane as the car was registered.

You would be charged $2.50 a day plus the costs of the tolls - debited to your credit card.

I assume that would be for every day of your hire - not just the days you went through a Toll????

I normally go for 3 weeks and only go through the SR528 toll twice - to and from the airport. So it would cost me $55.50.

[parthiban]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by Robert5988
I assume that would be for every day of your hire - not just the days you went through a Toll????[/quote]
According to the article, depending on the rental company, it's either a charge per day on days you go through a toll, or a flat charge per day/week for unlimited toll usage. Best to check with the rental companies though to check.

As long as you don't need to pay everyday, then I'd be happy to pay $2.50 on days I use tolls to avoid waiting in sometimes very long queues........the good thing is it gives you the choice, if there's no queue you can just go through a normal till and pay cash.

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:ATS PlatePass will enrol all vehicles of the three rental car companies (Avis, Budget, Hertz) automatically. PlatePass will bill the car renters' credit cards by the amount of tolls plus a daily fee of $2.00 to $2.50 levied on days when a toll charge is incurred by the car renter.

Rent A Toll's Pass24 on Dollar and Thrify cars will provide coverage of unlimited tolls for a flat daily fee of $5.95 or aweekly $27.95 for the time the car is rented.[/quote]

[zanderbuchan]

We've had a $25 one for a few years now. We have it set to top up automatically on low balance from our local bank account. Never had a missed toll on it and never bothered to update for different hire car.
You can track your account and transactions online, although these sometimes take a day or two to come through. You must remember to disable it for airport parking.
We normally take ours home and then it's one of the first things we do when we pick up new hire car on arrival, it comes with a little silver foil bag so it doesn't pick up ant stray signals when not in the car.

[KevinT]

If you visit Florida frequently (and especially if you have a US bank account to link to)it's well worth buying the $25 Sunpass from Publix / Walmart etc. (Avoid the cheaper "mini" pass which sticks firmly to car windscreen and can't be transferred between cars) The larger one has rubber suckers and can be removed easily. We bought one a few years back and have had no problems. (I changed the battery after 3 years just to be sure but I think the old one still had plenty of life in it!![msnsmile])

If you go infrequently it's worth considering the car hire option to include the Sunpass as it certaily saves lots of time at the toll booths (especially now that they have altered many of the roads to the "straight through" option where the sensors are on gantries over the road and you only need to divert to the booths if you need to pay.

[parthiban]

Thanks for those replies, good to hear that the system does work everytime, might invest in the $25 box next time I'm out there then as that way after the one off payment it's ready to go.

Is the box assigned to the registration of the rental car? And if so, do you need to remove that reg when you return it? (obviously if you bring the box back to the UK it can't be a huge issue but just thought I'd ask)

Not sure if this is a silly question, but you know how some of the tolls say "Sunpass" on them, some say "EPass" and can't remember if there is a third - do you need separate units to go through the different tolls or will for example a Sunpass unit work through any toll?

[ewhyte]

Same unit for Sunpass and Epass. I have one and wouldn't be without it. We pick up the hire car at the airport and amend the registration online when we get to the villa.

Elizabeth

[dsv77]

if you had to wait until you get to the villa to update the Reg number, would that not defeat the purpose of having the $25 dollar one? as we normally pay around $10 in tolls to get from Sandford to Davenport, so we would have to pay that amount before we can up date it.

Does that make sense?

[crews]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by dsv77
we normally pay around $10 in tolls to get from Sandford to Davenport,
[/quote]Wow, that seems a lot. It's either a strange route or you've got 12 axles !!!
Or am I way out of touch on these new charges?

[ewhyte]

Blimey $10... it normally costs us about $5 however, I use it anyway with the old reg and just update it asap... have never had a problem, highly recommend it. I am just back from a day at Cocoa... up the 417 and across the 528 no wait at tools and sopme had long queues!

Elizabeth

[parthiban]

How quickly does it update the reg? Could you technically update it as soon as you pick the car up either using the web on your phone or by physically ringing someone?

Not done the journey from Sanford before, but $10 in tolls does sound like a lot......

[zanderbuchan]

I have never updated for new rental car, it is still registered to original vehicle I had when I first bought it. And never had any problems with it. All that FL turnpike are really interested in, is if it still has credit on it.

[parthiban]

That's interesting, I guess if it "pings" then they're not really bothered about the reg - would prob only be of relevance if it didn't register so they could tie the reg to the unit.

Thanks all, you've convinced me to get one next time I'm out there :)

[dsv77]

Just realised I said $10 when that should have been for both journeys from and to the airport

[LongLeaf]

Hi,

Strange...

a)We have the $25 transponder and it never beeps when we pass the toll gate (while it's paying perfectly)
can some forum member confirm that they hear a beep or get a confirmation sign (flashing LED) when passing the gates ?

b) Just went to my Sunpass web account and saw that they charge us some tolls for April and May...
while the transponder is here in Europe since begin February (whith battery removed) !?!
From now on, I will check my account each month !

[ewhyte]

HI

My transponder emits 1 beep everytime I go through the toll. I have never been charged for any unauthorised tolls.

Elizabeth

[zanderbuchan]

Yes my transponder beeps, I can't recall the exact interpretation of the beeps but there are long and short ones. I think 2 short ones may be low balance???? I think there is a key to the beeps on website.
I have never been charged for incorrect tolls. We do keep our transponder in the foil bag when not in use.

[KevinT]

Info from Sunpass which may be helpful. (Applies to larger rubber sucker style transponders only - not the new mini stick - on type which don't have lights or sounds)

Lights and Sounds
When you pass through a SunPass toll lane, your transponder will provide information via both lights and sounds (audio tones). The SunPass Mini Sticker transponder, because it has no batteries, does not provide lights and sounds.

The chart below explains the various combinations of lights and sounds. If the light is:
And the tone is:
It means:

Long
Green High
Toll paid - go ahead.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

No Light High
Low
High
Low
Toll paid- go ahead- but you have a low balance in your account.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

No Light Low
Low
Low
This means one of three things:

Your transponder is invalid.
Your batteries are low.
Toll was not paid and you have insufficient funds in your account. Place transponder in silver bag and pay cash.
Call 1-888-865-5352


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[jolliffee]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by zanderbuchan
Yes my transponder beeps, I can't recall the exact interpretation of the beeps but there are long and short ones. I think 2 short ones may be low balance???? I think there is a key to the beeps on website.
I have never been charged for incorrect tolls. We do keep our transponder in the foil bag when not in use.
[/quote]

The sound and light codes

If the light is:Long Green And the tone is:High
It means:Toll paid - go ahead.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

If the light is:No Light And the tone is:High/Low High/Low
It means:Toll paid - go ahead- but you have a low balance in your account

----------------------------------------------------------------------

If the light is:No Light And the tone is:Low/low/low
This means one of three things:

Your transponder is invalid.
Your batteries are low.
Toll was not paid and you have insufficient funds in your account. Place transponder in silver bag and pay cash.
Call 1-888-865-5352
----------------------------------------------------------------------

If the light is:Flashing Green And the tone is:High/High
It means:Toll paid - Your account has been replenished - go ahead.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

[LongLeaf]

Thanks a lot for your informations...

I think ours is a little defect as it does never beeps or lights even if it transmit and pays every toll perfectly...

now, about wrong invoicing, I got the following explanation from SunPass this morning :

"If your account has the vehicle description including tag#, the SunPass system will I-toll your account.
I-Toll stands for image tolling, which means if your transponder does not pay the toll a picture of your vehicles tag# is captured.
With the vehicle tag# we are able to locate your SunPass account and deduct the toll amount that was missed.
Please ensure that your vehicle information is correct."

Important : So people (like me !) who never delete or change rental car details are at risk !!!

However, I not sure you can delete all your car details when you return to Europe ?!?

[parthiban]

You can add and delete vehicle registrations online can't you? That was my understanding from what I read on here and the sunpass website......

[jolliffee]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by parthiban
You can add and delete vehicle registrations online can't you? That was my understanding from what I read on here and the sunpass website......
[/quote]

I've not added a car registration to my account, and it works fine[msncool]. If you put the hire car plate on it yu'll need to remove it the day you leave or even the night before otherwise you'll pay the toll if some one goes through the express lane without a working transponder[msnsad].
I do turn on airport parking if I'm picking some one up otherwise it stays off. I have mine on auto top up so don't look at it that much but just logged on and all is still ok[msnsmile2]

[parthiban]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by jolliffee
I've not added a car registration to my account, and it works fine[msncool]. If you put the hire car plate on it yu'll need to remove it the day you leave or even the night before otherwise you'll pay the toll if some one goes through the express lane without a working transponder[msnsad].
I do turn on airport parking if I'm picking some one up otherwise it stays off. I have mine on auto top up so don't look at it that much but just logged on and all is still ok[msnsmile2]
[/quote]
That's an interesting point actually, and from the experience of longleaf it seems to be a potential problem. Seeing as I think the plan is to make the video tolling thing for everyone in future (not just for rental cars) it appears that they're using an "either or" system at the moment - it reads the unit, but if it's not there it tries to match the reg to an account.

Which does pose a weird problem! Either you don't register the vehicle, and then if the unit fails to read you'll need to sort that out, or you do register the vehicle, but then need to make sure to de-register it as soon as you return the vehicle.

Can you add/remove vehicles over the phone? In which case it might be safer/easier to stick with the latter, and just make a quick call to sunpass while in the airport waiting to board your flight home [msnsmile2]

[jolliffee]

I would remove the plate the night before and make sure the transponder worked if it didn't Call 1-888-865-5352. The alternative is to do it after you drop the car but I don't think you need to make it complicated.

[jeansusrentals]

We just put the sunpass on the windscreen when we pick up the car - and off we go! We have had it now for about 8 years - one thing to remember - check the battery!! A couple of years ago I realised that it hadn't 'beeped' going through two or three tolls - when we took it to Walgreens - sure enough - the battery was dead! It's just like a watch battery - a couple of $$ and we were as good as new! and the tolls we went through were deducted when we were back live! We also have the payments coming out of one of our UK accounts, NOT our USA account - no problems there either! The transponder is registered to the owner - not the car! Best $25 I have ever spent.
Jean

[Regalpalmschic]

I usually register my rental vehicles but this year I didn't. Received a $42 charge on my CC. Spoke to Budget and it was for tolls used in February. My Sunpass account was up to date and the charges were taken. Both Budget and Sunpass refused to refund as they said it was my responsibility to register my car. The odd thing is I was there for 4 months and had 4 cars and it was only the Feb one that I had a problem with.

Sara

[cook22uk]

Interesting to see users not registering the car plate, we usually pay the tolls to the villa then go online to put our plate in for the rest of the holiday - though if there is wifi at Orlando I guess we could do it there before leaving the airport. Anyone ever been overcharged by failing to register/then remove the rental car plate?

[Regalpalmschic]

Yes I was overcharged because I failed to register my Rental.. Neither Budget or Sunpass will not entertain a refuns as it was my responsibilty to register.

Sara

[Dads_Taxi]

Picked up a car from Alamo at MCO last night and was offered a pass for the tolls for $10. The agent didn't speak the best English, but as far as I can tell I paid $10 up front for 2 weeks of toll credit and if I exceed the $10 my credit card will be charged pro-rata.

When I got the car from the garage I couldn't find anything to show I could use the express lanes so I queried the guy giving out the keys and he reckons it is all done by number-plate recognition, Alamo will be billed for the tolls and they know I'm on the pre-paid tolls deal.

I just hope they're right!!

[parthiban]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by Dads_Taxi
Picked up a car from Alamo at MCO last night and was offered a pass for the tolls for $10. The agent didn't speak the best English, but as far as I can tell I paid $10 up front for 2 weeks of toll credit and if I exceed the $10 my credit card will be charged pro-rata.

When I got the car from the garage I couldn't find anything to show I could use the express lanes so I queried the guy giving out the keys and he reckons it is all done by number-plate recognition, Alamo will be billed for the tolls and they know I'm on the pre-paid tolls deal.

I just hope they're right!!


[/quote]
Is that how they explained it to you? That's not what they told me when I hired a car from Alamo over xmas.......they said the $10 was a charge, and then I would pay for tolls on top when I return the car.

It's only $10 so no need to worry about it much, but worth clarifying with them (especially if they didn't speak great english) just to make sure what the position is (because if what they told you is true I'm annoyed as that's much better than the sunpass I eventually bought)

[canarypam]

We've had our Sun Pass for 5 years now and it is still registered under the original convertible we had hired at the time. We have actually been through the toll when it has run out many times and have topped the account up when we got home. We are registered for auto top now though. We wouldn't be without it!!!

[parthiban]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by canarypam
We've had our Sun Pass for 5 years now and it is still registered under the original convertible we had hired at the time. We have actually been through the toll when it has run out many times and have topped the account up when we got home. We are registered for auto top now though. We wouldn't be without it!!!
[/quote]
Many seem to get away fine with not registering cars, but it probably makes sense to de-register that original car - even though you've had no problems so far if someone were to drive around not paying tolls it may all get charged to your account.

[LongLeaf]

Rightly said Parthiban...

this is exactly what happened to us (see my above posts...)

So you better de-activate your car after the rental is terminated !

[canarypam]

Yes I see your point now I will change the details when we go over in 10 days but as you say what happens when you come home?

[LongLeaf]

Pamela,

When we come home, we remove the battery (so will last 10 years):D

Then we login on our sunpass account and fill some "improbable" details

"non existing" car maker
"bizarre" color
"fake" plate number
etc.

Since we do that, our account seems to be safe !

[parthiban]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by LongLeaf
Pamela,

When we come home, we remove the battery (so will last 10 years):D

Then we login on our sunpass account and fill some "improbable" details

"non existing" car maker
"bizarre" color
"fake" plate number
etc.

Since we do that, our account seems to be safe !


[/quote]

Do you need to do that? I've just deleted the vehicle I had from my account, so now there are no vehicles registered to my sunpass. Should I set up a fake vehicle on the account or leave it as it is?

[markm]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by LongLeaf
Pamela,

When we come home, we remove the battery (so will last 10 years):D

Then we login on our sunpass account and fill some "improbable" details

"non existing" car maker
"bizarre" color
"fake" plate number
etc.

Since we do that, our account seems to be safe !


[/quote]

How long does the battery last if you do take it out ? Just wondering as I never took my out from last year.

[Laurel Oak]

Looking to buy a SunPass. The web site says they can be bought at Publix but when I've look at the activate section on the web site it doen not appear to allow a UK address or a Credit Card with a UK address. I have a US address (my villa) but my Ctedit Card has a UK address.

Any advice will ne most appreciated.

Ian

[parthiban]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by Laurel Oak
Looking to buy a SunPass. The web site says they can be bought at Publix but when I've look at the activate section on the web site it doen not appear to allow a UK address or a Credit Card with a UK address. I have a US address (my villa) but my Ctedit Card has a UK address.

Any advice will ne most appreciated.

Ian
[/quote]
They have them at publix, that's where I got mine. They've changed the unit now though so isn't as many describe in this thread - it no longer beeps or anything as you go through a toll, but it also has no battery so there's good and bad with the new unit.

I've set mine up with a UK card but using our Florida address and it works fine - I assume they don't actually match the card to the address, they just want a valid card and some address that they can use for correspondence if necessary.

[Laurel Oak]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by parthiban
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by Laurel Oak
Looking to buy a SunPass. The web site says they can be bought at Publix but when I've look at the activate section on the web site it doen not appear to allow a UK address or a Credit Card with a UK address. I have a US address (my villa) but my Ctedit Card has a UK address.

Any advice will ne most appreciated.

Ian
[/quote]
They have them at publix, that's where I got mine. They've changed the unit now though so isn't as many describe in this thread - it no longer beeps or anything as you go through a toll, but it also has no battery so there's good and bad with the new unit.

I've set mine up with a UK card but using our Florida address and it works fine - I assume they don't actually match the card to the address, they just want a valid card and some address that they can use for correspondence if necessary.
[/quote]

Thanks. I try that when I'm over next month.