Alamo - Do you now pay tolls paid by credit card?

[JT]

I'm a recent convert to Alamo... after a long (30ish rentals) relationship with Dollar, I eventually gave up on them due to sub-standard vehicles and poor attitude from staff at the sharp end of things.

'Picked up an Alamo car at MCO yesterday (booked through OV of course!) and was delighted to be able to chose a brand new Lincoln Town Car with just 6 miles on the clock.....staff were very helpful - Dollar eat your heart out...!

Anyway, I was offered what I think must be a new service - for just $6 you can opt to have all tolls charged to your credit card via Alamo. I got to wondering, exactly how can this operate? Do Alamo actually register each vehicle with the various toll companies, or do they have an arrangement of some sort so that whilst initially processed as a violation, rentors on this scheme have the fees waived if the car is registered to Alamo?

Any info. on how this works would be of interest.

JT

[ujpest doza]

Does the car not have an electronic Sun Pass on the windscreen?

[Jo]

I would check whether its $6 per day ( regardless of whether you use the tolls that day).

[David W]

I rented an Alamo car from US Car Hire for three weeks in April this year and used the service where the tolls are charged to your credit card. It worked really well for me. The charge was $6 for the full three weeks and from then on I just used the Sunpass lanes. A few weeks after returning home I got a charge on my credit card for a couple of pounds, which seemed very low considering the number of tolls I went through.

I first heard about this last year when I hired two Alamo cars from US Car Hire, one for my son and then another for me which I collected a week later. On leaving the Airport my son got caught by the first toll which takes you off of the main carriageway, he went straight ahead. I saw the signs saying $100 fine, etc, so when I returned to the Alamo desk a week later to pick up my car I asked what would happen with regards to my son going through the toll without paying. The Alamo guy suggested adding the toll service retrospectively to my sons account which I did. It worked perfectly, he paid the $6 and just the actual toll charges which were added to his credit card on his return to the UK.

As I understand it there is no transponder used. All cars plates are recorded as they pass through the Sunpass lane and then this is reconciled with the rental company so that anyone who has taken the toll service just pays the actual tolls, the others get fined.

I will certainly use this service again when I pick up my Alamo car next April (already booked with US Car Hire) and would recommend it to anyone.

Also the car hire desk personnel often get very bad press, but the Alamo guy last year certainly saved my son a lot of money and aggravation.

[ujpest doza]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by David W
I rented an Alamo car from US Car Hire for three weeks in April this year and used the service where the tolls are charged to your credit card. It worked really well for me. The charge was $6 for the full three weeks and from then on I just used the Sunpass lanes. A few weeks after returning home I got a charge on my credit card for a couple of pounds, which seemed very low considering the number of tolls I went through.

I first heard about this last year when I hired two Alamo cars from US Car Hire, one for my son and then another for me which I collected a week later. On leaving the Airport my son got caught by the first toll which takes you off of the main carriageway, he went straight ahead. I saw the signs saying $100 fine, etc, so when I returned to the Alamo desk a week later to pick up my car I asked what would happen with regards to my son going through the toll without paying. The Alamo guy suggested adding the toll service retrospectively to my sons account which I did. It worked perfectly, he paid the $6 and just the actual toll charges which were added to his credit card on his return to the UK.

As I understand it there is no transponder used. All cars plates are recorded as they pass through the Sunpass lane and then this is reconciled with the rental company so that anyone who has taken the toll service just pays the actual tolls, the others get fined.

I will certainly use this service again when I pick up my Alamo car next April (already booked with US Car Hire) and would recommend it to anyone.

Also the car hire desk personnel often get very bad press, but the Alamo guy last year certainly saved my son a lot of money and aggravation.
[/quote]When you say you paid the $6 and actual tolls rather than $100 fine, do you mean that you paid $6 for the sun pass and then all of the tolls were also charged to your credit card? Or do you mean you paid $6 for the sun pass and then nothing else whatsoever?

[VIOLET]

We never use the toll roads, we have an American Tom Tom that we set to 'no toll roads', as we figure we are on holiday and if it takes us 5 minutes more to get where we are going so what.... never had any problems.

Violet

[David W]

You pay $6 for the service which is added to the other charges that are on the agreement you sign at the Alamo desk. The charges for the actual tolls you drive through are extra and are charged to your credit card some weeks after the car rental has finished. Alamo must pass your credit card details to the authority who manages the tolls as the charges are shown on my credit card as:
Merchant Information: Rental Car Tolls (with a telephone number in New York). The transaction is shown as: "Tolls, Road and Bridge Fees".

[Tony G]

I emailed Alamo, enquiring as to the vehicles they currently stock, and also about this scheme - here's a quote of their response:

"We offer Toll Pass Service at USD $2.50 per day, max $6.00 per week."

So is it $6.00 total, or $6.00 per week?

[dsv77]

That is a great idea , as we once had to make a 5 mile detour to get change for the tolls when we realised all we had was a $50 dollar bill with us .

I have another question about Alamo.

this is is the first time we will be using them and in the past we have subscribed to Dollars fast checkin service and register online , I think budget have a similar scheme where you can either jump the Q or go straight the the car park and pick up your keys from the booth.
Does anyone know if Alamo offer a similar service ar do you still have to go to the hire desk.


Cheers

[David W]

Quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I emailed Alamo, enquiring as to the vehicles they currently stock, and also about this scheme - here's a quote of their response:

"We offer Toll Pass Service at USD $2.50 per day, max $6.00 per week."

So is it $6.00 total, or $6.00 per week?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If Alamo say it is $6.00 per week I would guess this is correct, but I can asure you all I paid was $6.00 for the three weeks. Maybe the Alamo clerk made a mistake!

If it is $6.00 per week I would still pay it as it made using the tolls so fast and easy.