toll road fee with car rental?

[jjduck]

Believe it or not, we are not familiar with toll roads! (Hawaii residents. hahaha)

 

After our cruise, we  will rent a car in Ft. Lauderdale  and drive to Orlando.  How do we pay the toll fees?    Can you pay by cash or credit card?  I suppose we can ask the car rental company, but we'd like to know what to expect.

 

Thank You!

 

 

[pbenjamin]

We don't have them in Arizona either but my recollection of them in Florida with rental cars is that the car comes equipped with some sort of gizmo that the toll gate interacts with OR they do license plate recognition.  In either case you don't have to stop and the rental agency bills you for the tolls, in a separate billing a few days later.

[jjduck]

Thanks for the info, pbenjamin.  Good to know what to expect.

[Cienfuegos]

The second post is consistent with my understanding, too.

 

check carefully about how your selected rental company handles its billing. The typical fee is $5 or $6 dollars per day, plus tolls. Some companies charge the fee for every day of the rental, others charge only for days when a toll is charged. On a two week rental, the difference will add up.

 

Florida recently announced it will accept E-Z Pass on most toll roads.

[Capt_BJ]

https://www.sunpass.com/en/tolls/rentalVehicles.shtml

PAYING FOR TOLLS IN A RENTAL VEHICLE

 

recommend reading everything here. Includes a table showing the major rental companies policy and charge method ..... costs vary WIDELY ..... example:

 

 

[jjduck]

Many thanks, Cienfuegos and Capt. BJ.  Very good and useful info!

[Noxequifans]

A note on renting cars. In some locals there is a shortage of cars as the rental companies got rid of portions of their fleet when Covid first struck. Now there is also a limit on electronic chips which cars use. Hopefully, all will get back to normal before your trip. 

[bouhunter]

41 minutes ago, Noxequifans said:

A note on renting cars. In some locals there is a shortage of cars as the rental companies got rid of portions of their fleet when Covid first struck. Now there is also a limit on electronic chips which cars use. Hopefully, all will get back to normal before your trip. 

Yes the car rental situation is not pretty.  Rates are VERY high and some popular destinations have no cars available at peak times.  If someone needs a car rental I would get something booked NOW.  You can always keep price shopping and re-book later if you find something better.

 

Capn BJ posted good info on the Florida tolls, not all rental companies treat them the same.

[jjduck]

thank you to noxequifans and bouhunter.  fortunately, we 've had our rental reservations for a while.

 

(some tourists here have reported paying several hundred $ per day. wow! )

[BoozinCroozin]

Rental car companies usually charge a high fee for their toll meters. The last time in FL, I found out they do not take credit or debit cards for tolls. They only took cash then. I didn't have cash and the one exit had no one there. I drove through slowly knowing it was taking a picture. I emailed the FL Turnpike people as soon as we got where we were going. I gave them my license plate number, address, exit we were at, with the time. It was no big deal, they sent me an invoice with something like a $2 fee on it. 

 

Just much easier to have cash on hand unless things have changed. It would be nice to have an app for it all to be managed.

[Oviedo32765]

1 hour ago, BoozinCroozin said:

Just much easier to have cash on hand unless things have changed. It would be nice to have an app for it all to be managed.

Funny you mentioned an app. I searched ez-pass on the iPhone App store and noticed 3 for Florida and counted a total of 54 apps available. I'm sure there are a few worth downloading. I have no idea how many, if any, are available for android phones.

 

So here's a crowd source challenge for the Florida board: Which apps are best? What features do you like the best? Which apps aren't even worth the time to download?

[jjduck]

thanks, boozincroozin, for the tip about cash.  We'll see how things go!

 

Oviedo, there's apps for tolls payments?  I just want my dial telephone again. hahaha!

[Cienfuegos]

Although the five Florida toll road authorities are independent of each other, each toll road or toll bridge accepts Florida Sun Pass, the transponder. Any Sun Pass works on any facility.

 

The transponder may be purchased in supermarkets, candy stores, gas stations, or on the toll road service areas.

Edited June 24, 2021 by Cienfuegos
Clarity