Leemajors

Did this happen to you?

N9MD

I'm back and forth just about every month between NJ and either FLL or PBI (in Florida). The AVIS vehicle comes with a 4"x4" plastic stick-on which is affixed to the top left corner inside the windshield. I've never seen a "box" or actual transponder. The label specifically indicates that the "Daily Charge" is only applied to the bill on days that I use the toll service. I generally remove the sticker and toss it on the floor of the car.

Silly question, but why would one pay a daily fee for the privilege of using the automatic toll on a one-week rental if plans called for using a toll road for only one or two days. That doesn't make sense. (I know ... OXYMORON: Avis :: Sense!)

As far as I know, with the AVIS toll setup in SouthEast Florida, SunPass takes a photo of the sticker and the license plate and subsequently bills AVIS in batches for all the AVIS vehicles that have accumulated charges for each month. (I may be wrong ... maybe there's a hidden transponder ... but I doubt it ... because I've never incurred charges on my Floridas Turnpike jaunts when I pull the sticker off.)

Incidentally, regarding the New York(JFK) & New Jersey (EWR) EZ Pass, the transponder will often still be active even if you hide it in the glove box. A transponder is a 2-way radio setup ... an interrogation from one side and a response from the other. So the radio signals can often pass through the car. EZ Pass provides a metallic coated plastic bag for Transponder storage so that the radio signals are blocked.

YULQC

I rented a car for leisure at AVIS in Albany NY on Aug 8 and returned it on Aug 16. There was an ugly box with a swinging door attached to the windshield with Velcro. The AVIS counter rep told me that I could remove the box and store it in the glove compartment if I prefered to pay tolls on my own and avoid the $2.50 charge per day. A colleague recently had his rental car window broken and the box was removed. I wanted to avoid a similar problem and clean up the clutter on the windshield after attaching my GPS.

Today I discovered a charge of $15.50 from the AVIS EZPass group in Great Neck on my Amex. I was told that a booth on the Garden State Parkway picked up the signal for .50 on Aug 9 and therefore AVIS charged $2.50 each day of the rental. When I mentioned that the box had been safely tucked away in the glove compartment I was threatened with a charge of an additional $25 for illegal removal of the box. In the end I managed to have $10 credited back to my Amex.

The boxes should be an option and only installed when a customer requests it and understands the fee structure.

Auto Enthusiast

EZ Pass provides a metallic coated plastic bag for Transponder storage so that the radio signals are blocked.

If you don't have said box with you when you need it, try this: Wrap the transponder in aluminum foil before putting it in the glove box. It's essentially the same idea. The incoming signal gets deflected like a mirror.

Steph3n

Rented in CA and have an AZ rental car, no fasttrak

stimpy

I used it in Chicago recently and didn't get charged at all!

aamilesslave

It is billed separately and can take several weeks to show up on your card.

Auto Enthusiast

I don't think in CA they enroll rental cars in FasTrak, at least not that I've seen. FasTrak uses a transponder similar to EZPass, so there'd be a big box in the middle of the windshield if they did.

Besides, according to CA emissions laws, out of state cars are not supposed to be rented locally. (I take it you're going one-way out of CA if they gave you an AZ car?) So those cars are parked in a corner of the rental lot, nose in, untouched for a while, until another renter comes along going one-way out of state. As such, the rental companies have no incentive to do anything with those cars beyond mandatory maintenance, let alone enroll them in an electronic toll collection plan.

aamilesslave

I rent cars from Avis in LA all the time, and I frequently get cars registered outside of the state. For sure I've recently had cars registered in Texas and Neveda...

stimpy

Thanks. It actually showed up a few days later for $13.50.