E-Z Pass would be the closest thing to it:

https://www.e-zpassny.com/en/about/facilities.shtml

Mostly Northeast, but covers the vast number of tollroads in the Northeast.

...and Illinois' I-Pass can be used on any state's EZ-Pass toll road (and vice-versa).

Paid cash tolls, got billed convenience fee
 

We paid cash tolls to get from the Orlando airport to the convention center and submitted the receipts to Budget (Avis). They continue to bill us the $2.50 per day convenience fee for our 2 week rental. While we were otherwise pleased with our rental experience, we have since taken our business elsewhere. If someone should use Avis/Budget, have a rental agent walk to the car and turn the transponder to the off position (we couldn't see it in the dark) or be informed of the costs in advance.

It's really disappointing that the car rental companies are using tolls as a profit center instead of as a customer convenience (just as they do with refueling and most other "optional" charges). They have the right to do so, of course, but it's just disappointing. Having a toll transponder would be a great convenience, but it's not worth the extra fees they charge for it. I always pay cash.

Last time I was in Australia, I paid the tolls online. The car rental company still tried to charge me their "convenience" fees, of course, so I had to allocate time to go to the office to had those charges taken off.

How to avoid using e-tolls in SFO area? I'm not going to use e-toll and is there any way to switch the transponder off or decline the service at Avis counter?

Thanks in advance!

The eToll flips open and closed. Open exposes the transponder to the readers, if you keep it closed it will not be used. When you go to get your car, just run inside to confirm that the eToll isn't added on your contract. That's how it was for me in Boston.

Just for those Orlando travellers, if you are going to the convention center on I-Drive and that is where you are staying, just avoid the toll roads all together on your commute to and from the airport. Its simple, have you ever noticed the 2 lane roads on each side of the first toll booth just passed the airport (or before) if you are coming to the airport.

To get to it, take the main road out of the airport, SR 436 Semoran Blvd. Pass the toll road 528 and make the first left at Frontage Road (there is a TGI Fridays at the corner), this road will wind back towards the toll road and eventually become McCoy Road and then Sand Lake Road. Take this for about 10 or 11 miles and turn left at Universal Drive or I Drive to the convention center. Adds only about 5 minutes to the commute and you avoid the tolls.

As a frequent traveller to Orlando, I got sick of the tolls to and from that area so just figured away around it, I always laugh at the people going to the airport when they are stopped at that last toll just before the airport as I breeze right by the toll booth not having to stop.

Thanks for the info! Would the contract ready in my rental when I fetch the car? Do they really state e-toll as an item in the contract? Is there any way I could decline it before picking up the car? I rented 2 times from LAX and both car never had any toll pass of any kind.

Uh, as I posted in another thread (that wasn't on topic), the manner of disabling / avoiding tolls may vary from area to area (depending on the toll system). I would not automatically assume that a techinique useful in the Boston area is useful in California.

Having said that:

Yes, rentals cars in LAX and SNA don't tend to have toll passes. There are relatively few completely toll roads in SoCal (all in the OC, not in LA County, and only existing mainly as commute-reduce alterantives to some freeways), plus going inland on the 91 (once you get past the 55) there are toll lanes (instead of car pool lanes). It's easy to avoid driving on any tolls in SoCal unless you're taking a very specific route that the toll road matches perfect (say, you're on Jamborree near the 5 and you want go to the Inland Empire), and want to save maximum time. But if you're just a few miles off (say, staring from SNA), it already may not worth it (especially if you're not familiar with the area) to go out of the way for the toll road.

And the way those toll systems work (for non-rental cars) they tend not to be cost-effective to get the cards unless you use that route a lot. So it's probably not cost-effective for rental car companies either.

(That's completely different than, say, Orlando, where you have to use tricks like those posted above to avoid using a toll road just to get to/from the airport!)

Other than bridges, what tolls are there in the SF area? And are there even toll passes for those bridges? (Ie, I don't know if rentals at SFO or OAK or SLC even have toll passes these days. It's been quite a few years since I've rented anywhere in the Bay Area, and never yet at SFO, and back then no rental cars had toll passes there and I don't remember any tolls except bridges (and I don't remember if those bridges had toll pass lanes).

nacho, if you have concerns about a specific rental facility, I suggest you might want to call them ahead of time, and ask them if their cars come with any toll passes. If not, you're done. If so, ask them if those passes can be enabled/disabled with a slider door.

Fair enough.

Unless you have FasTrak, it's easier to just pay the toll rather than get the eToll and pay the fee.


Bridges are still the only places in the Bay Area that require a toll. Since the implementation of FastTrak they have been increasing the FasTrak Only lanes. These help a lot, but at peak hours can get blocked a bit. There are about toll lanes for each bridge, though I'm not sure how many for each, at least 6 crossing the Bay Bridge, 4 for the Benecia, 4 for the Carquinez.

For the Bay Area, an eToll would be beneficial really only if you're crossing a bridge everyday during rush hour because the time it will save you is well worth the fee Avis will charge.

Also the Avis e-toll doesn't give you carpool discount either.

No problem with the fees. They can charge anything they want - as long as I have an alternative. These fees are charged where there is no transponder to turn on or off. They are charged by license plate photo and there is no cash pay lane available to try and pre-empt the toll.

Don't drive on tolls roads and you can avoid all of this.

Just because there is no cash pay lane isnt AVIS' fault.

Transponder closed, pay tolls in MA post-facto?
 

If I keep the transponder closed on my Avis rental, can I pay my tolls directly through www.ezdrivema.com post facto based on license plate? Any experience?

The daily convenience fee that Avis charges, just seems wasteful.

EZ drive will not let you add the plates to your account. I have tried this in the past and even called EZ drive to ask, but it is blocked/already registered to Avis.
The only work around is to bring your own transponder. If you get your EZ pass from MA, it is free too. Avis cars already have the velcro mounts in the car too.
This was my experience back from March 2017

In a previous trip, Avis did waive my convenience fee for MA tolls because the tolls did not post to my account - they got charged to Avis. Just called their customer service and they refunded the convenience fee.

edit - I own an EZ pass and don't live in a state that has EZ pass booths. I bought mine from Massachusetts since there is no monthly surcharge to own one. You also do not need to be a resident of MA to own one too.