sunpass

For those folks renting cars in Texas frustrated over not being able to use their own transponder and being stuck with PlatePass, I have a solution for you.

Get yourself a hard case K-Tag from the Kansas Turnpike Authority. The one time cost for the hard case transponder (which is portable between windshields, unlike sticker tags used in Texas) is $25. Everything on it is post paid with regards to tolls so you don't have to put in additional money in advance of using a toll facility.

In May, the Kansas K-Tag became fully interoperable with not only the Oklahoma Turnpike Pikepass system but also with all of the Texas transponders, TXTag (statewide), E-ZTag (Houston) and TollTag (Dallas).

There is no monthly fee associated with a K-Tag account or any minimal use requirement. You could just buy your K-Tag transponder, take it with you on your trip, put it on the windshield, register the license plate temporarily on your K-Tag account and then remove it once you have returned the rental car.

confirmation: https://www.ksturnpike.com/interoperability

Dave Noble

You are fully aware that additional costs such as Platepass are your responsibility , yet intend to use it and then try to avoid paying for it

Cannot see anything wrong with the characterisation

jim32190

When they capture your signature for GPR, you agree to the terms and conditions of rental, and you continue to be in agreement for each future rental. Not sure how you're going dispute this one. PlatePass will send your case to collections if you don't pay and they're going to have the last laugh, not you.

91StealthES

Honest question, how did you know about PlatePass if you didn't receive information about it?

Also, doesn't every Hertz vehicle now have a sticker in the upper left of the windshield regarding platepass, EZ-Pass, etc?

If you were concerned with fees, just physically pay the toll. I just did this on my trip to Florida. I had the vehicle 10-days and needed to use the toll road only on day 1 and day 10. I was not going to incur a $4.95 fee per day ($50), just to have the "privelidge" of using their tollpass.

It seems like you know about the tollpass, so pay it and move along.

Yllanes

If only each car had a sheet of paper in a big font on the passenger seat explaining PlatePass. Oh, wait...

I think the way they handle PlatePass is just short of a scam: it especially annoys me that you don't receive a bill with your tolls unless you look for it on the PlatePass website after you see the charge on your CC statement. But what you are proposing is not the answer.

AutoSlash

If you elect to receive the rental agreement via email, it contains a link to both the full rental agreement as well as the rental jacket with the return form. I just clicked on the link from an email I received from a rental yesterday and this was on page 4 of 7 of the linked rental agreement PDF:

The rental jacket was also linked to the email which you can view here. It also contains the info on PlatePass. You can try to say you didn't know or didn't receive it, or something along those lines, but I'd guess that going to be an uphill battle as it's disclosed all over the place based on what I can see.

MojaveFlyer

Regardless of the OP's motivation, I too consider Plate Pass to be a scam. First, why should I be charged for 7 days' use of a service if I use it only once during the week? Second, when you do see the charge, it is not the generally reduced charge that gets charged with automatic toll payments, but rather the higher charge for out-of-band charges (i.e. when your license is scanned and you get a bill by mail). Third, there is no way to opt out of it in places where the plates are scanned instead of use of a transponder - when I tried this in Washington I found I could not do a temporary registration of my rental car with the state DOT which charges the tolls, because Plate Pass had already done that. As they have the transponder, there is no need to also cover billing by license scanning, and it seems to me the only reason to do that is to force a renter into using Plate Pass. Because some toll roads (such as the Lake Washington bridge in Seattle, or the Sumner Tunnel in Boston) have no option to pay on the spot.

It is not to convenience the driver. It is to make money.

docbert

Whilst I am no fan at all of PlatePass, it's worth pointing out that the fee is capped at $24.75/rental, so both of the statements above are incorrect.

That said, the point is still valid - paying for 5 days whilst only using it once is better than paying for 7 days, but not by very much...

91StealthES

agree that it's a scam that you pay the "transponder fee" for every day of the rental, even if you only use it on the last day.

Regarding the statement, I've now received a PlatePass mailed copy of an invoice from a recent NYC rental. I question if this was due to that rental being a direct bill and wasn't linked to my normal card.

jackal

Not to take this too far off-topic, but it's worth mentioning that picking up a transponder yourself to avoid having to use the rental company's is generally pretty easy--and that avoids the whole scam entirely.

FWIW, I carry three toll passes with me:

-E-ZPass issued by Massachusetts (no monthly fee and no charge for the transponder device itself); it lives in one of the compartments in my backpack and works on all E-ZPass roads (Illinois to Maine). Free transponder with payment of a $25 starter balance
-NTTA Starter TollTag; the sticker version (without protective cover removed) lives in my wallet and works on all toll roads in Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas. Free tag with payment of a $20 starter balance.
-SunPass; the sticker version (without protective cover removed) lives in my wallet and works on all toll roads from Florida to North Carolina. Initial cost was $4.99 plus a minimum $10 starter balance.

The sticker ones are supposed to be attached to the windshield to work, but I've found they work fine just holding them up against the windshield when you go under a toll gantry.

It's three accounts online to create, but it's easy enough to set them up for credit card replenishment and just forget about them (unless you need to change cards).

And no, none of these agencies care one iota whether your mailing/billing addresses are in their service area. Massachusetts happily mailed me my E-ZPass to Pennsylvania despite the PA Turnpike operating its own E-ZPass product, though if you happen to actually be in Massachusetts, you can of course grab one there.

(I used to have a Bay Area FasTrak transponder, but heaven knows where it is, and fortunately, I don't drive toll roads in California very often. The day when all these systems meet Congressionally-mandated interoperability will definitely be nice...)

Brighton Line

EZ-Pass allows multiple accounts from different issuing authorities. If you want the NY State discounts in addition to MA, you can open and get a transponder from the MTA or NYS Thruway.

Ya a pain to switch tags into and out of those bags but in the long run worth it to me and I don't even own a car.

jackal

Good point, though most toll authorities honor the E-ZPass discount to all E-ZPass users. (I drive the PA Turnpike a ton and get the same rate that E-ZPasses issued by the Turnpike do.) MTA and the Thruway I think are perhaps the only two who don't. If you drive those roads frequently, it may be worth opening a local E-ZPass, but otherwise, the costs involved with purchasing a transponder or the monthly account maintenance fees may not make up for the lower toll rate--that's why I prefer the Mass one, since it's free. (Just be sure to check into that before opening up another E-ZPass account.)

tacostuff

Some follow-up from me:

Thank you, this is actually helpful. This is likely what Hertz will say. I will research this.

I know that some Hertz locations use PlatePass, but not all. This is the first time I rented from Hertz at this particular airport. This car did NOT have any sticker, box, or any other indication that PlatePass was used with the vehicle. While I'm aware of PlatePass in general, I don't think it is unreasonable to assume that some Hertz locations/rentals don't use PlatePass, especially when there isn't a sticker or box indicating it.


This was not an option. I actually went to lanes that appeared to be staffed and there was no option to pay. I was required to use electronic tolling. Nor is there any way for me to pay the toll after the fact or set up a temporary account.

Not true. I've reviewed the e-mails I received many times and clicked on every link in them. I cannot get the full terms and conditions for my rental anywhere.

YES! This is my point, the e-mail never links to the actual T&Cs.

AutoSlash

FWIW, it sounds like you would have ended up paying more than the cost of the toll in any case. If the vehicle was equipped with PlatePlass, you would have ended up paying the PlatePass fee plus the toll, and if it was not, Hertz would have received a bill for the toll and they would have invoiced you for it, plus a hefty service charge to handle the paperwork. The bottom line is that with the shift over to electronic tolling, you are going to pay hefty convenience fees unless you are willing to take the time and effort to purchase and use your own transponders. Like it or not, this is just the way things are going.

AutoSlash

It's also worth noting that if you pass an EZ Pass etoll crossing in New York labeled "Tolls by Mail" (which are extremely common these days), you can pay online to avoid the service fees levied by the rental company. Just be sure to keep the EZ Pass transponder box closed and then within a couple of days, go to:

https://www.tollsbymailny.com/vector...lnow/signup.do

Then enter your start date, end date, vehicle license plate info as well as your contact info and credit card. They will bill you within 7 days.