cestmoi123

Where was this?

tacostuff

Texas. I forget what freeway I was on, but the road split. On one side were the high-speed "no stop" tolling lanes and on the other were a number of toll booths. I went to the side with the toll booths. When I got up to the only one with a green light, there was a sign saying that electronic tolling is mandatory and that I would be mailed a bill.

AutoSlash

In this case, you should hope that PlatePass was active on the vehicle, because if it wasn't, the "convenience" fee for Hertz to pay this on your behalf is probably much higher than the PlatePass charge.

tacostuff

I see something wrong with the characterization. While I am fully aware that some past rentals have charged for PlatePass, it is not reasonable to extend this and say that I know "all rentals" will have PlatePass. This is especially true when, as is the case here, i) there was no indication whatsoever on the car or the documentation that I was given that PlatePass applied, and ii) PlatePass is not available globally on all rentals.

The bottom line is that consumers deserve clear descriptions of what charges they will be responsible for. That's what has me so worked up here. Companies like Hertz can't merely say "well, you should have known because the charge was disclosed on page X of a document that you agreed to a year ago when you signed up for Hertz Gold." That just doesn't seem fair (especially to the average holiday traveler that rents a car infrequently). Hertz could at least put a little note in the car letting people know.

Many (or at least some) people on this board seems to complain how Hertz handles PlatePass charges. Well, I'm trying to do something about it rather than just "take it" as some here seem resigned to do. And, in the scheme of things, the $30 I have to pay is nothing, but that's the point--most people won't fight it and the practice will continue.

Dave Noble

So you genuinely believe that Hertz has changed its terms so as to provde tolls for no cost?

Seriously?

Your 1st post indicates that you are fully aware that tolls / platepass are not included, yet you chose to incur tolls and yet you intend to try and avoid paying for them

tacostuff

That's not what I said. What I am saying is that Hertz's past use of PlatePass in certain locations is not enough for me to think that it is used in all rentals in all locations. In fact, I have previously only used PlatePass in California. When I rented the car in Texas I genuinely did not know whether PlatePass was used in Texas. I actually thought PlatePass was regional to California. Only when I returned the car and asked the attendant what happens to tolls did I realize that PlatePass was used in TX and decided to fight the charges.

Do I think that Hertz changed its policy to provide no-cost tolls? No. The point is that I don't know what Hertz is doing because they didn't provide the terms when I rented the car (and made it impossible for me to find them). Maybe they reduced the fees because of the government lawsuit in SFO over PlatePass. Who knows? And that is my point--people should be made aware in a clear and unambiguous manner.

docbert

Seems to me that you should be thanking them for having something in place.

Without PlatePass, you drove through toll roads without paying tolls. I suspect the fine for doing that is far more than $5/day.

This is what has never made sense to me when it comes to PlatePass. I can understand people complaining about the fact they charge for days when you don't use it. Or that you were charged ~$25 for using it once.

But complaining that you didn't know about it's existence until you returned the car or saw the credit card charge simply makes no sense. Did you expect the toll booth to use facial recognition to work out who you were and send the bill directly to you?

ijgordon

Not necessarily. In many cases where there is no cash option, they send a bill by mail to the registered address of the car (via license plate). The toll is probably higher than the EZpass (or whatever) rate, basically incorporating a modest service fee. In NYC the up-charge varies by crossing, but is generally a few dollars per toll. Obviously depending on (1) how many tolls you drive through, (2) how long your rental is, and (3) what toll rate the rental agency would pass on, you may or may not want to "thank them for having something in place."

One solution to this -- use NATIONAL (and maybe others), where they only charge the daily fee ($3.95 last I used it) on days when you use the service. I think their service provider is TollPass.

Clearly charging renters the daily fee for every day of the rental is a money grab by Hertz and PlatePass. It pays to comparison shop.

(BTW, in a related rant, I think charging a rental facility fee for every day of the rental, like in BOS, is also a money grab, since I'm using the facility the same amount whether I rent for 1 day or 10 days. But I imagine that's an issue for BOS/Massport as opposed to the individual agency.)

AutoSlash

The "convenience" fee the rental company adds onto this is significant, I can assure you. It will almost certainly be far higher than whatever fees you would have paid by using PlatePass or a similar service.

Dave Noble

You keep telling yourself that you had not idea about it - maybe you will believe it

If you really lost all membry on Plate Pass, then why did you even use it during the rental?

docbert

Exactly! Get yourself a parking ticket or a speeding fine, and the rental company is going to add on $50 or more for passing it on to you.

PlatePass is half that. Again, not justifying what they charge, just that the ignorance excuse really doesn't make sense...

ijgordon

Sorry - I guess what I meant to describe is the situation where you can log on to the tolling authority's website with the vehicle license plate and proactively pay the toll within a day or two, like the NY MTA's Toll By Mail program. This will over-ride a bill being sent to the rental agency.

docbert

That has worked fine for Hertz vehicles when I've done it in Chicago and somewhere else recently (Dallas area perhaps? I don't remember)

Brighton Line

But you don't get the discount and pay full price, at least MTA crossings.

Some rental companies charge you a daily fee AND the cash price of the toll and keep the difference from the discounted toll actually charged on the tag.

I'll tie up some bucks on a credit card to have my own tag AND log the rental on the website just in case of a bad read.

ijgordon

Right, which is why it's probably better to pay the toll directly, even at the undiscounted rate.

Agreed, and I have my own EZpass, although I don't have a SunPass or whatever other pass you need in various other parts of the country.
NY EZpass specifically says not to log the rental, however. That said, if there's a bad read, PlatePass will credit you back the administrative fee if you can prove you used your own transponder at other points during the rental.