CaptainHero

Just wanted to report on my adventures in Florida...

Rented a car at MIA, at check in I ask about tolls ; I'm offered a service that supposedly takes care of all tolls for a flat fee per day. Sounds good I say yes (not fussed about saving a few dollars a day, i was planning to move around quite a bit so that sounded good). I notice there is no transponder in the car (I frequently rent in Massachussets and always check for the EZPass transponder).
I arrive to my destination and read about the contract and this flat fee. Contract documentation talks about "express tolls". I start to get confused as Miami has these Express Lanes on the road network that have a higher toll rate than the regular ones. Contract says only the express tolls are covered, and all other tolls must be paid cash.
I call Sixt again, they confirm i can take any sunpass lane. But just because the contract says something different, I go to the nearby Sunpass office. They tell me the car registration is unknown to them ...
I ended up getting a sunpass transponder from them and loaded it with some cash, backdated the start date to my rental time.

When I returned the car I asked for a refund of the prepaid tolls which I got after a bit of explaining. The counter staff told me I shouldnt have gotten a transponder.

I also forgot to remove the transponder from the car (in a rush to return the car) and the Sixt staff left it in there which means I ended up paying tolls for another customer - great.

Bottom line ...
Sixt's contract wording is really poor. They have been OK with removing the charge.
Overall it was much more stressful than should have been ...

seawolf

Most tolls roads do toll by plate which is why there is no transponder. Only exception I can think of is the I95 express lanes which requires a SunPass.

You should report your transponder as lost else they may start hitting your credit card.

CaptainHero

What confused me is when sunpass told me the registration number was unknown to them. I dont know if it's a different agency doing the TOLL-BY-PLATE but that sounded too fishy and i frankly didnt want to spend any more of my vacation time to figure this out.

I did already declare the transponder lost, thanks ! When i realised someone got a free trip to Orlando on me ...
Bottom line it costed me about 25$ of my own tolls and i had just under 20$ of use by someone else.
Still a bit cheaper than the 6*8$ fee so ...

seawolf

I think you might have been asking the wrong department.

Sunpass would know if a plate is associated with a Sunpass transponder account. Toll by plate would involve DMV.