TIP: Do your research before booking and compare rental companies.

I received a message from my daughter 24 hours before her flight to New York in regard to paying for tolls in a rental car. Her route was from JFK to Maryland and couldn’t work out her options. I have previously written about the Orlando Visitor Toll Pass – Save up to 80% and Illinois Tollway on 2023 road trip States 46 & 47 (Chicago IL – Moline IL) – Day 1.

The picture is muddled and I believe the only winners are the Car Rental Companies who are cashing in on free dollars from hapless renters.

I have experienced first hand the Illinois Tollway and the ease of setting up an account with them and associating a payment card I can’t understand why there isn’t a single system across all the states. As soon as I had the plate I added the dates that the license plate would be active and that was that. It was so easy to do and sure enough after a week the charges started to show on the account. The only negative was that the toll was charged at the cash price which was always around double of the electronic toll but it wasn’t onerous.

I appreciate that if you are an American resident that you probably already own an EZ Pass or equivalent account that can be used in different states with your registered plate. When you have a rental car you aren’t going to know the plate until you collect the car. If the toll road has only electronic plate recognition you are at the mercy of the rental car companies and the rates vary.

Looking recently at Budget they charge a daily fee of $3.95 plus the toll charges so only have the transponder open when you need it to avoid racking up more charges. If you take Budget’s unlimited the e-toll option the charge is $10.99 – $25.99 a day depending on the location of the toll. They do max out though. If the transponder isn’t read then the plate of the car is read and the charge is sent to the owner of the car which will be the rental company and then there are administration fees charges for each transaction plus the toll charge.

TIP: Make sure you read the TOLL pages on your rental companies website so that you understand their charges before you book.

On my 2022 Road Trip in Texas and Oklahoma I tried to register for an EZ Pass account in Texas and collect the readable disc when I arrived in Austin.  But you can only register with a plate. With that in mind though I have discovered some universal (covers multiple states though not all) transponders that you set up an account and you can advise the license plates on arrival but make sure you delete the plate when you return the car.  They can be a bit fiddly to set the account up but they have good reviews. On Amazon I searched for ‘Universal Toll Transponder’.

TIP: Check if the account will accept you being from outside of USA.

The result for my daughter was to take the $3.95 charge per day when the transponder was in the open position. She had saved £20 rebooking after checking if the rates had changed so she was pleased with the result.