Warning - Cashless tolls in Florida

dinnjo

Apologies if this has been discussed before but I can find no trace of it.

In some parts of Florida, eg, the Florida Turnpike in the Miami Dade area, some of the tolls on the freeways are now cashless. There is no opportunity to pay your toll using cash or credit card. Your car licence plate is photographed as you drive through the toll. If you have not arranged to pay the toll in advance you may be fined up to $100. If in a hire car your rental company may pay the toll for you and then bill you for it later. In the case of Dollar it seems to be the toll fee plus a $25 administrative fee for each and every toll you go through. There are various ways of paying in advance. In the case of Dollar I paid $20 for a pass for a week. The pass will only be sold for the full length of the hire period.

ChristineL

There's another cashless one in Tampa. Watch out for it too. It's the Selmon Crosstown Expressway. There is now no way to pay cash for this toll.

On our last trip we rented from Hertz. They charge a maximum of $10 for a month plus the cash toll fees. They are one of the better ones and different car hire companies have different charges for these. The Sunpass website gives details.

https://www.sunpass.com/rentalcar

Idiophreak

Thanks for the heads up - will be there next month (woo!)

I'm starting to think it may be easiest just to pay the rental company to take care of the tolls for me

jamesbrownontheroad

Just do as some Floridians do, and get a friend to sit in the back. The very back.

http://www.wptv.com/dpp/news/state/drivers-do-the-darndest-things-to-avoid-paying-tolls-on-the-florida-turnpike-

johnnyroper

last year i noticed several toll booths that were cashless so i was glad i had purchased a package from alamo.

I think it was $20 for the 14 days which worked out slightly more than if i had paid each toll but it was so much easier than stopping at each booth or paying at publix etc.

Make-it-3

We've just taken a hit on this too. In fact I would add to the warning, don't use Dollar in Florida.

All the other car rental companies will just bill your credit card at the end if you use the cashless tolls without realising, but Dollar fines you $25 admin fee for each one as well as the original toll.