Beware of florida rental cars with avis

swanmark

Hi Guys, wanted to make anyone aware of renting a car with Avis in Florida, they fix an e-toll machine to your car, without telling you and it costs $3.95 per day, I actually paid for all my road tolls in cash, so you can imagine my surprise when a month after getting home I had a bill for £12 plus the rental of the e-toll machine, so technically I was paying 2 lots of road tolls, for something I wasn't told about or requested in fact I didn't even know it was there, after a very heated argument with Avis they finally agreed to refund, so guys beware and ask to have it removed.

headpin

This system applies to all rentals in Florida not just Avis.

See https://www.sunpass.com/rentalcar

You can opt out but need to make that clear when commencing rental or on some opt in by using Sun Pass lane.

marc7

is this new been driving in orlando for years and never had any extras to pay
i always use alamo
i usually avoid toll roads while over there haha

headpin

Certainly applied for last 12months or so. Alamo will automatically include on the rental and you effectively get charged if you go through the Sunpass lane at the toll booths. Indeed some toll plazas now only have Sunpass lanes and so do not have a cash option, so you need to be careful to avoid using these routes if you do not want to get fined by not using the automatic toll option. With Alamo you will only pay a daily charge if you use the toll routes on any particular day (no payment if you only use free routes) and the amount is capped at a maximum per rental period.

marc7

so if i stick to paying the tolls as i go it won't cost me anything extra

jackieblack

We rented from Alamo at TPA at Christmas, no mention of a toll machine in the vehicle when we picked it up. We stayed in a villa off I27 and spent most of our time in/around WDW/International Drive.
The only toll roads we encountered were on one day on the road to/from Kennedy Space Centre. We paid cash and requested a receipt from each toll booth in case of any queries when we got home.
A few weeks later we received a credit card statement showing a toll charge. Phoned CC company and told them we had paid cash and got receipts and they raised a dispute with Alamo and refunded with no hassle. They said this is a common thing now

whatusername

The machine in the avis car can be deactivated in the car by the user, it's optional however it's normally on by default, at least it has been when I've rented from them.