FRAUDscoop

A press release beautifully explains how rental cars won’t need transponders to use the SUNPASS, but the regular motorist who spent $25 must continue to suffer with the bureaucratic morass created by Sunpass in dealing with the millions of citations its faulty system issues. Rental companies obviously tired of this whole mess are able to get special treatment.

Rental cars won’t need transponders to travel through SunPass lanes

FORT LAUDERDALE — Many rental car customers traveling on Florida’s toll roads and bridges are now able to

utilize ‘SunPass Only’ lanes to pay their tolls, even without a SunPass transponder, thanks to a pair of innovative

programs announced by Turnpike officials this week.

Rental car customers in Central Florida also can use the EPass lanes on toll roads operated by the Orlando-

Orange County Expressway Authority (OOCEA), and will soon be able to use the LeeWay toll lanes in Lee

County.

Florida’s Turnpike Enterprise has entered into contractual agreements with American Traffic Solutions and

Rent A Toll, Ltd. to administer a program which utilizes license plate information to identify rental vehicles and

electronically collect the toll.

American Traffic Solutions is currently offering its PlatePass® cashless toll payment service to rental car

customers using vehicles rented from Avis, Budget, and Hertz. Rent A Toll will soon offer its Pass24 service to

Dollar and Thrifty rental customers.

Enterprise, Alamo, and National have yet to sign up for the new rental car program but Turnpike officials

are hopeful that they too will soon be part of the program.

The program became operational at all Avis, Budget and Hertz locations statewide on Sept. 24. Every

Hertz, Avis and Budget vehicle has been enrolled in the PlatePass®system, regardless of the rental location.

Vehicles rented in other states can travel to Florida and utilize the PlatePass® toll payment system. Dollar and

Thrifty will follow in October.

Under the terms of the agreement with American Traffic Solutions, customers who rent cars from Avis,

Budget and Hertz will pay daily fees of $2.00 to $2.50 plus actual toll usage. Every vehicle is pre-enrolled and no

advanced commitment or contract is required for vehicle renters utilizing these agencies. The toll charges will be

automatically paid by PlatePass® electronically. Charges will be billed to the renter’s credit card utilized to rent the

vehicle. The daily fee for PlatePass® will only apply for days when toll roads are actually used.

Under the Rent A Toll Pass24 pre-paid toll service with Dollar and Thrifty, customers will enjoy unlimited

toll usage for a flat daily fee of $5.95 per rental day, or $27.95 weekly. All toll charges are included in the daily or

weekly fee.

“This is exciting news,” said Turnpike Chief Executive Officer Jim Ely. “This opens up the SunPass

program and the benefits of electronic tolling to thousands more vehicles.”

SunPass, the Florida Department of Transportation’s version of electronic toll collection, was launched in

1999. Since the program’s inception more than 3.5 million transponders have gone into circulation. SunPass

customers enjoy the ease of not fumbling for change while taking advantage of numerous SunPass-only lanes

throughout the Turnpike System.

SunPass may be purchased at any Publix or CVS Pharmacy, at the Turnpike service plazas, by calling