Florida Travel Question/E-Pass

[Dan G]

It's difficult to stomach the need to pay a rental car company $10-15/day to use tolls a few times while renting a car for a week. Seems like getting the Uni E-Pass, which is transferable between cars, should do the trick for all Florida tolls. Before I purchase the transponder, which costs about one day's worth of rental car toll fees, is there anyone who knows someone who tried this on a rental car and it did not work?

 

[Marie13]

Do you mean EZ Pass? The thing is that if you have your own, you have to go online and input the license plate of the rental car.

I have I-Pass for IL, which works the exact same and is accepted by EZ Pass areas on IN/OH/PA Turnpike, etc.

 

[Johnoly]

.. Before I purchase the transponder, which costs about one day's worth of rental car toll fees,

You didn't say which airport you are flying into..................
But if coming into Orlando, you can get a Visitor Toll Pass for no charge(*) and it works on every toll in Florida. It's an app PLUS a hang tag transponder. You can get it out of a vending machine at the airport an then you have to return the hang tag. On the app you can set start/stop dates and times and then it's linked to a credit card. You still have to enter the rental's license but even if you switch cars mid visit you can just update the new plate and the hang tag still works.

Also YES the Uni as well as others work by transferring them to the rental cars but on ALL of them, you have to update the account with the rental license plate number before using it. All of Florida is now a Plate reader AND transponder reader so you can get the discounted toll rates. Then keep the metal little box on the windshield Closed so it reads your hang tag and not the rental car company's transponder.

I think there are 5 different toll systems in Florida (sun pass, ez pass, Uni, others) and they all are interconnected as long as you put the rental car plate in your account BEFORE leaving the parking lot.

 

[living4experiences]

It's been a couple of years since I used it, but I have a Sunpass sticker for driving a rental car in the Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Keys area. I bought it online, it was mailed to me, registered it and preloaded a small amount ($10) of prepaid funds to take the tolls from. Instead of peeling back the sticky, the phone agent suggested I use Scotch tape to tape it to the windshield and keep the rental car transponder closed at all times. The stickers are one-time use, so using Scotch tape allows for multiple uses. Before I leave the rental car parking garage, I call the Sunpass office or use the app to give them the license plate number. You'll have to give them an end date and time to prevent unauthorized use. She also suggested taking the sticker off every night because it's attractive to thieves and they WILL break into your rental car for your transponder.

For two weeks of driving around south Florida, I paid about $20 in tolls. It's well worth it.

 

[Dan G]

Thanks for the replies. The Uni is administrated by the Central Florida Expressway Authority and works in 19 different states (not mine) including all of FL. I can use the app to enter the rental car's license plate number and it sounds like a good idea to remove the transponder at night. There are going to be plenty of days I won't even need it since I'll be far from tolls in the Keys for part of the time.

I am flying into FLL, so the Orlando program is not for me. If I could simply pay the fee to use the rental car company's transponder on the days I use tolls, I might just do that, but it's either pay for every day or none at all.

 

[Billg68bg]

Do you mean EZ Pass? The thing is that if you have your own, you have to go online and input the license plate of the rental car.

I have I-Pass for IL, which works the exact same and is accepted by EZ Pass areas on IN/OH/PA Turnpike, etc.

Ez pass an e pass are two different things. Been a while, Epass, if I recall, is for the bee line in Florida. May cover other roads.

 

[edwants2dive]

It's been a couple of years since I used it, but I have a Sunpass sticker for driving a rental car in the Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Keys area. I bought it online, it was mailed to me, registered it and preloaded a small amount ($10) of prepaid funds to take the tolls from. Instead of peeling back the sticky, the phone agent suggested I use Scotch tape to tape it to the windshield and keep the rental car transponder closed at all times. The stickers are one-time use, so using Scotch tape allows for multiple uses. Before I leave the rental car parking garage, I call the Sunpass office or use the app to give them the license plate number. You'll have to give them an end date and time to prevent unauthorized use. She also suggested taking the sticker off every night because it's attractive to thieves and they WILL break into your rental car for your transponder.

For two weeks of driving around south Florida, I paid about $20 in tolls. It's well worth it.

This is a great way to do it. Heck just stick it to a small piece of Plastic/plexiglass and put it on the dashboard. I put the link to the Sunpass site for that below.

https://www.sunpass.com/en/about/aboutsunpass.shtml

 

[greeniguana]

It's been a couple of years since I used it, but I have a Sunpass sticker for driving a rental car in the Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Keys area. I bought it online, it was mailed to me, registered it and preloaded a small amount ($10) of prepaid funds to take the tolls from. Instead of peeling back the sticky, the phone agent suggested I use Scotch tape to tape it to the windshield and keep the rental car transponder closed at all times. The stickers are one-time use, so using Scotch tape allows for multiple uses. Before I leave the rental car parking garage, I call the Sunpass office or use the app to give them the license plate number. You'll have to give them an end date and time to prevent unauthorized use. She also suggested taking the sticker off every night because it's attractive to thieves and they WILL break into your rental car for your transponder.

For two weeks of driving around south Florida, I paid about $20 in tolls. It's well worth it.

The stick on transponders are $4.99 and they rip to shreds if you peel them off. Theft susceptibility is practically zero. The suction cup transponder is $19.99. They have them in vending machines on the turnpike.

The sticker transponders work by coupling to whatever is on your windshield (they don't work on plexiglass/motorcycles). The scotch tape thing is dodgy at best, you'll have no idea whether it's working or not. I've never seen anyone do this.

I'd just pay the rental car place extra fee and not worry about it. Most rental car companies don't charge that much.

https://www.sunpass.com/en/tolls/rentalVehicles.shtml

 

[Hydo]

I have a Uni pass bought from amazon for exactly the reasons you want one:

Uni 19-State Portable Toll Pass, Blends Into Windshield (Black)​

It has worked flawlessly on 3 trips inside Florida (and in Georgia); two of the trips used rental cars (just update the license plate in the app as others have noted) and once with my personal vehicle. The only downside is making sure you know where to mount it on the windshield. Many cars have metallized window coatings which can block signal transmission. So I google my rental car to see if there is a potential problem before I use it. On my Ford it has to be attached in the "black dot" area near the mirror to work. All other parts of the windshield are metallized (or so say Ford on their website).

 

[DanBMW]

The stick on transponders are $4.99 and they rip to shreds if you peel them off.

https://www.sunpass.com/en/tolls/rentalVehicles.shtml

Basically, you are correct, but, they do come off and can be reused. My windshield was replaced and the installer used a razor knife and transferred it. Not a good plan though . Just a heads up.