Posted on 12/16/2015 11:08:36 AM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
TALLAHASSEE
Visitors to Florida who rent cars are being shocked by toll charges long after they get home, and enough are complaining that legislators say it could damage the state’s tourist-friendly image.
In Florida, a tourist climbs behind the wheel of a rental car and enters a world of 600 miles of toll roads, more than any other state. As cash toll booths are steadily giving way to cashless, all-electronic tolling, car renters are being hit with service fees of $4 to $15 a day on top of unpaid toll charges.
The rental car industry calls it a convenience as Florida moves to all-electronic tolling. Others call it a ripoff.
“Highway robbery,†shouted a major newspaper in Canada, a key Florida tourist market.
In Tallahassee, Attorney General Pam Bondi has had an open investigation for years with hundreds of written complaints, but no resolution.
“I’ll sure think twice about coming to Florida again!†wrote Bruce Miller of Michigan, who found a $15 administrative fee on his credit card after he drove on the Lee Roy Selmon Expressway in Tampa in March.
In Miami, a federal judge will decide whether to approve a class-action lawsuit against Dollar Thrifty’s $15 fee for every skipped toll, by far the highest in the industry. Dollar Thrifty says the lawsuit is baseless, and other rental car companies say they disclose all fees charged to their customers.
But the uproar has caught the Legislature’s attention.
“We don’t want people coming here and renting cars and then getting a feeling like they’re getting ripped off or getting gouged,†Republican Rep. Patrick Rooney of West Palm Beach said at a recent hearing.
Rooney chairs a House transportation panel that invited testimony from rental car company lobbyists after Rep. Ed Narain, D-Tampa, said the “backlash†from tourists justifies a closer look.
Narain cited an article in The Globe and Mail in Toronto in July under the headline “Highway Robbery†in which columnist Rosie Schwartz described being charged $91.45 for three trips to Miami.
“Beware that you don’t become a victim,†Schwartz wrote.
Similar fees are charged across the country, but the Sunshine State stands out for its abundance of both tourists and toll roads.
Adam Cohen of Connecticut came to Florida and was charged $24.75 by Hertz, the company’s maximum fee for a rental. He told the Hartford Courant that after he complained, the company gave him a credit of $19.80.
Hertz, a crown jewel of Gov. Rick Scott’s job recruiting efforts, relocated its corporate headquarters to Florida two years ago. The company agreed in 2011 to refund $11 million in charges to settle a nationwide class action lawsuit over its toll fees.
At a legislative hearing in Tallahassee, lawmakers questioned why toll fees have showed up on a customer’s credit card bill as much as two months after the rental ends.
Industry lobbyists said the delay is due to third-party toll collection companies having to wait for data from state and local toll authorities and then forwarding it to rental car companies, which then charge their customers.
Rep. David Santiago, R-Deltona, was dismayed that Avis and Budget charge a $3.95 daily service fee even on days when the driver doesn’t use a toll road.
“Why?†Santiago asked. “I hate to take advantage of our tourists.â€
Doug Bell, a Florida lobbyist for Avis Budget Group, noted that the maximum toll fee imposed by the two companies is the industry’s lowest, at $16.95.
“There is a large infrastructure to create the system and then there is a great deal of effort and time to manage the system on a daily basis,†Bell testified. “It is an expensive proposition to build and run the program.â€
Bell told lawmakers that most Avis and Budget reservations are made online and that contracts clearly note additional charges for tolls. He said quality service is important to rental car companies, which rely on repeat business.
Another industry giant, Enterprise Holdings, which includes Enterprise, Alamo and National, charges $3.95 a day, but only on the days when a toll is unpaid.
The industry’s toll collection practices have spilled into the courts in South Florida.
Marshall Maor, a New York resident, rented a car in Florida last year and was charged $15 for each missed toll by Dollar Thrifty, plus the cost of the tolls.
He filed suit in U.S. District Court in Miami, claiming breach of contract and unfair and deceptive trade practices and accusing Dollar Thrifty of charging much more than the actual cost of the service.
“We’ve heard from people all over the country,†said Maor’s attorney, Bruce Greenberg of Newark, N.J. “It’s certainly a major problem in Florida.â€
Dollar Thrifty wants U.S. District Judge Jose Martinez to dismiss the suit. The company says the fee was disclosed in the rental contract and that Maor voluntarily paid it.
In court filings, Dollar Thrifty says no breach of contract occurred and that Maor could have avoided driving on toll roads, paid cash to Florida toll agencies or bought the company’s toll service for $10.49 a day, which includes all toll charges.
“Rather than take any of these three options, [Maor] chose to drive through an electronic toll lane without making any arrangement to pay for the toll he incurred,†the company argues.
Dollar Thrifty also told the court that no law requires that fees charged to customers must “exactly match†the underlying cost of the service.
Greenberg’s law firm previously sued Dollar Thrifty in Oklahoma, but a judge dismissed that lawsuit.
Narain, who raised the issue in the Legislature, said rental car firms should improve disclosure of all fees.
“If we’re not very careful about improving the disclosure process about these administrative fees, we’re going to see a continued backlash,†Narain said. “We’re going to see more lawsuits.
But in Florida’s pro-business Capitol, there is no support among legislators to impose stricter consumer safeguards but rather to let the companies police themselves.
“It could be a slippery slope when you start telling companies what they have to do,†said a Pinellas County lawmaker, Rep. Kathleen Peters, R-South Pasadena. “With the free market, each company is going to monitor this.â€
For my recent trip to Florida, I had purchased a Sun Pass ahead of time, I ended up spending over $70 in tolls for the entire trip over five days.
You think that is something, I live in Florida and got a letter in the mail one day stating that my vehicle went through a toll both in the Orlando area and if I did not send them $ 15.00 a warrant would be issued for my arrest. At the bottom of the message was a photograph of a vehicle I had never seen with my tag number beside it. I called the number listed and told them my vehicle had never been within 50 miles of their toll booth. To make a long story short, they said that It was the collection agency’s mistake. Never stand in the way of a politician and a dollar bill.
O R L A N D O.
Been there? Big city in center of state.
I’ve been to Orlando. Bought a ‘sunpass’ or whatever they call it out of a vending machine, and activated it with my Kindle.
Last time I was in Orlando on my way back home the toll booth coming off of I-4 on to the Florida Turnpike had a cash lane but the booth was unmanned. Pretty easy? No!
for your car or a rental? I’ve never done that for a rental.
Personal car, yes. REALLY easy.
Plus now the GA Peach Pass works as a Sun Pass in FL, so I now have toll reciprocity with FL, just like CCW.
Another time in a rental car I went up the tollway going north of Tampa. I was expecting toll booths but they had none— they bill you by plate #. Well they bill the rental car company who in turn sends you their penalty fee. You have the option at rental agreement to register the plate but its something like $12.00 a day. Rent on business for 3 days thats $36.00 for approx $10.00 worth of actual tolls in my case—
a rip off too. Rental car agencies suck too— why they charge you a very profitable penalty fee. Fluxing game with these Govt/corporate shylark$ and the customer gets fleeced.
I gladly pay the tolls with cash - WHEN I CAN! The problem is that the toll roads sometimes don’t allow that option anymore and the rental car companies are charging more than the tolls actually are and/or fail to provide the electronic toll meters to prevent overcharges.
That’s why you should order a SunPass online and have it sent to your home before going to Florida, it saves a lot of money on tolls over Charge By Plate.
I think all Thruway toll rates are in five-cent increments. If you paid $1.66 then you must have gotten a discount for using E-ZPass or traveling off-peak.
This really is a problem and you cannot pay otherwise. A nice racket. Happened to me in Texas a couple months ago. Rental car company added $25 per day.
Skip it again and again....
Our roads are crowded enough with disgruntled complaining snowbirds.
Watch out for Austin, TX!
A quarter mile from a hotel to the Orlando airport will cost you over $2 and the rental car company surcharge for the length of the rental, not just that one day.
The airport is surrounded by toll roads and greedy Floridians.
She then asked me...if I was staying in the Keys the whole time. I was....She said the Toll Road Pass...was something like $36....the fine you will get will be $20. Point being she saved me some money...because I wasn't driving all over the place..on toll roads.
“Well, that’s one more reason for our family to skip Florida again.”
Indeed. My experience has been that Florida is hot, muggy, and buggy. Not my ideal kind of climate.
Personal car, but it would be cheaper than paying the rental rates around Miami or Orlando, even factoring in the cost of the tag purchase and setup. Just remember to deactivate it and scrape it off when you are through.
In Texas, there are 3 or 4 different toll road providers, but 3 of them have interchange agreements. Some tags interchange with Oklahoma, some don’t. And some of the airport lots link.
Here’s a simple solution: the state simply doesn’t charge rental cars tolls! Duh!
Florida no longer builds major roads that aren’t toll roads. The state is now building a twin center lane in between the other8 lanes of Interstate4 that will be a toll road for rich people. But that’s not all. The cost of the toll will be based on the CURRENT AMOUNT OF TRAFFIC. When traffic is light and you don’t need the toll lanes, then the cost will adjust downward.
Our traitorous congressman John Mica promised that would NEVER happen, then out of the blue, he changed his mind. He is on the federal board that decides these things at their whim.
Most tolls around Orlando have a cash lane, but they purposely under man them so the lines are very long, forcing residents to buy their transponders, which are a whole other level of scam.
This is much ado about nothing - or stoopid renters.
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Cash lanes have been ELIMINATED in many locations... if you don’t have a transponder you cannot pay.
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