We Call It Tolltraxx

How to pay your tolls while visiting Florida and driving a rental car, without getting screwed is the question. There are several bad solutions. You can stay off the toll roads, certainly doable, but not always easy. Yes. I'm talking to you Orlando. You can rent a transponder from your rental car company. $4.95 a day and up, whether or not you actually travel on a toll road, and you still pay the tolls plus an administrative fee. You can skip the transponder, drive on a toll road and expect to pay the toll-by-plate charge; which by the way carries a $3.50 administrative charge per toll. The problem with toll-by-plate and rental cars  is that when the State runs the plate they send the bill to the rental car company, not you. The rental car company charges their fee then they use a third party company to track you down and that company adds their fees and by the time they get to you your $1 toll can end up costing you $14. And that's for each and every toll you run.

So... What's the answer? I thought I could use the toll-by-plate to create a commercial account and allow renters access to register their rental cars and actually get the toll-by-plate rate and leaving the rental car companies out of the process. The State took care of that by changing the system to only allowing one car per toll-by-plate account.

Now what? I opened a Sunpass commercial account; purchased a bundle of mini-transponders, activated and manage them for renters. The problem is getting the transponder into drivers' hands. I'm currently using First Class mail which requires a little forethought so the renters need to order  one before they actually travel to Florida, Georgia, or North Carolina; with enough time to allow for the Post Office. I'll probably offer an overnight option for the last minute shoppers. When you add up the savings using Tolltraxx you'll still be way ahead in savings.

Tolltraxx.com is where to get one.

It's Happening Everywhere

I've had the pleasure of this toll problem without suffering the pain. On a trip to Denver I was strongly, STRONGLY encouraged to get a transponder for my rental car at a cost of only $7.95 a day; whether I traveled on a toll road or not. I told the young lady I wasn't planning to drive on any toll roads while I was in Denver. She told me that the entrances to the toll roads were not always well marked and I could very easily end up on the road without even knowing it and if I did there was no way to get off without going through a toll plaza which could result in a $125 fine. Well, we went back and forth for a little while longer and I didn't take the transponder and I did manage to stay off of the stealthy toll roads that ring the city but what the experience did do was make me paranoid. I did not enjoy driving while I was in Denver. I was always expecting to end up on the toll road and be fined. The whole episode made my trip a lot less enjoyable. If Tolltraxx had been an option that is what I would have done, if only to make my life less stressful or at least one less thing to worry/think about.

Here We Go

Well... It has been a year since I thought I could fix this excessive toll road fee problem for people driving rental cars in Florida. I started with an app. After six months and twenty three pages of "wire frame" development later I realized that an app was not the way to go. I changed my plans to a website that was optimized for mobile. That should do the trick. Next came testing the concept. My first thought was to use the toll-by-plate system to solve the problem. The State had other ideas.