Next Up, Hertz and Firefly

These two rental car companies have the same rate schedule on the Sunpass website. Here's the information:

$4.95 fee per rental day plus tolls (at posted cash/TOLL-BY-PLATE rates)
$24.75 maximum fee per rental month (30 days) plus tolls (at posted cash/TOLL-BY-PLATE rates)  Opt-in decision is made when the driver elects to use EXPRESS, SunPass ONLY, E-PASS ONLY or LeeWay ONLY lanes.
Nothing to decide at time of rental.

So, in an effort to figure out what's going on here and what I'll ultimately end up paying I started working the phones. First I called Hertz which can't tell me what the toll rate is; they did offer to connect me to the Sunpass site, which disconnected me after 17 minutes on hold.

I called Sunpass directly. Now, they do warn you that Monday's are the busiest. I'm currently at 22 minutes and counting. (it took 30 minutes to reach someone) It wouldn't be quite as bad if the didn't keep repeating the same hold message every 2 minutes about taking a survey and offering my opinion about their "world class service" I'm thinking third world class service, maybe Bolivia.

If you drive on the toll road it is the toll-by-plate rate, currently a $1 toll will cost you $1.30 for toll-by plate; plus a one time $2.50 administrative fee per bill. No one could explain what constitutes a bill. I've been hit with several administrative fees because each toll showed up independently of the others over the course of a week in a test rental car. I was using a different rental car company at the time of my testing.

So, $4.95 a day up to $24.75 a month; plus at least one $2.50 administrative fee and then a higher toll rate. Did I mention that even if you make a mistake and end up on the toll road there is no turning back? The meter is running. Tolltraxx offers you complete toll coverage for a $7.50 service charge (a $3 credit is applied for returning the transponder) and a service charge of $.50 per toll, use it once, use it a lot, don't use it at all. You are in control.