What is PlatePass and how does it charge me?

PlatePass is an automated toll billing service used by major rental car companies like Hertz, Dollar, and Thrifty. When you drive through an electronic toll without paying cash, PlatePass reads the toll via the car's transponder or license plate and charges you the toll amount plus a daily convenience fee of $5.95 per day, typically capped at $29.75 per rental period.

Can I use my own E-ZPass or SunPass in a rental car?

Yes. You can bring your own personal toll transponder and use it in a rental car. Mount it on the windshield as you normally would. This lets you pay tolls at your regular account rate and completely avoids the rental company's daily convenience fee. Most transponders like E-ZPass work across multiple states.

What happens if I accidentally go through a toll without paying?

If you pass through a cashless toll lane, the rental company's toll program will automatically charge the toll to your account along with a daily convenience fee. If the toll is not covered by a transponder program, the rental company may receive a violation notice and pass it to you with an additional administrative fee of $15 to $50 on top of the original toll.

How much can toll convenience fees add to my rental car bill?

Toll convenience fees range from $5 to $9 per day that you use a toll road, with most companies capping the fee at $15 to $30 per rental. On a week-long trip where you use tolls daily, you could pay $30 or more in convenience fees alone on top of the actual toll amounts. A single $1.50 toll could cost you over $7 total.

How to Avoid Toll Charges on Rental Cars

By RentRight Team · Published April 2, 2026 · 7 min read

You return your rental car, feel good about the trip, and then three weeks later a mystery charge appears on your credit card. It is $47.85 for tolls you barely remember driving through, plus a stack of "convenience fees" you never agreed to. Toll charges are one of the most frustrating hidden costs in car rentals because they arrive after the fact and are nearly impossible to dispute once processed.

The good news is that toll charges on rental cars are entirely avoidable if you understand how the system works and plan ahead. This guide breaks down every toll-related fee you might encounter and gives you practical strategies to keep your money where it belongs.

1. How Rental Car Toll Programs Work

Most major rental car companies participate in automated toll billing programs. Hertz, Dollar, and Thrifty use PlatePass. Avis and Budget use TollPass. Enterprise, National, and Alamo use e-Toll. Each program works similarly: the rental car either has a built-in transponder or the toll authority photographs the license plate, and the charges get routed back to the rental company, which then bills your credit card.

Here is the critical part most renters miss: you are not just paying the toll itself. The rental company adds a daily "convenience fee" on top of the actual toll amount for every day you use a toll road during your rental period. Some programs charge the convenience fee for every day of the rental once a single toll is triggered, not just the days you actually drove through a toll.

These programs are opt-out, not opt-in. Unless you take specific steps to avoid them, you are automatically enrolled the moment you drive off the lot.

2. Daily Convenience Fees Explained

The convenience fee is where the real cost piles up. Here is what the major programs charge as of 2026:

PlatePass (Hertz/Dollar/Thrifty): $5.95 per day, capped at $29.75 per rental
TollPass (Avis/Budget): $5.95 per day, capped at $29.75 per rental
e-Toll (Enterprise/National/Alamo): $3.95 to $6.99 per day depending on location, capped at $19.75 to $34.95 per rental

To put that in perspective, imagine you drive through a single $2.00 toll on day three of a seven-day rental. Depending on the program, you could be charged the $2.00 toll plus up to $29.75 in convenience fees. That $2.00 toll just became a $31.75 line item on your credit card statement.

A single toll on a week-long rental can cost you 10 to 15 times the actual toll amount once convenience fees are added. Always calculate the full cost before using a toll road in a rental car.

CostItRight helps you estimate the true total cost of your rental, including toll fees, so you can budget accurately before your trip.

3. Bring Your Own Transponder

The single most effective way to avoid rental car toll convenience fees is to bring your own personal toll transponder. If you have an E-ZPass, SunPass, TxTag, FasTrak, or any other regional transponder, pack it in your carry-on and mount it on the rental car's windshield when you pick up the vehicle.

When your personal transponder registers the toll, the charge goes to your own toll account at the standard rate. The rental company's toll program never gets triggered, which means zero convenience fees.

Key details to know:

E-ZPass works in 19 states across the Eastern United States, from Maine to North Carolina and as far west as Illinois
SunPass works throughout Florida and is interoperable with E-ZPass
Make sure your transponder account has sufficient funds loaded before your trip
Mount the transponder according to the manufacturer's instructions so it reads reliably at highway speed
If you do not own a transponder but travel frequently, buying one before your trip (typically $25 to $35) pays for itself after a single rental

4. Use Cash Toll Lanes

Where cash toll booths still exist, paying in cash completely bypasses the rental company's electronic toll system. The toll authority gets its payment on the spot, no license plate photo is taken, and no charge is routed to the rental company.

However, this strategy is becoming less viable every year. Many major toll roads have gone entirely cashless, especially in the Northeast, Florida, and Texas. Before relying on cash lanes, check whether the specific toll roads on your route still accept cash. A quick search for "[toll road name] payment options" will tell you.

States and roads that are fully cashless (as of 2026) include most of the Florida Turnpike system, the entire North Texas Tollway Authority network, all bridges and tunnels in New York City, and large stretches of toll roads in Colorado, Virginia, and Maryland.

5. Apps That Show Toll-Free Routes

Sometimes the best toll strategy is simply avoiding toll roads altogether. Several navigation apps make this easy:

Google Maps: Tap the three-dot menu after entering your destination, select "Route options," and toggle on "Avoid tolls." The app will reroute you on free roads and show how much extra time the detour adds.
Apple Maps: Go to Settings, then Maps, then Driving, and enable "Tolls" under the "Avoid" section. This preference persists across all your trips.
Waze: Navigate to Settings, then Navigation, and toggle "Avoid toll roads." Waze also shows real-time traffic data, so you can see whether the toll-free route is significantly slower.

In many cases, the toll-free route adds only 5 to 15 minutes to a drive that would otherwise cost you $30 or more in combined tolls and convenience fees. That is a trade-off worth making, especially on a multi-day rental where the convenience fees accumulate daily.

TrackItRight lets you log mileage and expenses throughout your rental so you can catch unexpected toll charges before they become a surprise on your statement.

6. Administrative Fees for Missed Tolls

There is a scenario even worse than convenience fees: the administrative fee for an unresolved toll violation. If you drive through a cashless toll without a working transponder (either the rental company's or your own), the toll authority photographs the license plate and sends a violation notice to the rental company. The rental company then passes the toll amount plus an administrative processing fee to you.

These administrative fees typically range from $15 to $50 per violation, which is separate from and in addition to any convenience fees. If you drove through multiple cashless tolls on the same trip without realizing it, each one could carry its own administrative fee.

How to protect yourself:

Before driving off the lot, ask the rental agent whether the car has an active toll transponder and how the toll billing program works
Check the windshield and rearview mirror area for a transponder device
If you plan to use toll roads and do not have your own transponder, confirm that the car's built-in transponder is functional. Some rental cars have transponders that are deactivated or malfunctioning
Keep receipts from any cash toll booths you use as proof of payment in case a duplicate charge appears

The Bottom Line

Toll charges on rental cars are a revenue stream that rental companies have designed to be difficult to avoid and easy to overlook. The combination of automated billing, daily convenience fees, and after-the-fact credit card charges means most renters do not realize how much they have paid until long after returning the car.

Your best defense is preparation. Bring your own transponder if you have one. Set your navigation app to avoid tolls by default. Research whether toll roads on your route accept cash. And before you leave the lot, understand exactly how your rental company's toll program works so there are no surprises on your statement three weeks later.

For a complete picture of every fee that could land on your rental car bill, use the free tools at RentRight to estimate your total cost, track expenses during your trip, and catch hidden charges before they add up.