Good Question: How do Thruway tolls work for rentals?

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WHEC)—We know how the new cashless tolling works for YOUR car. You get billed through the mail or pay through E-ZPass. But what if it’s not your car you’re driving on the Thruway, like a rental for example?

Remember this, the total cost always comes back to you. However, you do have options to save some cash.

Here’s what News10NBC’s Brennan Somers found.

If your rental doesn’t have an E-Zpass, overhead gantries take pictures of the tags and the thruway bills the registered owner. Rental companies will then pass that along to you, probably with an added fee.

Many already equip their vehicles with E-Zpass transponders as an add-on. That can also bring a surcharge.

Somers checked the AVIS site for Rochester. It states “e-Toll fees (Standard): If you use the e-Toll service at any time during your rental, you agree to pay a convenience fee of $5.95 for each day on which you incur a toll up to a maximum amount of $29.75 per rental period (not to exceed 30 days). In addition, you will pay all tolls incurred at the maximum prevailing non-discounted or cash rates posted by the toll authority.”

Another company, Enterprise, says the charge could be “$3.95 per usage day, not to exceed $19.75 per rental period, plus the amount of each toll. There is no TollPass Service charge on rental days that you don’t use a toll road.”

You can try to skip out on paying the extra fees by going online before any charge gets to your rental company.

It’s TollsByMailNY.com Just check "rental/loaner vehicle" on the main screen.

But don’t wait to do this, there’s a warning telling you E-Zpass transactions from more than 48 hours ago may already be on the rental company’s account. That leaves you stuck with the fees in your agreement you signed.

Your final option? Just use your own E-Zpass.

The company says

“Do not add rental car information to your E-ZPass account. However, you can use your E-ZPass Tag in any vehicle of the same class. Please ensure that your E-ZPass Tag is properly mounted as per installation instructions in all vehicles in which the Tag is used. A Tag that is not mounted properly may prevent the Tag from being read in the lane. If your Tag does not read, you will be subject to the terms of your car rental agreement that apply to E-ZPass usage, toll transactions, and/or violation transactions.”

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