Car rental companies ding motorists for electronic tolling

Rental car agencies have figured out how to charge motorists with extra fees for handling electronic tolls - just as toll roads seem to be popping up everywhere in the United States.

They also call it a convenience.

Rental car agencies such as Hertz, Dollar, Fox and others offer customers two options. You can pay a daily fee to the company for handling electronic tolling - in addition to the cost of the tolls - or opt out of the service, be held liable for the cost of the tolls and pay hefty administrative fees.

The add-on charges for electronic tolling involve the use of a transponder or a service by a third-party company that handles the tolls or traffic violations for a rental agency's fleet through license plate numbers.

At Hertz, the PlatePass service starts at $4.95 a day, up to a maximum of $24.75 per rental, plus tolls at the cash rate or the 'highest undiscounted toll rate.”

Avis charges $3.95 a day for use of its e-Toll program for the rental period. The service begins the first time you cross a toll gate and is charged daily, even if you don't pass another one, up to the maximum of $19.75 a month.

Dollar Rent A Car's website doesn't specify what the flat fee is for its PlatePass service, but a spokeswoman for the company said it ranges from $8.99 to $21.49, depending on location. Dollar's website does say that if you don't buy PlatePass, the agency will charge a $15 administrative fee ($9.99 in Florida) for each toll you incur, up to a maximum of $90 in administrative fees per rental period.

Plus, you're on the hook for the tolls.

Meanwhile, the number of cashless toll roads is growing, as is the hunger for states to use tolls instead of taxes. The Pew Charitable Trust's Stateline reported in 2015 that more states are moving to electronic-only toll collection despite privacy concerns and issues of fairness, as some motorists lack sufficient credit or bank accounts necessary to set up electronic tolling accounts.