Avis is creating more work for me and I’m not happy about being double-charged for highway tolls in Illinois. Is this an Avis toll scam or just sloppy work from Avis or Illinois Tollway?
Avis Toll Scam – Charged Twice For Tolls In Chicagoland
Thanks to the partnership between United Airlines and Avis, I have Avis President’s Club status and I’ve found myself using Avis more this year than Hertz or National.
I’ve made two trips to Chicago recently and both trips have involved an Avis rental and a lot of driving on I-94. Those familiar with I-94 in Illinois will know that it is a toll road.
When you rent from Avis, you can choose to turn off or on the transponder on the windshield that automatically pays tolls. I never turn it on because Avis charges $3.95/day to use it plus the cost of the tolls…no thanks.
Instead, you can register your license plate with Illinois Tollway, set the date range in which you drove the car (in the case of a rental car), and your card will automatically be charged for the tolls… without a premium from Avis. It takes five minutes to set up and saved me $20.
…or so I thought.
It takes up to three weeks for Illinois Tollway to process your tolls–that was the case for both rentals–but they did post and my card was charged:
However, more recently I received two email receipts from Avis showing my credit card was charged for tolls plus “convenience fees” for the same period:
I’ve written to Avis asking for a refund of those charges and will report back on the response.
I write this now to caution you about Avis doing the same thing to you. It was only weeks after the rental car was returned that these fees were processed and had I not been reconciling my credit card statements, I may have easily missed this.
Be prepared…
Save your receipts with Avis. In fact, provide them with a copy of the receipt from Illinois Tollway. Had many similar experiences with them with filling up my gas tank (me filling it up, Avis charging me as if I did not). Submitted the receipt, got refunded. I generally use National domestically, but do find myself using Avis internationally more (and have better experiences with Avis international versus domestic, but mileage may vary of course).
National Rental Car does this as well.
Looks like Illinois Tollway’s fault.
Avis wouldn’t charge you unless they got a bill – how else can they know that you used the road? If they’re charged, it’s fair that they pass it to you.
But Illinois Tollway charging both you and Avis – this is clearly wrong
It’s Chicago. It’s Illinois. The level of malfeasance should never be underestimated.
Umm- =David (and partly Uri)- As much as you seem to love Chicago bashing (fits a narrative for you, I’m sure), the Illinois tollway is not owned, administered, nor affiliated with Chicago… so try again…
as for the “fault”, it’s almost certainly not the tollway. They are pretty darn accurate regarding sending tolls to the right place, including not billing when a rental car is set up in their system properly.
The most common issues- 1) not setting up the tollway account properly (We can assume Matthew got it right) 2) Avis may receive a notification regarding tolls paid by Matthew on the car and then turned it into a bill improperly, and 3) A toll misassigned to Matthew due to Avis’ system attributing another renter’s toll to him.
so, typically, this is due to incompetence on the rental car company’s part. I suspect an intentional incompetence as this will generate revenue given the number of people who won’t notice or will feel it’s not worth the fight and just pay it
Avis has added. Tremendous other charges including if you drive less than 75 miles. Our company has business with Avis for work travel Ms despite this we are being asked to use National instead.