tuckerdc

Saw one thread here about the SunPass. A little confused. We'll be arrvg FLL, renting a car to drive to Key Largo and then on down to Key West. Returning to Miami Beach for a night or two and back to FLL to fly out.

Will that have us encountering a lot of tolls? Is the Overseas Highway a toll road? It looked like you could maybe buy a temporary pass to use on the rental car from a CVS. Is that correct? Sure seems like the car rental companies all manage to reward themselves if you pay through them....??

Dukey1

It depends ENTIRELY on which route you use from FLL THROUGH Miami. IF you stay on I-95 and out of the Express Lanes and THEN move over to Rte 1 South you don't have to worry about tolls.

OTOH if you want to take the faster route which would include getting onto the Turnpike "extension" which bypasses Miami to the west, then you are going to have tolls.

Dukey1

And you would need a SunPass to pay for those Extension tolls since some of them are collected by means of an overhead gantry system.

simpsonc510

The rental car company will collect a PER-DAY fee for using the sun pass, regardless of whether you go through any toll booths or not on any given day of your rental. I found out the hard way on a trip to Boston. I did not use the pass at all, but when letting a friend drive the car (a local who knew where we were going in a local neighborhood) flipped it up and used it, so I paid for usage EVERYDAY of a 5-day trip, plus the cost of that one toll.

I always prefer to just stop and pay my tolls in cash. I'm not necessarily in any huge hurry if there is a line, since I'm most probably on vacation!

usroadman

Yes, I ran into that once too, 2 weeks of admin fees for a single $1 or $2 toll. While cash works some places, as pointed out above, you can't pay cash on the Extension, it's only electronic (either SunPass or they photograph the plate & send the vehicle owner a bill). From the website, it looks like there is no way to pay prior to getting the bill, so you're stuck. It's either I-95 & US 1 or pay the rental company whatever they charge and go the faster way.

NewbE

Buying a SunPass is the third option, and you can keep it for use the next time you're in Florida.

Dukey1

Just to clarify: no, Rte 1 South is not a toll road. Now, I have no idea as to what your budget is and if your interest is in doing that drive or it centers on simply being IN Key West (where you really do not need a car) and also not knowing if you have booked flights yet (are you using JetBlue by chance) but here are some more options.

Once you have "done" that drive down you've DONE IT! Would you consider dropping the car in Key West and flying back to FLL (Silver Airways)?

Would you consider flying back and fort to EWY from FLL?

Even if your answers are no at least you are now aware of these possibilities. We recently drove down from our home in Fort Lauderdale. It can be a slog unless you want to stop off here and there on the way down. We stayed in Old Town and my car occupied a parking space at the hotel the entire time we were there (what had I obviously forgotten from our trip down some years ago????).

The trip back: I could not WAIT to get off of Rte 1 and onto the extension! Just some thoughts and if they aren't in any way helpful, my apologies.

sf7307

Based on my recent experience with Silver Airways, which I understand is not all that unusual, I'll never fly them again...

Flight at 2:23. Arrive at KW airport at 1:15, long line. Nothing's moving and no one is telling us anything. Flight delayed one hour, no problem, our flight out of FLL isn't until 6. By the time we get to the front of the line 1-1/4 hours later, flight is delayed another 1-1/2 hours, and we will miss our connection out of FLL. OK, they told us they are flying in a "shuttle" (another plane), and rebooked us on a Jet Blue flight at 7. Go have lunch. Decide to check back to see what's happening (no email, no phone call, no text, nothing). Flight is delayed again and no one has any idea if they're actually bringing in a shuttle (which the desk agent orally "doubts"). We get the last two seats on the only remaining flight, at 6:15, and a booking at a hotel in FLL for which Silver paid, and a flight the next morning. We're fine, other than missing another day of work. The next morning, we run into people who were not rebooked since there was no other flight to be rebooked on, and waited for the original flight, which departed KW at 9:30 p.m. Mind you, this is for a 55 minute flight. If they had just told us in the first place, we would have rented a car and driven to FLL. There was almost zero communication regarding what was going on. Poorly handled at best.

flpab

https://www.sunpass.com/sunPassRetailers

My cousin visited recently and took his motorcycle down and bought one and loaded it for the trip. Easy to do.

longhorn55

As already mentioned by others, the car rental companies will charge you for EVERY DAY of your rental even if you only use the SunPass once. And, you don't have the option of paying through a toll booth (thus avoiding the car rental admin charge) on many of the toll roads in Florida because they are boothless.

So, if you want to avoid the car rental admin charges, you have to be a bit creative with your routing and be willing the take the longer, slower routes. BUT, it can be done because we have done it twice--once last year when we were in Florida driving around to various MLB Spring Training games and once a few years ago when we drove from Ft. Lauderdale to Key West and back.

NewbE

From the Sunpass website:

The SunPass Portable transponder costs $19.99 plus tax and the SunPass Mini Sticker transponder costs $4.99 plus tax (all out of state customers are required to pay a flat 6% sales tax). Transponders are available online at SunPass.com and at all authorized SunPass retailers. Both units allow motorists to have tolls electronically deducted from a prepaid account. Both require a minimum opening balance of $10 for a personal account.

tuckerdc

Thanks for the replies, all!! So, it does look like a visitor (non FL resident) can get a temporary SunPass at a significant savings over the rental robbery rate...hope I got that right.

Dukey - thanks for your additional thoughts...travel arrangements are already made; flying in/out of FLL (only rea$onable fare we could find). Realize a car is superfluous in KW, but this is a first-time visit and the 'getting there' and potting about on the way -- is part of the appeal. We're escaping March in the Midwest, so a 'slog' in a tropical setting will beat anythng back home!

sf7307

Although a car isn't needed in Key West - we biked most places from our accommodations which were about a 10 minute bike ride from downtown - unlike some places, like NY or San Francisco, it isn't a hindrance either. When we did drive into "town" for dinner or music, parking was no problem.

NewbE

<it does look like a visitor (non FL resident) can get a temporary SunPass>

Sure, although it's not really temporary, but yours to keep.

If I were you, I'd get the $20 transponder, load it with the required $10, and keep it for future visits to Florida. The sticker is OK, but you'd have to find a way to semi-attach it to the windshield and still be able to get it off so you can keep it.

schmerl

The $5 sticker is literally stuck to the windshield. Once you remove it from the windshield it can NOT be used again. If you plan to visit Florida often, it pays to get the $20 transponder which attaches with a suction cup type thingy.

NewbE

But I don't think you have to stick the sticker fully to the windshield. You just have to figure out how to make it visible to the sensors without doing so.

At $5, it's cheap enough to just use it and leave it, especially if you think you won't return to FL 3 more times.

schmerl

We have used the $5 sticker on two different cars. They told us the plastic coating on the back that covers the "sticky" stuff has to be peeled off the sticker must be put on the windshield. It would be difficult to "semi stick it".
If you do get one and decide to "just use it and leave it" on a rental car, make sure you call and deactivate the Sun Pass or you will be paying other people's tolls.

vincenzo32951

>>But I don't think you have to stick the sticker fully to the windshield. You just have to figure out how to make it visible to the sensors without doing so.

fmpden

I looked into the portable Sun Pass. And this is MY UNDERSTANDING of how it works. The portable has to be linked to the license plate of the vehicle. So, after picking up the rental, I would need to link the pass to the license plate via the website. Then it appears that there is maybe a 24 hour delay in updating the web site. So is there a delay of 24 hour before the portable can be used?

NewbE

You can use it right away. The sticker and the plastic thingie work exactly the same way: go online, link your car, link to a form of payment, and go.

vincenzo, I think you CAN just hold the thing up, but I haven't tried it. The reason I think it would work, though, is that that is how I use my plastic thingie, because fsr it won't stay stuck to my windshield: I just throw it on the dashboard, and the sensors always see it.

Thing is, if it turns out you have to stick the sticker onto the windshield, you're out $5...which can't be a high percentage of the cost of the whole trip.