Get Toll Violations Relief and Boost Incremental Sales
René Mitchell, Clearwater Transportation, Dollar and Thrifty licensee
A toll road that feeds the Austin airport is cashless and cannot be used unless the vehicle has an account. The toll road is patrolled by video cameras that take a photo of vehicles' license plates. Clearwater Transportation, a Dollar and Thrifty licensee, was spending considerable employee resources to match hundreds of violations to rental contracts. The violations would then be reassigned back to the toll authority, which would then go after the renter, or Clearwater would pay the toll and try to collect directly from the customer.
Clearwater signed up with Rent A Toll, which assumes the processing of all tolls. Clearwater sells Rent A Toll's Pass24 to customers as a service, for $8.95 a day, similar to a CDW or a navigation unit upsell. Clearwater keeps a percentage of the fee. Rent A Toll processes the tolls and invoices the RAC weekly. The RAC collects the fee, nets the commission, and remits to Rent A Toll.
The customer has unlimited use of tolls in that tolling jurisdiction for a 24 hour period. For renters who decide not to opt in and then violate a toll, Rent A Toll opts in the renter and charges the daily Pass24 fee plus a $25 administration fee for each day a toll was run. This information is disclosed to the customer at time of rental and the customer must sign off on the disclosure before the rental begins.
Colorado, Texas (primarily), Florida, and Northern California toll authorities use video tolling technology. For tolling areas that do not employ video, such as Northeast and Midwest states in the E-Z Pass group, Rent A Toll provides transponders to the RAC to place in cars. Daily rate varies from $5.95 to $9.95 by market. The Pass24 system interfaces with TSD and Bluebird.
The renter could pass through enough tolls to make it worth the expense, though the value is positioned as more of a convenience, says Jim Glasheen, vice president, sales and marketing of Rent A Toll. Pass24 allows the renter to avoid long toll lines, the possibility of a fine and fumbling for change, a particular benefit to international travelers, says Glasheen. Additionally, when the rental is returned the Pass24 service is included in the rental receipt and there are no post-billing charges for tolls. This avoids chargeback problems and customer service issues. For corporate accounts, it is an easy way to expense tolls. This solution takes away the entire violation exposure for the rental company while generating new revenue, says Glasheen.
In Clearwater's case, assuming an 8 percent take rate and 80 percent utilization on a 500-vehicle fleet, Clearwater will realize annual additional revenue of $36,420. In addition, Clearwater estimates a $25,000 savings in employee productivity for not having to process tolls.