Missed a Toll? How to Pay It Before a Fee

Quick answer: Pay it before the bill if the road lets you: Illinois gives 14 days from the trip with Pay By Plate, Orange County’s Toll Roads 5 days. Elsewhere, wait for the bill and pay it on time: 30 days on the PA Turnpike, 25 days on North Texas toll roads, the printed due date in Florida, Maryland and Massachusetts.

How to use it

Pick the agency that runs the road, then say where you are: you just drove it, you have the bill, or you missed its due date. Tick the box for a rental car. The answer says what to do now, how long you have and what the next fee is, with the agency’s own words and a link to its page.

How each road bills a car without a pass

Every road here photographs the plate and bills the car’s registered owner. What differs is the clock and the fee.

• Illinois: Illinois Tollway (Pay By Plate). Customers have 14 days from their initial date of travel to set up our Pay By Plate service to ensure avoiding fines and fees. Invoices will be sent via U.S. Mail and will include an invoicing fee for each unpaid toll. Invoices will be sent via U.S. Mail and will include an invoicing fee for each unpaid toll.
• California: The Toll Roads (Orange County) (pay online by plate). Drivers can easily pay a toll online without an account 5 days before or after driving The Toll Roads. If it was your first time driving The Toll Roads without paying, the notice will include information about how to pay the toll only (without penalties). You should receive a Notice of Toll Evasion in the mail soon.
• Pennsylvania: PA Turnpike (Toll By Plate). Approximately 40 days after travel, the registered owner of the vehicle will receive an invoice for all trips made through the Toll Points. A Toll By Plate invoice is mailed to the registered vehicle owner and must be paid or contested within 30 days. After 30 days, a past due invoice is issued with a late fee of the greater $5 or 1.5% of tolls.
• New York: New York State Thruway (Tolls by Mail). Toll bills are mailed 30-45 days after your trip. If payment is not received by the due date, a second Toll Bill is sent with a $5 late fee. An unpaid second Toll Bill escalates to a violation, which includes a $50 fee per violation notice*.
• New York: MTA Bridges and Tunnels (New York City) (Tolls by Mail). If your toll bill is unpaid after 30 days of the bill date, you will owe the toll amount plus a $5 late fee. After 60 days, the late fee for each unpaid bridge or tunnel toll will increase to $50.
• Maryland: Maryland Transportation Authority (Video Tolling). You will receive a discount of 15% (up to a maximum of $5 discounted per toll) on Video Tolls if you pay before they are applied to a Notice of Toll Due (NOTD) and mailed to your address on file. If you do not pay the Video Toll transaction(s) in full by the NOTD payment due date, a toll violation will be incurred and a citation will be issued for each unpaid Video Toll transaction. Each citation assesses a $25 civil penalty.
• Massachusetts: MassDOT (EZDriveMA) (Pay By Plate MA). Once the toll trip is processed, an invoice is mailed to the registered owner of the vehicle approximately 7-10 business days after the trip. A fee of $0.60 applies for each invoice issued. If your invoice is not paid by the due date, additional fees will be assessed for each month it remains unpaid.
• Florida: Florida’s Turnpike (SunPass) (TOLL-BY-PLATE). A Toll Enforcement Invoice for the toll(s) is then mailed to the registered owner of the vehicle, including a $2.50 administrative charge. If you receive a Toll Enforcement Invoice, you can make a payment by mailing a check or money order made payable to FDOT or you can make a payment online at SunPass.com. If the owner does not pay after a second notice, the toll and administrative fee amounts may be assigned to a collection agency, which will add more fees to the balance owed.
• Texas: NTTA (Dallas–Fort Worth) (ZipCash). Bills are based on a 25-day cycle and will be issued on or around the same date each month. 25 days to pay First Notice of Nonpayment … + $10 late fee

Worked examples

You drove I-294 near Chicago last week without an I-PASS. Set up Pay By Plate now: within 14 days of the trip the Illinois Tollway adds no fees.

A Toll By Plate invoice from the PA Turnpike sat on the table for five weeks. Pay the past-due invoice now: the late fee is $5 or 1.5% of the tolls, whichever is more, and at 60 days it goes to a collection agency.

You missed the date on a Maryland Notice of Toll Due. Each unpaid toll is now a citation with a $25 civil penalty: pay it, or contest it in District Court.

A rental car on Orange County’s toll roads. In a rental car, the The Toll Roads (Orange County) bill goes to the rental company first; The Toll Roads let anyone pay online by plate within 5 days.

Common mistakes

• Waiting for the bill where you could have paid first: in Illinois and on Orange County’s toll roads, paying online by plate right away costs no fee.
• Paying a toll through a link in a text message. Pay on the agency’s own site, the one printed on your bill.
• Ignoring a bill for a car you sold or a rental you returned: the agency writes to the registered owner, so call the number on the bill.
• Thinking one agency covers a state: New York has the Thruway and the MTA’s bridges and tunnels, Texas several authorities, each with its own bill.

Related

Which pass works where: Which Toll Pass Works Where?; Florida’s tolls priced: the Florida Toll Calculator. Read E-ZPass decoded, driving through Florida’s tolls and paying later, how tourists pay tolls in Florida and the road trip essentials.