In August, I purchased a 2017 EX-L. I received a toll invoice for non-payment, and I just finished several days of calls and emails to realize my car’s previous owner must have left their toll transponder somewhere in my car. The problem is it’s not in any obvious place. Below are places in my car I looked; can you suggest any other ideas where someone might hide a Maryland E-ZPASS in a CR-V?
Does it tie to your license plate? How are you getting the bill for someone else’s transponder?
If I grab my transponder and jump into my friend’s car and use it for tolls, I’ll get the bill for it, not my friend. If I left that transponder in his car and he continues to go through tolls, I’ll continue to get billed, as the toll booth looks for transponders first and then reads the plate and bills accordingly.
So how would the previous owner’s transponder be tied to you, to where you get the bill? If you’re going through tolls and getting a bill, it’s probably because the toll booth is reading your license plate.
Did I miss something? I’d be very interested to see how this plays out.
@Arlo
I wondered the same thing.
@Arlo
Oddly, PA disregarded our transponder and billed by plate (not our car). Like $150! We filled out the form and told them it should be billed to our transponder. They did. $4.
Did you sell your old car and leave a transponder in it tied to your account? If so, go into your account and disassociate it.
(From first-hand experience many years ago)
Behind the front grill?
If you haven’t racked up the tolls personally, someone else will be using cloned plates that enabled the toll road company to locate your details via the DMV using number plate recognition software.
I had a dodgy neighbor who did something similar by registering his cars to my address instead of his (lived about 50m away from me). I’d get all the fines from toll roads because they’d ask who the owner of the vehicle was and be given my details.
If you live close enough to the toll road, they’ll have an office nearby or even on-site. You could tell them you think your tags have been cloned and scan your vehicle for a tag to satisfy any doubts they have.
The new i-pass stickers are under the rearview mirror. Maybe it’s a sticker somewhere?
Ask for visual confirmation that it was your vehicle and plate before paying.
