So I got a $166 fine from the Il tollway
 

On one of my Friday trips to work last summer (in my Boxster) I forgot my transponder in my Audi. So I cruise through the IPass lanes to and from work... I figure that they will cross refference my license/vin to my name etc and just take the money out of my automatic account on my I-Pass. No such luck... I get a $166 fine in the mail (several months later)!!! Anyway to make a long story short I called and got it reversed. I added the Boxster to the Audi registration on the transponder. I gave them some excuse about the transponder being in the glove box (like they even know we don't have a glove box! haha). They charged me $5 and said to watch it next time!!!
So good ending!!!

happened to my buddy as well, he had over $600 worth of charges...they just had him pay the amount that was supposed to be taken off and called it a day.
surprisingly, they were nice about it and even apologized for inconvenience (thats a first from state)

glad it worked out for you, and its funny that they send that out sooo late

I'm in Illinois and it's important you go to the I-Pass website and register all your vehicles to the transponder ID. I keep the transponder in my DD (Grand Cherokee), but since the 911 and the Boxster are registered, I drive through the I-Pass lane and they deduct the fee from my account automatically.

This is something we can all learn from. You can get out of a hefty fine by offering nice cheap lies instead. ;)

They have to be more accommodating than you think for various reasons including...

- some transponders came with faulty batteries
- occasionally the signal just isn't picked up

We have EZ-Pass (which also now ties in w/ I-Pass IIRC) and every once in a while I'll get a fine notice for supposedly using EZ-Pass lanes "illegally" even though transponder was definitely on the windshield. Of course if they just cross referenced the plate w/ registered addresses of transponder owners they'd see I have 3. Instead they mail a fine + toll due notice (probably hoping you pay). All you have to do is contest the fine by filling in your transponder #s and mail it back. They then send you an apology letter and deduct the toll due from the acct.

Ultimately, it's a little game of liar's poker and the private companies that run EZ & I-Pass are most likely hoping to get some add'l revenue. They know the system isn't perfect and thus must accommodate registered users as such.

So........
- contest the fines
- make sure all your cars (if they outnumber the transponders you have) are registered
- state you know the transponder was mounted as prescribed when you went thru ;) ;)

I remember reading a few months ago that for over a year the tollway did not send out any fines because they were switching over their systems or they were giving the collections to a private co. or something along those lines. So a lot of people will be getting these int he mail. If your battery has been dead for 6 months or so watch out!

You would think that if a car is already registered for use of your "pass" that their computers would cross reference plate numbers and be done with it.. But no. They send you a fine/ticket. Brilliant system. Then again, it is a for profit system ;) Now I have to find my 3-4 year old password/login to add another car for mine :(

Yeah, it is very important to register your car with their website. I did so the day I bought my BoxS. Takes about 5 minutes.

Fortunately IL tolls do have V-tolling. If you forget your Ipass in another car you can still go through the Ipass lane and you won't get fined. This is as long as your car is registered with your Ipass.

I've done this a few times.

You can always go back to the old non-profit system you know, toll takers! :D

But they charge you twice as much and you have to exit the tollway to pay in person.

I keep wishing Wisconsin (currently no tolls anywhere), would install a single lane tollbooth on I 94 just across the WI-IL border and make everyone with an IL plate stop and pay a 5 cent toll.

You can tell I don't go through a lot of tolls because at first I didn't know what a transponder was. I had a friend who would go through toll booths and sort of jerk over to the next lane really fast after he got through hoping it would fail to get a good picture of his license plate.

lol, only a 5 cent toll? I would think you cheeseheads would want us FIBs to pay $10 or so to get into your state.

BTW, IL is ugly and WI is beautiful. That's why we come up there so much. :)

I'm thinking we would only charge cars with IL plates 5 cents to get back into Illinois!!! But the point is it would require you to pull the right into a single lane toll booth with an 80 year old toll taker.

I don't mind the tolls in IL so much, just the long wait to pay them.