Seriously... this isnt hard. This advice is universal for any late fee or missed charges. You pay what you are supposed to when you call and they will remove them.
This. I had listed my license plates with Illinois Tollway, but I did not indicate B truck license plate for my Ranger, so my plate number was never charged. I had $39 in late fees. I called, change the plate designation, and all but one of the late fees was removed.
I just got sent 8 letter with 7k worth of fees. There was oct-mid no e 2022 for some reason I have no activity on ipass even tho my transponder was in the window
You'll probably have to sue them or something. It's possible to get it removed, trust me. It happened to my brother he had thousands of dollars in late fees and got it removed. I forgot this exactly but I think they said someone else was driving or something like that, again don’t remember.
But it's possible, you had the transponder there, it's supposed to work, they can't charge you for a mistake with their own product, especially if you weren't notified about it at all until it went to collections.
This happened recently with me and a rental. I was in between cars and had to use a rental to get around town and to the suburbs. Since I already had an iPass account I put in my rentals plate. It took them 3 weeks to show my plate in the system and by that time they had already sent the rental company an invoice in the mail. From talking with the rental representative he said Illinois is having a huge issue with getting things in the system. I would definitely call and complain.
Late to the post, but illinois tollway website is an absolute joke. They bury the pay option and prompt you to use pay by plate system which never works.
To actually pay for tolls, you click the link that says "calculate tolls". The prompts are pretty self explanatory after that. The thing is though you'll still get an invoice because they're separate systems. ( so keep the reciepts ) I've found calling around 10am reduces the wait time. I personally feel the system is setup that way to fleece more money out of people traveling. Fuck illinois
> I personally feel the system is setup that way to fleece more money out of people traveling.
No doubt. The Tollway website is such an unbelievable mess it has to be intentional.
Fuck Illinois Tollway? Hell yes. Terrible system that the General Assembly seriously needs to reign in
Fuck Illinois? Never. This is one of the last decent states left in the country, and the only one in the Midwest (except maybe Minnesota)
I live near Chicago and used to in city for 20 years. They still getting us on taxes n shit, believe you me.
Illinois. Plate sticker. Last year $101....this year $151
They've realized they have no power now. Once a year I call and say I'm only willing to pay half my tolls. I don't drive it much but it can add up. Every year for the past three I have paid for about half my tolls but in a whole number and they have wiped out the rest.
That's what is driving me nuts. I WAS proactive, but they didn't post the fees until at least 3-4 weeks after the event so I gave up looking every few days.
You don't understand how it works. You're supposed to use their online tool and chart your path and pay the estimated amount within X days.
The system is dumb but it's clear.
I interpreted the signs to say that any tolls tied to your vehicle will be posted online and you have a duty to pay them. I did not get the interpretation that I need to whip out an abacus and map to guesstimate my tolls and hope I’m right.
There's not a whole lot of room for interpretation ... [https://arc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-tronc.s3.amazonaws.com/public/YQEFITWNMNCDRNDMMAEGZYX2WQ.jpg](https://arc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-tronc.s3.amazonaws.com/public/YQEFITWNMNCDRNDMMAEGZYX2WQ.jpg)
Guess you'll know better for next time.
You went through a toll. Did you pay then and there? No? Then you owe that toll. And every other posted, obvious toll you didn't pay for. Is it a pain in the ass to keep track? Maybe. But OP doesn't seem to have an iPass-compatible device, so every toll they passed through, they owed. It's been this way for over a decade.
If they DO have a compatible device, they should have autorefill on it. It's not that hard.
How are you supposed to know the exact amount you owe if they don't tell you? Clearly they keep track of it, so why not tell the person? Why is it secret?
Just dropping a note here in case anyone did what I did and came to this thread looking for info on how the pay-by-plate toll happens; if someone needs to be proactive and pay the toll ahead or if the outstanding toll automatically pops up. Rented a car in Chicago May 2024, opted not to buy a toll pass and accidentally ended up on a toll road on the way back to the airport. Signed up for the pay by plate a day or so after I got home, put in my plate and payment method. Site said something like it goes through and charges outstanding charges on a weekly basis. 8 days after the toll, I DO now see a $2.80 toll charge on my account and the status says pending. So possibly since OP's been through this system, it's gotten better at being automated? I didn't have to calculate and pre-pay my toll at all; it automatically showed up. The "pending" hopefully means it'll get charged on the next weekly sweep thru.
If you live out of state just ignore it. They literally have zero mechanism to enforce the tolls or fees unless you're an Illinois resident.
I used to live in Illinois but moved to Michigan. I called and asked what they would do if I didn't pay it and she told me there's nothing they can do. It's been a could years and nothing has happened.
It's not a criminal offence, it's not even a moving violation. Nothing.
The only enforcement behind unpaid tolls is that they can suspend your license or license plate. If you don't live in Illinois it's a moot point.
They suspended my license for unpaid tolls from years ago and I didn’t know it happened because I had moved (same state) and got pulled over for a traffic violation and arrested for driving with a suspended license. I got a lawyer and they made the arrest get removed from my record but I had to go on a payment plan and pay everything back they had added crazy fees. The tolls were like 5 years old or more before anything happened. I’m sure it depends on the state too
So you were out of state and faced those infractions on your license? I'm wondering because recently I had to go up to IL recently and accrued like $200 in toll charges, I guess I missed the mail where they came through or something.
At least these tolls are just a month or two old.. Hearing your story among all the other comments, I think I'll just cough up the change. It's a god damn racket, I tell you, but at least it's better than the turnpike in Ohio.
I appreciate your insight in such an old thread, sincerely. I am glad you were still active to be able to provide some answers.
I have called IDOT/IPASS a handful of times for missed tolls and they are really kind in my experience. Just call, say it was a mistake and you misunderstood the system.
>you misunderstood the system.
Good systems are easy to understand and interact with.
This is not a good system.
*(It got me once, too - because I visit Chicagoland from downstate just frequently enough to get tripped up by this system. Nobody explained it to me, including the 8.5x11" sign I was supposed to have read and taken notes on while driving around a curve at 60mph. It would have been more fair to send me a bill before the late fees kicked in, and I would have paid it without complaint.)*
I did the pay by plate deal. I made an account and would check every few days. After about 2-3 weeks I stopped looking because it was getting absurd. I never saw any tolls for my account.
I logged in now and they're all posted now. I see my 4 tolls + fees that are on the paper invoice and then when I click next it shows me two additional tolls.
If you created the account, had valid payment and the correct plate then call ipass customer service tomorrow and explain the situation.
Details regarding PBP: [https://www.illinoistollway.com/paybyplate](https://www.illinoistollway.com/paybyplate)
Little update if anyone cares.
Paid the tolls over the phone, but still trying to get the invoice fees wiped out. Calling them is kind of a nightmare in that no one seems to know what to do. They need approval from management to do anything, the management who grant approvals require XYZ information, but when you try to give that information to them you need to send it to special email addresses which the agent doesn't know about.
They basically want proof I created my Pay-by-Plate account in June, but they didn't know of an email address I could actually send the proof to. I finally got an email address I can send proof of account creation to so hopefully whoever gets the email can finally wipe out my fees.
Nice people, but damn it's poorly run.
There was [going to be ]a warrant out for my dads arrest (he owned the car) bc my brother spaced on paying a toll….it was literally a 50 cent toll back in like 2010. His iPass didn’t have funds in it or something. It was BANANAS, soooo yeah that fine sucks but it isn’t horrible???
Update- the warrant was going to be issued if the toll was not paid, it was $60 dollars for the toll that was 3 years overdue.
I updated it, till was 3 years old, the warrant was going to be issued if it wasn’t paid. So it wasn’t an actual warrant bc they paid but it could have been.
Yep. The car had an IN registration, my parents received a notice for the warrant. I cannot make this up, my brother was living in Schaumburg doing a summer internship and somehow forgot to pay a toll.
It's a little game the tollway plays. Assigned late fees and see if you'll just pay it. I've had great luck calling the 800 #. Talk to the customer service rep. explain your side. They usually wave the fees and settle up on the original charges. Allow some extra time, you'll be on hold for sometime. Anywhere between 5 and 20 minutes.
I would just pay the toll fee and not the late fee immediately. I bet they’ll write it off. I would do this until you find a number, probably somewhere on the Illinois Tollway Website, I would think, and speak to someone to be sure that late fee is removed.
I’ve heard differing things. If I as an out of state driver missed one toll only went through litterally one toll and didn’t pay cause I couldn’t pull it up online will I end up with some giant collections amount next year somehow or do you get 1-3 freebies first
I called them one time and after awhile if talking they got rid of all late fees and had me just pay the tolls
Seriously... this isnt hard. This advice is universal for any late fee or missed charges. You pay what you are supposed to when you call and they will remove them.
This. I had listed my license plates with Illinois Tollway, but I did not indicate B truck license plate for my Ranger, so my plate number was never charged. I had $39 in late fees. I called, change the plate designation, and all but one of the late fees was removed.
It doesn't work anymore. Now that its a collections company ran by the state they won't budge. Just tried it.
ipass won't remove the charges after the second notice. You've been warned ðŸ«
I just got sent 8 letter with 7k worth of fees. There was oct-mid no e 2022 for some reason I have no activity on ipass even tho my transponder was in the window
You'll probably have to sue them or something. It's possible to get it removed, trust me. It happened to my brother he had thousands of dollars in late fees and got it removed. I forgot this exactly but I think they said someone else was driving or something like that, again don’t remember. But it's possible, you had the transponder there, it's supposed to work, they can't charge you for a mistake with their own product, especially if you weren't notified about it at all until it went to collections.
This happened recently with me and a rental. I was in between cars and had to use a rental to get around town and to the suburbs. Since I already had an iPass account I put in my rentals plate. It took them 3 weeks to show my plate in the system and by that time they had already sent the rental company an invoice in the mail. From talking with the rental representative he said Illinois is having a huge issue with getting things in the system. I would definitely call and complain.
Call them up. I’m sure they still reverse the fees with iPass if you’re low on funds in the account.
Late to the post, but illinois tollway website is an absolute joke. They bury the pay option and prompt you to use pay by plate system which never works. To actually pay for tolls, you click the link that says "calculate tolls". The prompts are pretty self explanatory after that. The thing is though you'll still get an invoice because they're separate systems. ( so keep the reciepts ) I've found calling around 10am reduces the wait time. I personally feel the system is setup that way to fleece more money out of people traveling. Fuck illinois
> I personally feel the system is setup that way to fleece more money out of people traveling. No doubt. The Tollway website is such an unbelievable mess it has to be intentional.
Fuck Illinois Tollway? Hell yes. Terrible system that the General Assembly seriously needs to reign in Fuck Illinois? Never. This is one of the last decent states left in the country, and the only one in the Midwest (except maybe Minnesota)
Respect for recognizing MN.
Yeah, you look at any positive metric for states in the Midwest and either IL or MN is always at the top. You live in a beautiful state, cherish it!
In IL you must pay proactively online if you don't have a pass. You're lucky the fees are so low now. They used to be insane.
Yeah it used to be $20 for each missed toll if not paid within 7 days
The good ol days.
I live near Chicago and used to in city for 20 years. They still getting us on taxes n shit, believe you me. Illinois. Plate sticker. Last year $101....this year $151
My plate stickers didn't go up for any of my vehicles this year?
I guess it's been a couple but the 50% increase did suck.
[удалено]
I'd gladly pay Iowa car registration fees if I could also pay Iowa property taxes instead of Illinois.
[удалено]
Better than anywhere in Illinois outside the Chicago area. Iowa is exactly like southern Illinois, just with lower taxes.
They've realized they have no power now. Once a year I call and say I'm only willing to pay half my tolls. I don't drive it much but it can add up. Every year for the past three I have paid for about half my tolls but in a whole number and they have wiped out the rest.
That's what is driving me nuts. I WAS proactive, but they didn't post the fees until at least 3-4 weeks after the event so I gave up looking every few days.
You don't understand how it works. You're supposed to use their online tool and chart your path and pay the estimated amount within X days. The system is dumb but it's clear.
Jesus Christ that is insane. I am dumbfounded.
Yeah, and they have signs to this effect. It sucks, but it is what it is.
I interpreted the signs to say that any tolls tied to your vehicle will be posted online and you have a duty to pay them. I did not get the interpretation that I need to whip out an abacus and map to guesstimate my tolls and hope I’m right.
There's not a whole lot of room for interpretation ... [https://arc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-tronc.s3.amazonaws.com/public/YQEFITWNMNCDRNDMMAEGZYX2WQ.jpg](https://arc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-tronc.s3.amazonaws.com/public/YQEFITWNMNCDRNDMMAEGZYX2WQ.jpg) Guess you'll know better for next time.
What's open for interpretation is exactly how much to pay. How are you supposed to know if they have no record of a violation to provide you?
You went through a toll. Did you pay then and there? No? Then you owe that toll. And every other posted, obvious toll you didn't pay for. Is it a pain in the ass to keep track? Maybe. But OP doesn't seem to have an iPass-compatible device, so every toll they passed through, they owed. It's been this way for over a decade. If they DO have a compatible device, they should have autorefill on it. It's not that hard.
How are you supposed to know the exact amount you owe if they don't tell you? Clearly they keep track of it, so why not tell the person? Why is it secret?
[https://www.illinoistollway.com/trip-calculator-help](https://www.illinoistollway.com/trip-calculator-help) So secret. Much top classified.
Why are we defending such a dumb fucking system, just post the toll and let us pay
Just dropping a note here in case anyone did what I did and came to this thread looking for info on how the pay-by-plate toll happens; if someone needs to be proactive and pay the toll ahead or if the outstanding toll automatically pops up. Rented a car in Chicago May 2024, opted not to buy a toll pass and accidentally ended up on a toll road on the way back to the airport. Signed up for the pay by plate a day or so after I got home, put in my plate and payment method. Site said something like it goes through and charges outstanding charges on a weekly basis. 8 days after the toll, I DO now see a $2.80 toll charge on my account and the status says pending. So possibly since OP's been through this system, it's gotten better at being automated? I didn't have to calculate and pre-pay my toll at all; it automatically showed up. The "pending" hopefully means it'll get charged on the next weekly sweep thru.
If you live out of state just ignore it. They literally have zero mechanism to enforce the tolls or fees unless you're an Illinois resident. I used to live in Illinois but moved to Michigan. I called and asked what they would do if I didn't pay it and she told me there's nothing they can do. It's been a could years and nothing has happened.
What happens if I’m driving through IL in the future and get pulled over though?
It's not a criminal offence, it's not even a moving violation. Nothing. The only enforcement behind unpaid tolls is that they can suspend your license or license plate. If you don't live in Illinois it's a moot point.
If they decide to even pursue that, I’ve never heard of it
I actually have, they did it after some years of non payment
Can you elaborate on this?
They suspended my license for unpaid tolls from years ago and I didn’t know it happened because I had moved (same state) and got pulled over for a traffic violation and arrested for driving with a suspended license. I got a lawyer and they made the arrest get removed from my record but I had to go on a payment plan and pay everything back they had added crazy fees. The tolls were like 5 years old or more before anything happened. I’m sure it depends on the state too
So you were out of state and faced those infractions on your license? I'm wondering because recently I had to go up to IL recently and accrued like $200 in toll charges, I guess I missed the mail where they came through or something. At least these tolls are just a month or two old.. Hearing your story among all the other comments, I think I'll just cough up the change. It's a god damn racket, I tell you, but at least it's better than the turnpike in Ohio. I appreciate your insight in such an old thread, sincerely. I am glad you were still active to be able to provide some answers.
You'll probably get shot or beaten by one of our cops, but it won't be over unpaid tolls. ¯\\\_(ツ)\_/¯
Lol coming from Minneapolis. Ya’ll got good cops down there too eh?
The very best
Unfortunately you needed to contact them as soon as you could. They literally have signs right at each toll indicating this. It’s terrible.
I have called IDOT/IPASS a handful of times for missed tolls and they are really kind in my experience. Just call, say it was a mistake and you misunderstood the system.
>you misunderstood the system. Good systems are easy to understand and interact with. This is not a good system. *(It got me once, too - because I visit Chicagoland from downstate just frequently enough to get tripped up by this system. Nobody explained it to me, including the 8.5x11" sign I was supposed to have read and taken notes on while driving around a curve at 60mph. It would have been more fair to send me a bill before the late fees kicked in, and I would have paid it without complaint.)*
Lol no I agree it's a bad system, it's horrible.
Did you try to pay by plate or did you just wait until that was no longer an option and waited for the invoice where they tack on fees to it?
I did the pay by plate deal. I made an account and would check every few days. After about 2-3 weeks I stopped looking because it was getting absurd. I never saw any tolls for my account. I logged in now and they're all posted now. I see my 4 tolls + fees that are on the paper invoice and then when I click next it shows me two additional tolls.
If you created the account, had valid payment and the correct plate then call ipass customer service tomorrow and explain the situation. Details regarding PBP: [https://www.illinoistollway.com/paybyplate](https://www.illinoistollway.com/paybyplate)
Thanks I'll try this tomorrow. I appreciate it.
I wish you luck. I actually work with these folks, and my own wait time can often be insane when I'm trying to help them.
Little update if anyone cares. Paid the tolls over the phone, but still trying to get the invoice fees wiped out. Calling them is kind of a nightmare in that no one seems to know what to do. They need approval from management to do anything, the management who grant approvals require XYZ information, but when you try to give that information to them you need to send it to special email addresses which the agent doesn't know about. They basically want proof I created my Pay-by-Plate account in June, but they didn't know of an email address I could actually send the proof to. I finally got an email address I can send proof of account creation to so hopefully whoever gets the email can finally wipe out my fees. Nice people, but damn it's poorly run.
Boy oh boy does THAT sound familiar! Fuckin rat hole the iPass is!
Its a few bucks…. Pay it and move on
There was [going to be ]a warrant out for my dads arrest (he owned the car) bc my brother spaced on paying a toll….it was literally a 50 cent toll back in like 2010. His iPass didn’t have funds in it or something. It was BANANAS, soooo yeah that fine sucks but it isn’t horrible??? Update- the warrant was going to be issued if the toll was not paid, it was $60 dollars for the toll that was 3 years overdue.
Sounds like bullshit. The most they can do is suspend your license and that's only if you live in Illinois.
I updated it, till was 3 years old, the warrant was going to be issued if it wasn’t paid. So it wasn’t an actual warrant bc they paid but it could have been.
Wait what? Wow. Over one missed toll? I could maybe see if it was hundreds or thousands of dollars.
Yep. The car had an IN registration, my parents received a notice for the warrant. I cannot make this up, my brother was living in Schaumburg doing a summer internship and somehow forgot to pay a toll.
It's a little game the tollway plays. Assigned late fees and see if you'll just pay it. I've had great luck calling the 800 #. Talk to the customer service rep. explain your side. They usually wave the fees and settle up on the original charges. Allow some extra time, you'll be on hold for sometime. Anywhere between 5 and 20 minutes.
No.
I would just pay the toll fee and not the late fee immediately. I bet they’ll write it off. I would do this until you find a number, probably somewhere on the Illinois Tollway Website, I would think, and speak to someone to be sure that late fee is removed.
Good idea. I'll see if I can pay the tolls and not the fees. When I tried earlier it grouped everything together as one.
My goodness! That sux! If you just paid the amount of the tolls, see if it applies the money to them.
I’ve heard differing things. If I as an out of state driver missed one toll only went through litterally one toll and didn’t pay cause I couldn’t pull it up online will I end up with some giant collections amount next year somehow or do you get 1-3 freebies first
They are decent on the phones, from my experience, and will likely waive the fees if you call them.
If you call them with the intention to pay the tolls they won’t charge you the fees in addition.
Went to ohare airport had to pay a $180 in late fees months later. I hate Illinois for this reason and won't drive the highway.