Any commercial fleet that operates on tolled roads or bridges is subject to the possibility of toll violations, which most often come with additional cost and delayed processing time. With the rise of tolling facilities embracing all-electronic tolling, the chance of receiving a violation has increased. The challenge in understanding how violations work is compounded by differences in policies and procedures between the many toll facility operators throughout the nation. While a fleet can never truly eliminate the possibility of violations on its vehicles, there are several key steps that can significantly minimize violations, and in turn, their impact on fleet operations and the bottom line.
Ready to take control of your toll? Bestpass, the commercial toll management experts, has created a list of the top-three ways to minimize violations for commercial fleets.
- Install the Right Transponders. Installing the right transponder or transponders in your fleet’s vehicles is the best way to minimize the risk of violations, especially with the rise of cashless tolling across the United States, which has resulted in new challenges for commercial fleets, especially heavy toll facility users with a national footprint. Strategically managing transponder deployment across a fleet, including evaluating travel patterns and associated transponder options, helps lessen the impact of higher toll rates, administrative fees, and delayed billing associated with toll by plate and violation transactions.
If a fleet reallocates or rebills its toll fees as a standard business practice, then the delay created by violations can disrupt accounting and financial reporting, resulting in, at best, a delay in billing or, at worst, the inability to recoup the expense. With a transponder, transactions post as quickly as possible, typically between 24 and 72 hours.
- Pay Attention to License Plates. If you have a fleet of many vehicles, it is hard to keep tabs on which vehicles are incurring toll transactions in certain areas or at certain times, or if those vehicles are receiving violations. Having an overview of your toll spend, allowing you to see patterns and where your toll dollars are going, can help visualize your toll operations over time and proactively plan for the future. Having access to this information can also identify vehicles in your fleet that are incurring toll costs that are higher than expected. Whenever possible, be sure to register your license plates with each tolling authority in your area of operation.
- Monitor and correct unknown plate transactions. At some point, or possibly on multiple occasions, a fleet might receive a violation on a license plate that they have never owned or on a plate that no longer belongs to the company. The violation was sent because the state’s DMV has a record that points to the fleet as the registered owner of that license plate number.
If the fleet did once own that plate, but no longer does, then they would need to produce a bill of sale that notes both the vehicle and the license plate in question. If they turned the plates in prior to the date of the toll transaction, then they would need to produce the receipt showing they submitted those plates. The other option is to obtain a registration or title abstract from the DMV on the plate in question. If the fleet never owned the plate, or did not at the time of the transaction, then this will provide proof.
By making sure to correct any unknown plate transactions as they occur, you can help prevent any future violations.
Bestpass is the comprehensive payment platform provider and leader in toll management solutions for commercial fleets of all shapes and sizes. With more than 13,000 customers and 675,000 deployed toll transponders in the United States and Canada, Bestpass ensures data accuracy, consolidates payments, delivers invaluable industry expertise, and saves its users time and money. Founded in 2001 by truckers for truckers, Bestpass is now a trusted partner on the road and in the back office for customers, tolling authorities, and related organizations. To learn more, visit www.bestpass.com.
by Bestpass
CUT COTS OF THE FLEET WITH OUR AUDIT PROGRAM
The audit is a key tool to know the overall status and provide the analysis, the assessment, the advice, the suggestions and the actions to take in order to cut costs and increase the efficiency and efficacy of the fleet. We propose the following fleet management audit.
