This Is What Happens When You Don’t Pay Your Toll

Has this ever happened to you, you’re driving along and realize you have to go through a toll booth, but don’t have any cash on you for the toll?  Yeah, me too.  It happened to me recently on the Mass Pike, headed up to Boston.  I panicked, I never carry cash, so I didn’t know what to do.

I decided that since I didn’t have cash and couldn’t pay the toll, I would just drive through it without paying.  I figured I would get a bill for the toll in a week or so, and would just pay it then.  I was wrong.

I got a bill the other day for the toll of $1.25 plus a fee of $50 for skipping out on paying the toll! Argh!! If only I had $1.25 on me that day, I would have avoided having to shell out an additional $50 for nothing! It’s like I’m flushing $50 down the toilet, so frustrating!

Unfortunately, I went through another toll shortly after that first one, on the Newport Bridge. My GPS was being wonky and instead of sending me back home the way I came, down West Main Road, it sent me over the Newport Bridge and I didn’t realize it until it was too late. Well, what do you know… I didn’t have $4.00 for the toll that day either.  (Btw, $4 for the Newport Bridge??  That’s ridiculous.)

So before they started hitting me with late fees on top of my fees for skipping the tolls, I just went online to pay it.  When I logged on, they not only had the fees for both tolls I drove through, but also a $3.50 “convenience fee” PER TOLL to pay online…so when it was all said and done, I had to pay $112.25, all because I drove through toll booths without cash…what a waste!  However, I learned my lesson, and now I have an EZ PASS!  I am never throwing away money like that ever again!

Learn from my mistakes, don’t blow through toll booths without paying, because in the end, YOU WILL PAY!  A lot!!

• Loren Petisce is the Midday Host on 99.9 The Q and Afternoon Host on Cape Country 104.