Dollar Rent A Car Toll Fees Rack Up Class Action Lawsuit

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Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group, a rental car company that does business as Dollar Rent A Car, was hit with a class action lawsuit on May 16 accusing the company of charging customers inflated administrative fees for processing electronic tolls.

Florida residents Stephen and Anne Sallee allege in the Dollar Thrifty class action lawsuit that they rented a car from Dollar Rent A Car in November of last year for a trip in Texas. During the trip, the Sallees allege that they incurred four toll fees using Dollar’s e-toll service totaling $4.70 by the time they returned the vehicle.

The Sallees claim that when they returned the car, a Dollar Rent A Car agent advised them there were no additional charges. After returning home, however, they allegedly received a notice from Dollar Processing Center entitled “Dollar Rent A Car Toll Charge Notice.” The Notice instructed that each toll charge was subject to an “administrative fee” of $15.00 for a “Total Administrative Fee” charge  of $60.00.

“Thus, for four tolls totaling only $4.70, Plaintiffs owed Dollar $64.70,” the class action lawsuit says.

According to the Dollar Rent A Car class action lawsuit, “Dollar’s e-toll service electronically identifies Dollar vehicles as they travel through [electronic toll collection “ETC”] sites. This is accomplished by various means depending on the vehicle’s location,” explains the complaint, “[s]ome transactions are captured and processed by recognizing license-plate numbers while others are captured through an electronic transponder device in the vehicle…[o]nce the identification is made, the e-toll service receives data identifying the Dollar vehicle and the tolls incurred on specific dates.”

The Dollar Rent A Car class action lawsuit claims that since at least 2008, Dollar has charged its customers who travel on toll roads and use its electronic toll collection (“ETC”) service a fee of $15 or $25 per toll in addition to the cost of tolls. These toll fees are described as an “administrative fee” in the materials comprising Dollar’s standardized rental contracts. However, according to the class action lawsuit, “the administrative cost of Dollar’s ETC is only a fraction of these $15 or $25 charges, and the vast bulk of the charge (and all successive $15 or $25 charges per toll) are a means to charge more for customers’ rentals without including this price increase in customers’ rental rates. This allows Dollar to represent to customers that Dollar’s rental rates are less than Dollar is actually advertising and charging.”

The Dollar Thrifty class action lawsuit alleges that thousands of people have been victims of Dollar’s increased rental costs that Dollar falsely describes as “administrative fees.” The Sallees argue that Dollar’s administrative fees amount to breach of contract, a violation of state consumer-protection law, and request damages for unjust enrichment and injunctive relief.

Over the past several years multiple class action lawsuits have been filed by rental car customers over similar allegations. Hertz reached an $11 million class action settlement over claims it conspired with an electronic toll company to charge customers excessive fees. Fox Rent A Car and Avis were also hit with class action lawsuits over their toll charges to customers.

The plaintiffs are represented by Tony M. Graham and R. Jack Freeman of Graham & Freeman PLLC, Jeffrey W. Lawrence of Lawrence Law Firm, Bruce D. Greenberg and Jeffrey A. Shooman of Lite DePalma Greenberg LLC and Daniel R. Karon and Laura K. Mummert of Goldman Scarlato Karon & Penny PC.

The Dollar Rental Car Toll Fee Class Action Lawsuit is Stephen Sallee et al. v. Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group Inc. et al., Case No 4:14-cv-00250, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma.