PlatePass, a company that outfits rental cars with devices allowing drivers to use Illinois’ I-Pass and other high-speed tolling systems, has been hit with a class action lawsuit, asserting the company hits drivers with unexpected and steep fees, even if the driver doesn’t want to use their service.
On Oct. 23, attorneys with the firm of McGuire Law P.C., of Chicago, filed suit in Cook County Circuit Court against PlatePass. According to the complaint, PlatePass is based in Arizona, but is licensed to do business in Illinois through its parent company, Verra Mobility.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of named plaintiff Bartosz Grabowski, identified only as a resident of Illinois.
According to its website, PlatePass offers its devices in cars rented through Hertz.
The complaint asserts PlatePass claims to allow rental car customers to more easily use high-speed toll lanes, such as those offered through the Illinois Tollway’s I-Pass open road tolling program, or the E-Z Pass system in place in much of the northeast U.S.
According to the complaint, PlatePass tells users that without their services, users could face “costly violations issued by the toll authority.”
However, the complaint accuses PlatePass of tacking on inflated fees to the tolls it processes when drivers pass through toll plazas, even in states like Illinois, in which motorists are generally given 7-14 days to pay missed tolls online, even if they do not have an I-Pass or other electronic tolling transponder in the vehicle.
Illinois customers can also use their I-Pass device to pay tolls when using a rental vehicle, the complaint notes.
However, PlatePass still tacks on various toll payment and administration fees, that can far exceed the cost of the actual tolls collected, the complaint said.
These fees are “unnecessary” and “excessive,” the complaint said.
According to the complaint, Grabowski rented a vehicle from Hertz in October 2017 in Des Plaines. Over the course of about 10 days, Grabowski then passed through three Illinois Tollway toll plazas, for which he should have incurred tolls of no more than 75 cents per plaza.
However, the fees ultimately charged to his credit card by PlatePass amounted to more than $28, Grabowski claimed in the complaint.
Grabowski said he was unaware of the potential fees, and would have asked for the device to be deactivated, if he had known.
The complaint accuses PlatePass of violating Illinois’ consumer fraud and deceptive practices law, and improperly collecting “exorbitant” fees.
The plaintiffs seek to expand the action to include a class of potentially thousands of other rental car customers in Illinois who were similarly charged fees by PlatePass in the past three years.
The plaintiffs are seeking restitution of the fees, plus other unspecified “consequential” damages and attorney fees.