Same as James above. Budget is a bait and switch. The agent said my $300 rental was unavaiable and tried to sell me on a gas guzzling suv for additional 1o$ a day. Then a 6 cyl at $8 a day. Bill boosted another $125$. Then i was never told there was a toll transponder hodden under the visor nor warned of the private toll rd. So it seems i got off 470 and was billed a few bucks but that activated a $2.50 a day rental charge times 3 weeks. Screw Budget such a shady outfit at the colorado airport. Oh, forgot this. The clerk hurried to try to have me buy the insurance at a cost of more than the 3 wk rental! If you use a major credit car they will refund your deductible up to 500$ plus your own insurance covers the car.

On August 13, 2010, I received a “Reservation Confirmation” over the internet from Thrifty Car Rental for rental of an automobile at the Denver, CO Airport for 12 days from August 19, 2010 through August 31, 2010, with a quoted rental of $428.28, confirmed by an initial Thrifty billing after the vehicle was returned. I spent the first ten days in Avon, CO after I drove approximately 128 miles west from the airport onto I-70. On August 29th I drove east and then south to visit a friend in Colorado Springs, CO using MapQuest directions obtained in Avon on the Internet. On August 31st before I left Colorado Springs, I inquired of my friend, a civil engineer who has been working on a construction project at Ft. Carson, as to the tollway mentioned in my MapQuest directions.. He replied that he knew nothing about it even though he had been down there for slightly over a year. I thought I would pay at the toll booth(s), but noted that they were unoccupied once I got on the tollway. ( I later learned that cameras replaced the toll booth employees in July, 2009.)

I traveled north from Colorado Springs on I-25 over 50 miles before the MapQuest directions steered me onto the E-470 Tollway off I-25 going north at the Limon exit onto E-470 at Toll Plaza B and continued up thru 4 stations including the 3 in Toll Plaza C, a drive of approximately 27 miles. After I inquired of a Thrifty parking lot attendant as to the unoccupied toll booths, he informed me that a camera-scan system had replaced the booths with attendants and suggested I speak to a person inside the facility. The man inside the car rental site told me that if I did not pay $65.90, citations would be issued to me amounting to $85.00. He said that I was getting “a good deal.” I learned that Thrifty charges $25.00 per week as an administrative fee plus $7.50 per week for a pass for unlimited access to any tollways in the State, and he told me he would have to charge me for two weeks. Although I ventured onto the tollway only on the final day of my 12-day trip for approximately 27 miles and less than half an hour at the end of my car rental, I was charged for both weeks of access. In addition to the fees for the two-week pass, I note that my final bill charged on my American Express Credit Card by Thrifty amounted to $511.29 after that company added a State Tax and a Concession Recovery Fee amounting to approximately $16.00 to the $65.90 Tollway Pass Fee. (A bill of $511.29 presented to me by the Thrifty employee after I protested .) My brief Tollway drive of 27 miles resulted in a $83..01 charge. It is an unscrupulous system, which preys on unwary tourists. Thrifty, motivated by profit and given license by the State, treats drivers like me in punitive fashion as though I violated some law.

I had 4 hrs. to get to the Denver airport from Colorado Springs, so I could have gone all the way up I-25 north to I-70, which would have taken me to the western edge of Denver and maybe a 30-mile drive to the airport. Taking the E-470 Tollway took me several miles east of the airport turnoff, so I could have easily avoided the assessment. (Moreover, I had no intention to use the Tollway(s) when I arrived in Denver.)

I telephoned Thrifty a couple days after I returned home and was told by the Customer Service lady that she would “pass my complaint on.” After receiving no response from Thrifty, I then wrote an email complaint to that company—again with no response. I also filed a complaint with the Office of the Colorado Attorney General, Consumer Fraud Division. This type of business practice is ripe for legal Class Action in my opinion.
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I went through the toll a year ago, only four days after they initially started these new practices… I received a bill in the mail and paid it immediately (now realizing it was for my husband’s car and not mine.) Just got a letter from the collection agency saying that I owe them $270.00 for a $6 toll in my car. They claim that they sent me 12 bills although I never got one until now a full year later. There is absolutely no way that they sent those bills out, I have been hearing so many similar stories from people, it is ridiculous! I’m not sure what to do… the collection company told me that they already are “giving me a deal” and that the original fine was over $400, and the toll company told me they can’t do anything because it’s already been sent to collections. There has to be something that can be done, no way this is legal!

I used the E-470 toll road in December. I waited for a toll bill to arrive in the mail but it never did. I tried to check online for the toll but could not without a toll number that is mailed out with the toll amount. Having never received a previous notice, this week I received 3 “Final Notice of Toll Violation Civil Penalty Assessment”, one for each toll between I-25 and the Airport on E-470. They never sent any previous notices, but suddenly send out “Final notices” and want $240 for $7.00 worth of tolls. It’s a scam to fleece toll road users. The state attorney general should be looking into the business practices of this entity.

Hell, I LIVE in Colorado (Colorado Springs to be exact) and didn’t even know what was going on. Returning from Vacation, we just saw that all the toll booths were closed. I thought it very VERY odd, but didn’t think much more of it other than “Huh, must be my lucky day.”

A couple of weeks ago we got several letters in the mail of fines and fees totaling more than $400! After doing research, I just found out today about what was going on. How ridiculous. This smells of a disguised scheme to scam people out of their money than just “saving some money and making it easier and convenient for everyone” They should have signs up that helps explain what they are doing instead of “Toll Booths Closed”

I agree that this toll road-E-470-most confusing and automated mess that surprises tourists from other states. I thought Colorado liked tourists. After we paid the tolls online, we received additional bills that included an outrageous $70 civil penal per toll booth used plus the original bills. A processing fee of $9 for a $1.00 toll plus the $70 civil fee means you owe them $80 for passing through one toll gate. Does the tourist department of Colorado know what the toll road company is doing to the good name of Colorado? Of course the company has no 800 number to clear up the mess they cause through computerized billing. This toll road is an ugly stain on the state of Colorado.

We drove E 470 from I 25 to I 70 in mid September. We have driven the road for several years and had always paid at the toll booths. We do not live in Colorado and had no idea the booths were shut down and couldn’t figure out what was going on. We checked the web site mentioned on the signs when we returned home and learned that we would be getting a bill in the mail sent to the address from our license plate.

The info on the web site said that we would get the bill within 30 days of our trip. But no bill ever came. I started reading web sites telling tales of how motorists never received a first notice of the toll and then subsequently started getting bills with huge penalties for failure to pay. I started emailing the E 470 people asking when we should get a bill. They kept saying we would be receiving a bill soon. Finally I just asked them if they would just tell us the amount of the toll and an account number where we could just send the payment. I figured the cost would be $5 or $6 and did not want to get caught up in paying a penalty.

They eventually emailed us a copy of our bill after about 10 weeks. We paid it but as yet have never gotten a copy in the US Mail as we were told we would. The E 470 is a nice way to avoid traveling through downtown Denver, but I will not travel on that road again. Too much hassle trying to get my measly $5 toll payment to them before getting penalties assessed.

I unfortunately had a similar experience. But since I rented my car in Salt Lake City before going to Colorado, there was obviously no way for them to alert me. I have already received the rental company’s bill for the service (that is, the service they provided to Colorado by giving them my address). That was $10. I’m eagerly awaiting the “final bill” from Colorado. It’s been over 3 months since the trip, but I’m sure it’s coming.

This is the biggest rip off ever! I just spent 40 minutes on hold with National Rental Car because they sent me a bill for four traffic violations while we were in Colorado for a wedding. We had no idea about the toll situation. I could not imagine what the violations were. I have the most law abiding husband possible – he certainly did not drive through any tollbooths without paying. The agent who rented us the car did not tell us anything about e470. This is beyond annoying.

Sound advice above.

I have been billed $25.00 (for a single journey!) by Budget rent a car (I wont be using them again and suggest you dont either) who failed to warn me about this. Use the e toll just once and they charge you $2.50 per day.

I have been ripped off – this leaves a sour taste from an otherwise wonderful trip to Colorado.

James, England