How to prevent FasTrak charges from a car you have sold: Roadshow

Q: I recently helped our housekeeper sell her Toyota Camry. While preparing for the sale, I didn’t see evidence of her having FasTrak set up on her car and she didn’t mention it. Even if I had known she had it, I don’t know that I would have thought of suggesting she cancel it on her FasTrak account.

When she received her FasTrak statement after the sale, there were six bridge toll charges and one express lane use charge on her bill for the Camry after the sale of the car.

I helped her contact FasTrak to contest the charges. They were very helpful and guided us through the process of providing the necessary information about when the car was sold. They reversed all the charges, including the first toll charge, which was six hours after the sale and delivery of the car to the new owner.

I’m sure this is a regular issue, and this information could prevent or alleviate a lot of aggravation, if other readers get FasTrak charges that are not theirs after the sale of their car.

Dan Heether

A: Thanks for sharing this story. There’s more good news. Keep reading…

Q: I wanted to report another positive experience with Caltrans. About a month after driving to an A’s game on Interstate 880 north from San Jose to Oakland, I received a toll lane violation notice.

I knew 1000000% that I never entered or used any of the toll lanes, so I reviewed the pictures from the FasTrak website. Indeed, I clearly was not in the toll lane, but for whatever reason, the cameras/sensors felt I was.

I thusly “grieved” the matter with Caltrans. Here’s the response I got from them:

“This matter has been referred to an image review specialist to prevent this error from reoccurring. I apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you. No further action or payment from you is required.”