State Guide
Navigating violations with SunPass / Florida's Turnpike Enterprise, CFX (Orlando), GMX (Miami) can be confusing. Follow this guide to fight your charge.
Generate a Florida Dispute LetterMost Florida tolls run through SunPass and Florida's Turnpike Enterprise, with the Central Florida Expressway Authority around Orlando and the Greater Miami Expressway Agency issuing their own invoices. Florida escalates unpaid tolls further than most states: an unpaid toll can become a traffic citation, and each unpaid transaction becomes its own citation with its own $100 fine.
Failing to pay a Florida toll is a noncriminal traffic infraction under Florida Statutes section 316.1001, punishable as a moving violation. The registered owner is liable, and a toll enforcement officer can issue a Uniform Traffic Citation by mail. That citation must be mailed within 14 days of being issued, and the mailing must also tell you about the cheaper options in sections 318.14(12) and 318.18(7).
Before any citation, there is an invoice stage governed by Florida Administrative Code rule 14-100.005. You get 10 days after using the road to pay or open an account. If you do not, a first invoice issues with a $2.50 administrative charge and 20 days to pay. If that goes unpaid, a second invoice issues with a further administrative charge and another 20 days. Only after that can the state pursue a citation, a registration hold, or a collection agency. In practice the earliest a citation can issue on a Turnpike road is about 50 days after the trip.
This is where Florida gets expensive, and where most people lose money unnecessarily. Once a citation issues, section 318.18(7) sets a mandatory $100 fine for each violation, plus the unpaid toll, for each citation issued. Because each unpaid transaction becomes its own citation, a handful of $1.50 tolls can turn into several hundred dollars in fines.
There is a much cheaper path, and the statute requires the agency to tell you about it. Under section 318.14(12), instead of dealing with the court you may pay a fine of $25, or such other amount as the toll authority sets, plus the unpaid toll, directly to the authority that issued the citation, within 30 days of the citation being issued. If you miss that, you get a further 45 days to request a court hearing or pay the civil penalty. A separate option under section 318.18(7) lets you pay $30 to the clerk of court plus the toll, with adjudication withheld and no points assessed against your licence.
Think carefully before demanding a court hearing. Under section 318.14(5), electing to appear waives the civil penalty limits in section 318.18, and the hearing officer may impose a civil penalty of up to $500. Contesting in court is the right move when you genuinely did not incur the toll, and an expensive move when you simply want a discount.
Two enforcement mechanisms sit behind all this. Section 316.1001(4), working with section 320.03(8), lets the state refuse to issue a licence plate or registration sticker until the outstanding amounts are paid, though that hold does not apply to a leased vehicle registered in the lessee's name. Separately, section 318.15 requires the state to suspend your driver licence if you fail to pay or fail to appear, effective 20 days after the order is mailed, and an unreinstated suspension stays on your record for seven years. A 60-day suspension under section 318.18(7) is also possible but requires 10 convictions within 36 months, so it is rarer than consumer websites suggest.
Florida's own motor vehicle department acknowledges that these bills are sometimes simply wrong. FLHSMV states that the volume of toll violations combined with the speed of vehicles passing cameras can lead to inaccurate plate readings, which results in some customers being billed in error. If your plate was misread, say so plainly and ask for the images.
Our system knows the exact format Florida toll authorities expect. Generate a dispute letter in minutes.
Start AI Letter Generator →Once your dispute is submitted, the toll authority reviews your evidence and the original toll image before responding — most decisions in Florida arrive within 30 to 90 days. Sending your letter by certified mail, or keeping the confirmation number from an online submission, gives you proof that you filed on time if you ever need to escalate.
If your dispute is approved, the charge is dismissed or reduced and any related late fees are typically removed. If it's denied, you usually still have the right to request a hearing or pay the reduced base toll. Either way, responding in writing before the deadline protects you from registration holds and collection activity, which are far harder to undo later.
It depends which stage you are at. At the invoice stage you have 20 days from each invoice date. Once a Uniform Traffic Citation has been issued, Florida Statutes section 318.14(12) gives you 30 days from the date of issuance to settle directly with the toll authority for $25 plus the toll, and a further 45 days after that to request a court hearing or pay the civil penalty.
Because each unpaid transaction becomes its own citation, and section 318.18(7) sets a mandatory $100 fine for each violation plus the unpaid toll, for each citation issued. Five unpaid $1.50 tolls are five separate citations, not one. This is why acting at the invoice stage, when the charge is the toll plus $2.50, matters so much.
Section 318.14(12) lets you pay a $25 fine, or such other amount as the toll authority sets, plus the unpaid toll, directly to the authority that issued the citation, within 30 days of issuance. That is far cheaper than the $100 mandatory court fine. A second option under section 318.18(7) is to pay $30 to the clerk of court plus the toll, which withholds adjudication so no points are assessed.
Yes, and this is separate from the registration hold. Under section 318.15, if you fail to pay the civil penalty or fail to appear, the clerk notifies the state within 10 days and the state must issue a suspension order effective 20 days after mailing. An unreinstated suspension stays on your record for seven years. A separate 60-day suspension under section 318.18(7) is possible but requires 10 convictions within a 36-month period.
File the affidavit under section 316.1001(2)(c) within 14 days of the citation being issued, naming the person who had care, custody or control of the vehicle, with their address, date of birth and driver licence number if known. If the vehicle was stolen, submit the police report instead. The named person can then be issued the citation. Be accurate: a false affidavit is a second-degree misdemeanour.
Only if you genuinely did not incur the toll. Under section 318.14(5), electing to appear waives the civil penalty limits of section 318.18, and the hearing officer may impose a civil penalty of up to $500. If your goal is simply to reduce the amount, the section 318.14(12) route of $25 plus the toll paid directly to the authority is cheaper and carries no such risk.
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