State Guide

How to Dispute a Toll in New Jersey

Navigating violations with E-ZPass New Jersey (NJ Turnpike Authority, South Jersey Transportation Authority) can be confusing. Follow this guide to fight your charge.

Generate a New Jersey Dispute Letter

Disputing a Toll in New Jersey

New Jersey has two entirely separate toll enforcement systems, and confusing them is the most common mistake drivers make. One is the Turnpike Authority's violation process, which ends in municipal court. The other is a newer statewide registration suspension programme run by the Department of Transportation, with its own deadlines, its own hearing, and a filing fee.

Valid Reasons to Dispute a Toll in New Jersey

• The license plate was misread by the camera system.
• You were not the registered owner of the vehicle on the violation date in New Jersey.
• You had a valid, funded transponder account that should have covered the toll.
• You have proof the toll was already paid.
• The vehicle was sold, stolen, or rented to someone else at the time.
• The toll equipment malfunctioned or charged a duplicate toll.

Step-by-Step Filing Instructions

1. Act before your deadline — 30 days to pay an advisory and payment request, and 45 days to request a hearing if you receive a notice of pending registration suspension. Note the exact response date printed on your notice.
2. Gather your evidence — vehicle registration, transponder statement, bill of sale, or police report.
3. Write a dispute letter stating your plate number, notice number, violation date, and the reason you're disputing.
4. Submit through the agency's official portal, or send by certified mail so you have proof of the submission date.
5. Keep copies of everything and follow up if you don't receive a response within about 30 days.

New Jersey Toll Law and Your Rights

Track one is the toll violation itself. N.J.S.A. 27:23-34.2 makes the vehicle owner jointly and severally liable where the vehicle was used with the owner's permission, and sets civil penalties not to exceed $100 for a first violation and not to exceed $600 for each subsequent violation. The procedure sits in N.J.S.A. 27:23-34.3 and the Turnpike Authority's rules at N.J.A.C. 19:9-9.1 and 9.2.

The timing on that track is tight and specific. The authority may send an Advisory and Payment Request within 60 days of the violation, and you then have 30 days to pay. Liability formally attaches on the 31st day following the date the Advisory was sent. The administrative fee is $50 per violation.

One provision is worth asking for by name. Under N.J.A.C. 19:9-9.2(b), where the owner proves an inadvertent toll violation, the owner pays the toll only and no administrative fee. That is a defined regulatory category, not a discretionary courtesy, so use the statutory phrase.

If it is not resolved, the Turnpike Authority causes a summons and complaint to issue and the matter is heard in the municipal court of the municipality where the violation occurred, under the Penalty Enforcement Law of 1999. The recorded images are admissible as an official business record, but only in toll violation proceedings, not in civil cases or other traffic prosecutions.

Track two is newer and catches people by surprise. N.J.S.A. 27:1A-3.1, effective 16 January 2024, and the implementing rules at N.J.A.C. 16:3, let the Department of Transportation direct the Motor Vehicle Commission to suspend every motor vehicle registration you hold. The triggers are unpaid tolls and fees totalling $500 or more over the past three years, or six or more unpaid toll violations with at least one occurring after 16 January 2024, or failure to comply with a payment agreement.

The suspension track has strict mechanics. The Department must mail a Notice of Pending Registration Suspension within 15 days of receiving the request. You then have 45 calendar days to request a hearing in writing, and the request must include an affidavit, all disputed facts, your legal arguments, supporting documents, and a $50 nonrefundable filing fee. Miss the 45 days and a hearing officer issues a final decision directing suspension of all your registrations.

Two features of that hearing are unusual and worth planning around. You do not get to choose the format: the rules say the owner shall not have the right to elect a hearing on the papers or an in-person hearing, and the hearing officer decides. And paying before the hearing counts as admitting liability and waives the hearing, with no refund of the filing fee. So decide which you are doing before you pay anything.

The rules do list nine specific defences you can run at that hearing, including that you surrendered the plate before the violation date, that the vehicle or plate was reported stolen before the violation date, that the tag was read and the toll posted to your E-ZPass account, that you sold the vehicle before the violation date, that you did not own the vehicle at the time, that you hold a receipt for cash paid, that the vehicle was leased or rented and the lessor timely submitted the agreement, or that you have complied with a payment agreement. You must prove your case by clear and convincing evidence, and so must the tolling entity.

The final decision of the hearing officer is the Department's final agency decision. There is no further hearing before the Commission. The only route onward is judicial review in the New Jersey Appellate Division.

The amnesty programme has closed. It offered a 25 percent reduction on unpaid tolls and fees of $500 or more and ran for 180 days from 1 June 2025, ending at 11.59pm on 28 November 2025. Do not wait for it to return.

On scams, the Turnpike Authority stated in April 2025 that New Jersey E-ZPass does not send unsolicited text messages to collect payments. The one legitimate exception it names is Credit Collection Services, its collections vendor, where an account is already in collections. Be careful with lookalike domains: the official sites are ezpassnj.com, njta.gov and sjta.com.

Major Toll Roads and Authorities in New Jersey

• The New Jersey Turnpike and the Garden State Parkway, both run by the New Jersey Turnpike Authority. Its website is njta.gov, and njta.com now redirects there.
• The Atlantic City Expressway, run by the South Jersey Transportation Authority on 609-965-7200, or by dialling #ACE from a mobile. SJTA routes violation and toll bill disputes through ezpassnj.com and offers in-person E-ZPass service at the Farley Service Plaza.
• Toll bills are issued after 30 days or once $50 in tolls are recorded, whichever comes first, and are typically due 30 days from issue. SJTA publishes a $5 late fee and a $50 fee added to each individual overdue toll transaction, so the escalation is charged per transaction rather than per bill.
• Disputes for both authorities run through the shared NJ E-ZPass violation portal, where you enter the toll bill number and plate, select a dispute type and attach supporting documentation.

New Jersey Toll Authority Mailing Addresses

• New Jersey Turnpike Authority — New Jersey Turnpike Authority, P.O. Box 5042, Woodbridge, NJ 07095-5042
• Important: each entry is labeled by purpose (payment, contest/dispute, or violation). Send your dispute to the address shown for disputes, and always confirm against the exact address printed on your own notice, since agencies use different PO boxes for payments versus written disputes.

What to Put in Your New Jersey Dispute Letter

1. Work out which track you are on before writing. An Advisory and Payment Request from the Turnpike Authority is a different process, with different deadlines, from a Notice of Pending Registration Suspension from the Department of Transportation.
2. On the violation track, if the missed toll was genuinely accidental, ask expressly for treatment as an inadvertent toll violation under N.J.A.C. 19:9-9.2(b), which means you pay the toll and no administrative fee.
3. On the suspension track, do not pay first and argue later. Paying before the hearing is treated as an admission of liability and waives your hearing, and the $50 filing fee is not refunded.
4. If you are requesting that hearing, send everything at once, because the rules require the request to include an affidavit, all disputed material facts, your legal arguments, supporting documents, a verified mailing address and the $50 fee. An incomplete request wastes your 45 days.
5. Match your argument to one of the nine listed defences rather than writing a general complaint, because those are what the hearing officer is empowered to consider. Selling the vehicle before the violation date and surrendering the plate before the violation date are both on the list, which is not true in every state.
6. If the vehicle was rented or leased, the lessor has 60 days from receiving the notice to submit the rental agreement or lease with the lessee's name and address clearly legible. Ask the rental company in writing whether they have done so and on what date.
7. If the vehicle was stolen, the report must have been made to police before the violation or within two hours of you discovering the theft, and a copy of the police report must be mailed to the Authority.
8. Be aware that the standard of proof cuts both ways and it is a high one. You must prove your claim by clear and convincing evidence, so send documents rather than assertions.
9. Send it certified mail with return receipt, and check the domain before entering any details. The official sites are ezpassnj.com, njta.gov and sjta.com, and New Jersey E-ZPass does not send unsolicited texts asking for payment.

What to Expect After You File

Once your dispute is submitted, the toll authority reviews your evidence and the original toll image before responding — most decisions in New Jersey 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.

More New Jersey Toll Help

• What happens if you don't pay a toll in New Jersey
• The New Jersey toll dispute process, step by step

Frequently Asked Questions