State Guide

How to Dispute a Toll in Virginia

Navigating violations with E-ZPass Virginia (VDOT), Elizabeth River Crossings, Express Lanes, Dulles Toll Road, RMTA can be confusing. Follow this guide to fight your charge.

Generate a Virginia Dispute Letter

Disputing a Toll in Virginia

Virginia does not have one toll law, it has four parallel enforcement statutes plus a separate one for the Express Lanes, and which applies depends on the type of facility. It also has the single most valuable protection of any state we have researched: a hard cap on what a first court appearance can cost you, no matter how many unpaid tolls are on the summons.

Valid Reasons to Dispute a Toll in Virginia

• The license plate was misread by the camera system.
• You were not the registered owner of the vehicle on the violation date in Virginia.
• 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 — 60 days from receiving the invoice to file a notice to contest at all-electronic facilities (va. code § 46.2-819.3:1(c)). 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.

Virginia Toll Law and Your Rights

Four statutes run in parallel. Section 46.2-819 is the traffic prosecution route. Section 46.2-819.1 covers facilities that use photo monitoring alongside electronic or manual collection. Section 46.2-819.3 is the general enforcement provision. Section 46.2-819.3:1 covers all-electronic facilities with no cash option, which is where most modern disputes arise. Express Lanes are governed separately by section 33.2-503. Never cite section 46.2-819.7, which was repealed in 2016.

The cap is the most important provision for anyone facing a stack of unpaid tolls. Every one of those statutes contains the same sentence: for a first conviction, the total shall not exceed $2,200, including civil penalties and administrative fees, regardless of the total number of offences the owner is convicted of on that date. Two limits apply. It covers a first conviction only, and it covers penalties and fees rather than the underlying tolls and court costs. But it means dozens of unpaid tolls brought on one summons cannot produce an unbounded first bill.

Administrative fees are capped at $100 per violation and must be reasonably related to the actual cost of collecting the toll. If you pay within 60 days of notification the maximum drops to $25. Court-imposed civil penalties escalate at $50 for a first offence, $100 for a second within one year, $250 for a third within two years of the second, and $500 for a fourth or later within three years of the second offence. Note that last window runs from the second offence, not the third, which several legal websites get wrong.

There is a way to avoid court entirely that most drivers never hear about. The statutes allow the operator to make a reduced-penalty settlement offer of $25 for a first or second offence, or $50 for a third or later. If the full amount reaches the operator at least 14 days before the hearing date, the operator moves to dismiss and the court shall dismiss on that motion.

Filing the contest is what protects your registration. Under section 46.2-819.3:1(C) you have 60 days from receiving an invoice to file a notice to contest liability, and once you do, the operator may not seek to withhold your registration until a court has actually found you liable. Skip that step and the operator can go to the DMV administratively.

The invoice itself has to meet standards. Section 46.2-819.6 requires ten specific items including the payment date, the statutory defences available to you, and the procedures and time limits for contesting. Subsection B requires the operator to include a contest form with the mailing address on it. An invoice arriving without a contest form or without the defences listed does not comply with the statute.

E-ZPass account holders get a grace period that operators sometimes ignore. Section 46.2-819.8 says no account holder owes any penalties, fees or costs beyond the toll itself unless the operator has attempted to collect through the account system at least twice and at least 10 days have elapsed, with attempts required on the sixth and tenth days.

Before any summons can issue, the operator must clear two hurdles under all three enforcement sections: it must show an attempt to collect through debt collection not less than 30 days before issuing the summons, and 120 days must have elapsed since the unpaid toll. Any action must also be brought within two years of the offence.

Toll civil penalties are not convictions. The statutes say the penalty shall not be deemed a conviction as an operator, shall not be made part of the driving record, and shall not be used for insurance purposes. There is an important exception: the unauthorised-vehicle fines under section 33.2-503(4) and the HOV fines under section 33.2-501 do go on your driving record, so do not confuse the two.

The DMV consequence is refusal to renew a registration rather than a licence suspension, and the trigger differs by statute: two or more unpaid tolls under sections 46.2-819.1 and 46.2-819.3:1, but three or more under section 46.2-819.3. There is a $40 fee to remove the hold. The one harsher remedy is section 33.2-503(3)(d), which allows outright suspension of registrations for Express Lanes violations by a Virginia resident.

On scams, E-ZPass Virginia has published the most useful test in the country. It states that any text not from (844) 548-0707 or (844) 718-2368 is not from E-ZPass Virginia or the Virginia Toll Payment Processing Center. Pair that with the statute: a real invoice must arrive by first-class mail and must include a contest form, which no text message does.

Major Toll Roads and Authorities in Virginia

• VDOT facilities under E-ZPass Virginia, including the Coleman Bridge, I-64 Express, I-66 Inside the Beltway, Powhite Parkway and the RMTA Expressway System. Violation notices come from the VA Toll Violation Processing Center on 1-888-860-9361, and payment is due within 30 days of the issue date on the notice.
• Elizabeth River Crossings, operating the Downtown and Midtown Tunnels in Portsmouth and Norfolk. It publishes a firm deadline: a dispute must be submitted within 60 days of the statement's issue date. Phone 757-837-0840. Its pay-by-plate processing fee is $4.83 under the 2026 rates, not the $4.18 figure repeated on many third-party sites.
• Transurban Express Lanes on the 495, 95 and 395. Fees escalate steeply by how long you wait: $1.50 per trip within five days, $12.50 from six to 35 days, $25 from 45 to 74 days, and $100 at 90 days or more. Transurban also runs a First-Time Fee Assistance programme, so call 1-855-495-9777 and ask whether you qualify before paying.
• The Dulles Toll Road, run by MWAA, gives six days to pay a missed toll before invoicing, then adds a $12.50 service fee to the second notice.
• The Chesapeake Expressway publishes the clearest appeal process in the state, with a 30-day deadline from receipt and three named grounds, and it does not bill by plate at all.

Virginia Toll Authority Mailing Addresses

• Express Lanes (495, 95, 395) — Express Lanes, P.O. Box 23530, Alexandria, VA 22304
• Elizabeth River Crossings (Downtown and Midtown Tunnels) — 309 County Street, Portsmouth, VA 23704
• Chesapeake Expressway Violation Processing Center — 168 Toll Plaza Road, Chesapeake, VA 23322
• 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 Virginia Dispute Letter

1. Identify which statute governs your facility before writing, because the deadlines and the DMV triggers differ. All-electronic facilities fall under section 46.2-819.3:1, which is the one carrying the 60-day contest right.
2. File the notice to contest even if you also intend to negotiate. Under section 46.2-819.3:1(C) filing it stops the operator from seeking to withhold your registration until a court has found you liable, so it protects you while everything else plays out.
3. If you are facing many unpaid tolls at once, say clearly that you understand a first conviction is capped at $2,200 in civil penalties and administrative fees regardless of the number of offences, and ask for the figures to be reconciled against that cap.
4. Ask whether a reduced-penalty settlement offer is available at $25 or $50, and if it is, make sure the full payment reaches the operator at least 14 days before the hearing date, because that is what triggers the mandatory dismissal.
5. Check whether the invoice complied with section 46.2-819.6. If it arrived without a contest form, or without listing the statutory defences available to you, say so, because those are mandatory contents.
6. If you hold an E-ZPass account, cite section 46.2-819.8 and ask the operator to show that it attempted collection through the account system on the sixth and tenth days. Without at least two attempts and ten days elapsed, no fees or penalties are owed beyond the toll.
7. Ask the operator to demonstrate the two preconditions for any summons: a debt collection attempt not less than 30 days beforehand, and 120 days elapsed since the unpaid toll.
8. If someone else was driving, file an affidavit giving their legal name and address within 14 days of receiving the invoice, or at least 14 days before the hearing. The affidavit is prima facie evidence that the named person was operating the vehicle.
9. If the vehicle was stolen, attach a certified copy of the police report showing it was reported stolen before the offence. That produces a mandatory dismissal rather than a discretionary one.
10. If you sold the vehicle, be careful how you frame it. Virginia has no sold-vehicle defence in the statute, so provide the bill of sale and title transfer date and argue that you were not the registered owner on record, which rebuts the presumption rather than invoking a codified defence.
11. Send it certified mail with return receipt. And check the sender before trusting any text: E-ZPass Virginia says only (844) 548-0707 and (844) 718-2368 are legitimate.

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 Virginia 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 Virginia Toll Help

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

Frequently Asked Questions