PA Pay By Plate: Invoices, Payment Options, and Disputes

PA Pay By Plate, officially called Toll By Plate, is the Pennsylvania Turnpike’s cashless billing system for drivers who use the road without an E-ZPass transponder. Overhead cameras photograph your license plate at each toll point, and the Turnpike Commission mails an invoice to the registered vehicle owner about 40 days later.¹ One thing to know before the bill arrives: Toll By Plate rates are double what E-ZPass customers pay for the same trip.²

How the Invoice Reaches You

The entire Pennsylvania Turnpike is cashless. There are no booths and no attendants. High-speed cameras on overhead gantries capture your plate as you pass, and the Turnpike Commission matches the image to the registered owner through PennDOT or the equivalent agency in another state.

Roughly 40 days after your trip, an invoice goes to the registered owner listing each toll point, the date and time, and the total owed. If you know you drove the Turnpike but nothing has arrived, you can look up your charges on the Turnpike’s Toll By Plate portal using your plate information.¹

What You’ll Pay and How to Lower It

E-ZPass customers pay 50% less than Toll By Plate customers for the identical trip.² Full rate tables for both are posted on the Turnpike’s site.³

Two moves cut the cost without a transponder. Opening a free Toll By Plate account online and enrolling in AutoPay drops your rate by 15%.⁴ You can also convert a Toll By Plate account directly into a full E-ZPass account through the PA Toll Pay app or website, which gets you the lowest available rate on future trips.¹

How to Pay a Toll By Plate Invoice

The Turnpike Commission offers four ways to pay. Keep the confirmation until the charge clears.

Online through the PA Toll Pay portal. Enter your invoice number and plate details and pay by credit card or bank account.¹
Through the PA Toll Pay mobile app, which lets you scan your invoice, view the vehicle images from the toll point, and pay from your phone. The app is also where you open a Toll By Plate account and enroll in AutoPay for the 15% discount.⁴
By phone at 1-877-736-6727. Self-service options are available around the clock.⁵
By mail with a check or money order and the payment coupon from your invoice, sent to PA Turnpike Toll By Plate, PO Box 645631, Pittsburgh, PA 15264-5254. Write your plate number and invoice number on the check.¹

Opening a free account is worth doing even after an invoice arrives. It puts all your invoices in one place, enables AutoPay for the 15% savings, and switches you to email notifications instead of paper mail.¹

Disputing a Charge

If an invoice looks wrong, whether the plate image captured someone else’s vehicle or you were billed for a toll point you didn’t use, you can dispute the charge through your Toll By Plate account online or by submitting the Customer Contact Form on the Turnpike’s website and selecting “Toll by Plate” as the topic.⁵

You can also call 1-877-736-6727 Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Say “Customer Service” at the prompt, then choose option 3 for Toll By Plate.⁵ Don’t wait. The late-fee clock keeps running while a dispute is pending, so file before the due date.

Rental Cars on the Turnpike

A rental car adds a billing layer. Because the invoice goes to the registered owner, the rental company gets it and typically passes the toll along with a daily convenience fee, often around $5 to $10 per day and frequently capped near $35 per rental.⁶ The Turnpike Commission doesn’t control those add-on charges.

You can skip them by adding the rental to your own E-ZPass or Toll By Plate account before you drive. In the PA Toll Pay app or on the website, enter the rental’s plate number and the rental start and end dates. Tolls then bill directly to your account at your account’s rate, and the rental company never sees them.⁶ Remove the vehicle when the rental ends.

What Happens If You Don’t Pay

Ignoring an invoice triggers a predictable escalation, and the Commission has real enforcement tools.

Late Fees

If the initial invoice goes unpaid after 30 days, the Commission sends a past-due invoice with a late fee of $5 or 1.5% of the total owed, whichever is higher.¹ On a large balance from several trips in one cycle, the percentage figure will run past the flat $5.

Collections

Invoices still unresolved after about 60 days are transferred to a third-party collection agency with additional fees.⁷ Once the debt is with a collector, it can be reported to the credit bureaus and can stay on your credit report for up to seven years from the original delinquency date under federal law. The toll may be small; a collections tradeline drags your score like any other unpaid debt.

Registration Suspension

The most serious consequence is losing your vehicle registration. Under Pennsylvania law, PennDOT will suspend your registration if the Turnpike Commission notifies it that you have four or more unpaid invoices, or $250 or more in unpaid tolls and fees regardless of the number of invoices.⁸ A defaulted payment plan also triggers suspension.⁹

Before requesting a suspension, the Commission must send written notice by first-class mail and give you a chance to be heard in an administrative proceeding. You then have at least 30 days to respond before the Commission can notify PennDOT.⁸ That notice is your last realistic window to fix the balance before the registration goes.

Once a suspension takes effect, it stays in place until all unpaid tolls and fees are paid in full, or until you enter a payment plan with the Commission and pay PennDOT’s reinstatement fee. Stop making payments on the plan and the suspension comes back.⁸

Payment Plans

An account already in enforcement or collections may still qualify for a payment plan through the Turnpike Commission.¹⁰ A payment plan also satisfies the registration requirement. PennDOT will lift the suspension once the Commission confirms you’re in an installment agreement.⁸ Call 1-877-736-6727 to work one out before things escalate further.

1
PA Turnpike. Toll By Plate
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PA Turnpike. E-ZPass
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PA Turnpike. Toll Schedules
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PA Turnpike. PA Toll Pay App
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PA Turnpike. Help Center
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PA Turnpike. Rental Vehicles
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PA Turnpike. How the Pennsylvania Turnpike is Working to Collect Unpaid Tolls
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Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Code Title 75 Chapter 13 Section 1380
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Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Suspensions Due to Unpaid Tolls
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PA Turnpike. Toll Enforcement