My Experience with FasTrak

It wasn’t good. Incompetence borderline fraud?

  1. Around Dec. 18 someone drove through a FasTrak toll lane on the Dumbarton Bridge and didn’t have a FasTrak tag. An automated system took a picture of the front grill and license plate of the vehicle.
  2. The license plate in the picture looked similar to mine. A human or a computer decided it was mine and mailed me a bill for $27.50 (the toll plus a fine).
  3. The bill included a picture of the vehicle and license plate. The vehicle was clearly not mine. I drive an Acura Integra and the pictured vehicle was a Ford or Chevy truck or SUV. The license plate was not clear enough to be read with 100% accuracy.
  4. I checked the box “I believe I should not pay this fine” and wrote an explanation along the lines of “this wasn’t me, my car or my plate; the pictured vehicle is not an Acura Integra, I checked my car and I still have both plates.”
  5. I got a reply along the lines of “we reviewed your request and have determined that you are still responsible for the fine. If you wish to appeal this decision, you must pay the amount and complete the attached form.” WTF? Any idiot with half a brain could tell this wasn’t my car. I expected them to look at the picture and say, “ah, yeah, our mistake,” then look up the license plate again, this time changing the “4” to a “1,” and find a Ford or Chevy truck or SUV in the vehicle database. But nope. It kinda seems like they didn’t review anything. It kinda seems like they were hoping I’d give up and pay the fine.
  6. So I mailed them my money and checked the box for “I want to be present when you review this.”
  7. Yesterday I got a check in the mail for $27.50 and a letter that says, “We have received your payment for the above referenced violation. Your payment was more than the required amount. Enclosed please find a refund check for $27.50 for overpayment of the violation. No further action is required by you.” I guess they finally bothered to review it, and then refund my money in possibly the rudest way possible. Also worth noting that they haven’t cashed my check yet.
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