Illinois Tollway has greatly diminished any further Naked Hippies roadtrips to the state.
As you know, we are full-time RVers who spend our lives traveling across the U.S., taking in the incredible scenes of Nature offered in this beautiful country … to the tune of 18 states and 21,000 miles in 2014 alone.
Most states have understood that with the advent of debit cards, travelers don’t always carry cash and thus, have adapted and updated their systems to make use of technology to make things simpler for tourists.
All you have to do is go to their website, enter your license plate number, see the tolls owed, enter your card number … paid … done … simple.
Welcome to the state of Illinois … that touts”mile after magnificent mile” in its tourism promotions.
Be aware … driving mile after mile in Illinois could end up costing you hundreds, thousands … could end up bankrupting you … and even get your license and registration revoked!
Recently, while traveling through Illinois, as we followed ‘Siri” our GPS, we saw the signs that informed us we could easily pay the tolls online within 3 days.
No worries, we’ve done this many times before. We were scheduled to leave the state before the first tolls were due, so we naturally thought that when we were finished with our roadtrip, we would log-on to the website and pay all of the tolls in one simple transaction.
WRONG!
Upon arriving at the Illinois Tollway website, we were greeted with this message:
IMPORTANT: There is no capability to search for your unpaid tolls by entering your license plate. You are responsible for reporting each toll you did not pay. You must continue by following the instructions to enter the unpaid toll information in order to avoid violations.
After three days of wandering around the state of Illinois, we were supposed to tell THEM every time we entered and exited a toll road.
Perhaps in days gone by, when you had to map out your trips, that might have been possible … difficult, but possible. But today, when navigating by listening to a computerized voice telling you when and where to turn, it becomes completely impossible.
After multiple attempts at using the Illinois Tollway website, calling the customer service line and reaching only recordings that told us the same thing…“we are not going to tell you what you owe,” we simply gave up, seeing no other alternative.
We FINALLY received a bill in the mail and were informed that our exact tolls had been $7.97, but because of fines – we now owed $87.97.
Funny how they couldn’t tell us how much we owed at the time, but they sure as heck can once the fines have been added.
It’s is a common occurrence.
“Total Amount Due or this or that other threat: $62.60!
$62.60 for $2.80 tolls!
CAN YOU SAY HIGHWAY ROBBERY?
I wasn’t out to rip off the Illinois Tollway but it appears this “road rage” – this outrageous and exorbitant fine – is meant to take advantage of drivers unfamiliar with Illinois road ways. It appears the Illinois Tollway have worded the bill to completely cover themselves and offers no understanding or compromise.” [Source]
Read Kim’s unbelievable story here of being charged $2,300 for toll violations which prompted a reader to share her nightmare below:
$12,000 Fine – Pay it our lose your license!
There was also a phone number included with our letter to actually contact a live person at Illinois Tollways. This live person informed us that even if we had been able to contact a live person at the time, it wouldn’t have mattered – since they are not allowed to tell you how much is owed.
She also informed us that we now owed $287.97 plus the threat of having our drivers license and registration for our vehicle revoked if not paid.
This “we’re not going to tell you what you owe, but if you don’t pay the amount (that we’re not going to tell you) you will be royally screwed” sounds very much premeditated and with malicious forethought.
The State of Illinois is willfully and intentionally scamming tourists.
We’re fighting this with every means we can. If you are outraged at yet another story of the government digging its claws into every thing that you do … then share this blog post.
The best defense against usurpatory government is an assertive citizenry. – William F. Buckley, Jr.
If tourists just avoid Illinois in order to keep from getting ripped off like this, how much money will the state lose from sales tax and hospitality taxes from the restaurants, motels, and other tourist venues?
Because the only way the world can ever truly be a better place is if the people who make it a worse place no longer have the means to do so. – Simon Black
Stay tuned. This isn’t over for us. We’ll keep you updated on what happens next. But this you can be sure of … we won’t be traveling through Illinois.
Trisha
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P.S. It’s not just the Illinois Tollway system that is screwing us and many many others … it’s happening everywhere. Can you fight back? You bet! Download this free ebook “How the Middle Class Got Screwed” to get a clearer picture of who, what, when, where and why you’re being screwed … and most of all, how you can fight back.
