This info is FYI. I found out about this once I got the bill in the mail of recent. I know that Houston and Austin have some toll roads also, so maybe this will apply to people in those areas as well.

Recently, I pulled my boat on the 121 toll road (in the Dallas area). I got an invoice in the mail a month later for the 3 toll check points that I passed through. I do have a toll tag and was wondering why I was charged. After calling them, they told me that since the boat trailer wasn't registered, they will charge the toll for the boat to the vehicle that was pulling. So I then called back to get to the person that I needed to register my boat plates so that I'm not paying twice every time I go through the tolls.

Now check this out. Every time I go through the toll it cost (I think) $0.70. If I register my boat, that boat will always be "attached" to my truck if I'm in transit with it or not according to the system. So even when I'm not pulling the boat I'm going to be charged as if I were.

I pay $0.70 now. But with the 2 axle boat trailer, I would be paying $2.10 at EACH toll. (2 axles on the truck & 2 axles on the boat = $2.10 every toll booth). Did I mention every time if you�re pulling or not?

Anyhow, I didn't realize that it worked like this. So a heads up to you all who live around a toll road. It's not worth registering your boat plates. I use the toll roads everyday to get from home to my job. If I were to register my boat plates, that would be a serious increase in monthly fees to go from $.70 to $2.10 at every toll if I'm with my boat or not.

Thanks for the info--Sounds like something is wrong with the "system"!
Good fishin'

That's just wrong! So let me get this straight, if you don't register your boat/trailer, do they just send you a bill of 2.10 for each transgression?

It's my understanding that your boat would be billed for a 1 axle vehicle. And that fee would be on top of the fee that you already paid with your toll tag.

The Harris County Tollroad Authority sent me a letter for tolls plus penalties for towing the boat through the ez tag lane. So, I called and wanted to register the boat for my toll tag and got the same story that they couldn't be selective on when I was charged with a trailer and without a trailer and to just simply use the attendant lanes when I was pulling the boat to pay the extra fee for the added axle.

So, that's what I did the next time through. Here is the catch though, all of the attendant lanes also have an ez tag receiver for the lanes so that you can use them with your ez tag if there is a traffic snafu in the normal lanes. I got to the attendant and she wanted to charge me for my truck and boat combined. I told her to look at the green light to confirm that my truck had already been charged for the toll via the ez tag and that she only needed to charge me for the extra axle. Then she says, "there isn't a button for that, if you have an ez tag why are you over here?" To which I told her that I had received a letter and it stated that I needed to use the pay lane when pulling a boat so, here I am. Her response, "that's the stupidest thing I have ever heard of, we don't have the ability to charge for a single axle only without paying for a tow vehicle. Sorry, just go on."

I then called the office and told them the story and they said, oh, didn't think about that hold on and let me get my manager on the phone with us. They did and she proceeded to tell her about you know how you told us to crackdown on people pulling trailers w/ ez tags last month and to sent out all those violation letters? To which she responed yes. Well, I have a gentleman on the phone that tried to do as we suggested and pay at the attendant lanes and there isn't a "button" to charge folks if they have an ez tag that registers for the tow vehicle for the extra axle of the trailer."

She said uhoh....Ok, don't worry about the trailers anymore.

That was it, I went back to using the ez tag lanes and haven't gotten a letter of bill for the trailer since and this happened last year. ??? don't know if they made a notation on my account or if that goes for everyone?

When I pull my boat through the reader messes up and tags it as a run through. You are allowed three of these before it sends out a letter from Austin. Carry the paperwork to the toll booth and they will discharge it. Have everytime for me.

Recently, I noticed HCTRA was charging my account for the trailer, only when I am pulling the trailer. I thought they got smart about it.

I got the same answer for years about my ez tag and trailer. I tried to pay but they could not handle it. I was told multiple times to just use the ez tag lane.

It's a nation wide thing. In California they have fast trac system with the same problem. The trucking company I worked for noticed when we drove a semi truck set up for fast trac it was for five axles. If you drove through with no trailer you still got charged for five axles. But the confusing thing was if someone was tailgating you without fast trac you got charged for their axles too. Seven plus axles?!? If you called cal trans they would credit you for the tailgater six months later but never for your missing axles.

The last several times I pulled my boat on the Dallas North Tollway and on GWB, I just went through the TollTag lanes and didn't worry about it. I checked my account online later and it only charged me the regular 2-axle car amount and didn't register the trailer at all.

I wondered if I was going to get bills and have to call the tolltag office every time I pulled the boat through a tollbooth, but so far no letters.

These people are supposed to be familiar with transportation. I can't believe someone didn't realize that a vehicle might sometimes pull a trailer and sometimes not.

I can tell you I've pulled my travel trailer about 100 times or more and my boat just the same through the EZ tag lanes on harris county toll roads..never had a problem, no letter and I surely didn't register my trailer to my truck with them.

We have a seperate toll tag for our boat trailer (3 axle) we just keep it in the truck and have never had an issue.

Same thing happened to me, but they wanted to charge me $25 eacah for 8 tolls. after talking wtih them the waved the fine and I got a new tag just for when I am towing the boat. Now I have two tags.

I checked with the NTTA and they told me I could get a separate toll tag for my boat, so I would have one for the truck and another for the boat. You gotta love the system

This is why I live in the woods.

Wished I could go back to the country. Too bad that I choose a profession that forces me to live in the big concrete city.