How to Successfully Shuffle eTags

Maybe two or three times a year I might drive down to Melbourne to see friends and family and I have a mental cue to swap over my eTags when I cross the border. I have done this in order to avoid the surcharges for using an interstate eTag but I am unsure as to whether or not this surcharge still applies. Either way, it doesn’t cost me any more to have one eTag for each state so I have persisted with my arrangement.

However, you just can’t leave numerous eTags laying around in your car even if they are out of sight as they can still be scanned by the overheard gantries at toll points. While the toll road operators recommend that you do have eTags affixed to the windshield to avoid scanning issues the radio waves can still penetrate the glovebox and the centre console.

So, what’s the solution?

It’s quite a simple one – grab some aluminium foil and wrap up your unused eTag so that it is completely covered. The foil will quite easily deflect the radio waves from the overheard gantries and prevent you from being charged twice for the one trip (once for the mounted eTag and once for the other eTag). Just make sure there aren’t any gaps when you wrap up your eTag and you should be set!

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