Verra Mobility and Rent A Car have achieved a European first by joining forces to offer car rental customers in France a contactless payment option on board its fleet. This enables renters to pay toll fees automatically and safely without contact or stopping the vehicle, and therefore permits use the free-flow Liber-T lanes on French highways.

An electronic toll collection (ETC) payment box, designed by Verra Mobility, can now be fixed to the windshield of rental cars to allow access the reserved Liber-T payment gates at the tolls of 9,100 km (5,600 miles) of French highways, without queuing at conventional barriers. The cost will then be automatically debited from the same credit card used to secure their rental contract.

The system known as Easy Péage will be tested at approximately 50 locations in the Rent A Car network throughout France. The objective is to globally deploy this service as an option to Rent A Car customers for any rental, by the end of 2020.

“The culture of innovation has always been part of the history of Rent A Car, with a research and development entity integrated into the company and focused on the perpetual evolution of the rental business,” says Anne-Catherine Péchinot, MD of Rent A Car. “We are very attentive to our partners such as Verra Mobility, that can help us accelerate the digital transformation of our activity. As such, we are delighted to have concluded this partnership with Verra Mobility which will make Rent A Car the only European rental company to offer an ETC payment solution for tolls, on board its fleet of vehicles.”

“We are excited to launch this service in Europe and appreciate the opportunity to work with Rent A Car to bring this service to their customers,” adds David Roberts, CEO of Verra Mobility. “In the United States each year millions of vehicle renters enjoy the convenience and benefits from toll payment without cash or credit card. We now look forward to bringing this technology to not only other countries in the EU, but ultimately to countries with toll roads all around the world.”