Curbing Collections: License plate mix up leads to hundreds of dollars in toll bills

CAÑON CITY, Colorado (KRDO) - A southern Colorado woman is facing collections for hundreds of dollars in toll bills that aren't hers. It's all over a license plate mix up.

She contacted KRDO13 Investigates for help after getting the runaround from state officials. Bills are stacking up, and the total keeps increasing.

"Well the bills are multiplying by the month," says Dawn Schmittel.

She owes more than $200 dollars in toll bills.

"The toll bill went from $7.10 to $57.10," says Schmittel.

Several bills are in collections, and the trouble all comes down to one zero.

"I don't know how to fix it," says Schmittel.

Cañon City is home to Dawn Schmittel. But lately, she's spending more time than she'd like trying to resolve this license plate mix-up.

"I make calls twice a week and I go to the county office or call the Division of Motor Vehicles and that's a half-hour hold every time you call in," says Schmittel.

For the last four months, she's been billed for tolls she didn't drive through.

"According to all this, I think it was May 31st was the first time a vehicle crossed a toll bridge," says Schmittel.

Schmittel's 2007 Vespa with a registered Colorado motorcycle plate has been sitting in her driveway and hasn't been on the road. You can clearly see in one of the toll bills a picture of a dark vehicle with Colorado license plate number DNI-O72, with the letter 'O'.

"Well this is easy to identify that this is not my vehicle," says Schmittel.

Schmittel's Vespa is DNI-072. That 'O' and zero is creating quite the problem.

"Let's see," says Schmittel. "Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania we have Maryland. This guy went on quite the road trip."

Bills show that this other vehicle drove all over the country this summer.

Schmittel has been sent toll bills from Colorado, Oklahoma, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, and Massachusetts.

"That Vespa out there would not have made it on this ride," says Schmittel.

So far the only state willing to resolve the error is Virginia. Schmittel says there's been a lot of back and forth with the other states' tolls. Some tell her she needs proof in writing from Colorado that the plate isn't registered to her.

"I have appealed all of them, that takes a lot of time to do all this work," says Schmittel. "Like I document or try to document who I talked to and the date and time I talked to them. What they said and then they'll say just disregard the notice and then two weeks later I get a collection bill." 

Schmittel reached out to the Fremont County Motor Vehicle Office. Officials there told her it would be 6-8 weeks before the state could issue a proof of registration letter. But late fees continue to pile up.

"I am hoping this resolves something because I don't think these collection companies are going to wait another 6-8 weeks for their money," says Scmittel. "I think they are probably going to get it onto my credit report and then I have to spend time disputing that."

After KRDO13 Investigates got involved, the Department of Motor Vehicles is now replacing her Vespa license plate free of charge. And have agreed to provide Schmittel with an official letter confirming her plate has been replaced due to the confusion.

Now it remains to be seen if this will help clear up the issue, but hopefully, it's a step in the right direction.

"It's just a simple little mistake that could happen to anybody," says Schmittel. "It just happened to be me this time."

If you have an issue that you need help with, email our team right now at 13investigates@krdo.com.