USA-EZpass transponder solution

Just a quick bit of info for others having trouble with FastLane and EZ Pass transponders (mid Atlantic and NorthEast). Basically, I could not get the transponder to read correctly even tho I held it within the designated tint cutout area to the left of the rearview mirror...

As an aside, I am not running a front license plate, so a front license plate transponder is not an option for me.

Anyway, this was posted on the evoqueforums, but I wanted to repeat it here because it works well (for anyone stuck in this situation). You can order a license plate mounted transponder and then mount it on the inside of the front grill. Turns out, the mounting holes for the transponder are the EXACT same distance apart as the screws that hold the front grill to the bumper of the car. So you can remove the front grill, then either use longer screws or (I used) black zipties to secure the transponder to the inside of the grill and the bumper, and then put the remaining screws into place. Voila. Completely invisible mounted transponder that works well.

Thanks for the tip.

Great tip! Do you happen to have any pictures of the installation?

You can actually do one better. Like others, I traded in my internal transponder for one of the external (license plate) ones. And while I do have a front plate (thank you MA regulations!), I didn't want a big "wart" on it. I'd seen others mount the external transponder between the horizontal bars of the front grill, but I've found an even more stealth mounting point. See the attached pictures. When I removed the front grill (carefully), I noticed a plastic "shelf" just below the opening of the grill. I mounted my transponder there with black duct tape until I could verify the tollbooths would detect it. Voila! They did. So looking at it from the front, you can only see a hint of the top of the transponder sneaking up behind the grill and that's if you're looking for it. I apologize for the dirty vehicle and bad photos, but here they are...

       

As promised here is a better picture. Again, sorry for the dirty vehicle. My bad. But as you can see in the picture, the transponder is not visible at all from the front of the vehicle from the "hiding spot" I discovered.