[Selective]

Sharing my experience here which I posted on other thread early this month:

Originally Posted by Selective

Sharing my early experience with IDFC FASTag:


I have two cars, one in Bangalore and one in my hometown. Recently I opened IDFC savings account and I am really impressed with their agility and app experience.

I had Paytm FASTags for both my cars. With the PayTM fiasco, IDFC is trying to grab the opportunity. They have launched a separate app for FASTag, it’s called FirstForward where you have dashboard, pool account if you have multiple cars, raise dispute etc. Apart from these, they have add on services (trip insurance, fuel payments using the tag etc). I believe they are being smart and creative here.

So, I opted for IDFC FASTags for both my cars, enabled the pool account. Toll for both the cars is paid through the pool account. So far (though it’s very short time) everything seems to be working well. The app is glitch free and works seamlessly. I have not explored the auto recharge yet. Once I gain some more confidence, I will try auto recharge as well.

For me, when I had to make the decision, separate app where you have full control was the biggest factor to opt for IDFC FASTag.

One can download the app to explore all the features before you place the order for the FASTag, which you can do from the app itself.

Hope this helps for the people who are still trying to switch over from PayTM.

[TheGodfather]

Even I am using IDFC First Bank FASTag since January 2024 and the experience has so far been seamless. The recharges are instantaneous and there has not been any instance of problems in identification of the tag at any toll plazas.

Only the messages for deduction comes with a delay but the app gets updated as soon as the deduction takes place. The app is also good enough to live with and has all the required details available.

I got it close to a roll plaza and the process was easy with OTP based aadhar seeding for KYC. The app 'Fast Forward' works independently without any mandatory linking to savings account.

[Rohitthebest]

Originally Posted by sharanvenu

So after using FASTags from 4 different providers, I have now managed to find the one that ticks all my requirement boxes. I have now brought all the cars in the household under one account which is managed by a single pool account with IDFC FASTag.

Exactly my thoughts after using IDFC Fasting for one week.
My PayTM Fasting expired on my way back from Indore to Pune last Sunday Although I finished the balance rather did a negative balance of 220/- before switching to IDFC Fasttag near Nashik toll. IDFC dude was super Kool and fast too, he activated the card in no time, gave me a quick demo of app, let me upload the balance right on the highway which reflected in seconds.
The best part is that he told me to not to stick the tag on windshield and keep it in the Dashboard and to my amazement and shock it works.
I also saw an option of adding another vehicle too in my App and after reading your post now I am clear how it works. It is indeed a fantastic idea to keep al the tags in one app and maintain sufficient balance to keep them all going that ways Wifey will never have to worry about balances while going out or even parking at places which now charge with Fasttags these days.

IDFC Rocks!!

[drsnt]

I have HDFC fastag since begning. It is a pooled account; all four family cars are under one account: my wife's, my father's and mine. I have faced only one issue. They deactivated my account without any information due to KYC. I reactivated it the next day and it's been running fine till now.

[tud]

Originally Posted by buntee90

They have awesome customer service as well. Just send an email opting out of fastag Max and they will credit 300Rs back to fastag balance.

That is awesome! If you have been able to get that refunded, can you please attach screenshot of your email and IDFC's response agreeing to refund. This will help a lot of people who are on the fence because of this useless addition by IDFC to opt for it now.

Also since this is not claimed anywhere by IDFC (offering to refund the Fastag Max charges) it will help everyone to see that this is actually possible and opt for it.

[sumazure]

Originally Posted by theexperthand

ICICI also gives a similar service. I have three cars under ICICI but under two customer IDs. You can link a maximum of five customer IDs and can have multiple tags under each ID.

Thanks for sharing these in detail.

If others also share the key features and the usage experience it would be a good way to decide on the provider.

[Zen Av8r]

I have been using IDFC FASTag ever since 2018 on all four of my cars. I was also using the pool account with Max on two of my cars. Everything was fine till Nov 2023, when on a drive to Goa, the FASTag on three of my cars were blacklisted automatically even though the pool account had over Rs 2000 in it. This happened once earlier in Oct 2023 also but was resolved in an hour.

The situation was that the IDFC app showed all four tags active while the NHAI app showed three tags blacklisted. This included the car I was driving. The IDFC customer care asked me to get in touch with NHAI as their systems showed the tags as active. The NHAI customer care said that the bank needs to resolve the issue as the tags were blacklisted due low balance. After seeing the app on my phone showing the balance in the account as well after checking with a IDFC FASTag agent through his app, the toll agent let me pass with a manual ticket. I had to do the entire trip between Mangalore and Goa in this fashion keeping all the tickets with me since all the toll agents were seeing my car show up as low balance blacklisted. The trip being on week end also didn't help the cause.

It took more than a week for IDFC to resolve the issue. Ever since, I have shifted over to recharging individual tags and am afraid to go back to the pool account.

[sharanvenu]

Originally Posted by Zen Av8r

Ever since, I have shifted over to recharging individual tags and am afraid to go back to the pool account.

This is good information. Will keep on the lookout for this.

[Sisu]

I was using Paytm Fastag for 5 of my cars but have recently switched to Kotak Fastag as I have been banking with them since 2010. I was seamlessly able to add all 5 cars to my single CRN and the fastags were delivered within 48 hrs.

Also, they have the facility of common deduction wallet for all 5 Fastags so I don’t have to worry about recharging individual Fastags.

In addition, they have an auto top-up feature which is going to give me seanless experience similar to PayTM.

All Fastag features can be managed from the existing Kotak Mobile banking app as they have a separate section for Fastags within the app.

Overall, a great experience with Kotak on the Fastag service and I would encourage everyone to go for Kotak Fastags, specially if they have an account with Kotak Bank.

[jalsa777]

Originally Posted by theexperthand

Two cars under one ID. You can recharge individual tags, charge the Customer ID, or even transfer the amount between tags under the same customer ID.

Does it dynamically deduct money from the pooled balance every time any Fastag is used?

Or does it maintain a balance in each fast tag account, and then deducts a fixed amount of money from the pooled account when an individual Fastag balance is low?


Does it allow auto recharge of wallet from any Bank account (non-ICICI)?
Some banks seem to have restrictions for auto-recharge from other bank accounts.

-------------------------

The main thing that I loved about PayTM was that it would dynamically pull money from the wallet for each Fastag transaction. This would ensure that no extra money is blocked in individual Fastag accounts. This is the feature I'm looking for.

This clearly shows how banks and other institutions don't have customer centric philosophies and have more of a cross-selling mentality (IDFC premium plan, BoB not allowing auto-recharge from other banks, etc.). This is how customer centric thinking at start-ups allowed them to get a foothold in the market.

[buntee90]

Originally Posted by tud

That is awesome! If you have been able to get that refunded, can you please attach screenshot of your email and IDFC's response agreeing to refund. This will help a lot of people who are on the fence because of this useless addition by IDFC to opt for it now.

My friend sent this email out of frustration and to his surprise IDFC removed the max subscription and credited the 300 rs to the tag balance

[SideView]

Originally Posted by theexperthand

ICICI also gives a similar service. I have three cars under ICICI but under two customer IDs. You can link a maximum of five customer IDs and can have multiple tags under each ID.


--Anoop

Hey Anup you forgot to blur out customer id in your first pic (background)

Work with teambhp mods and sort it out.

Mods: please delete my post after!

[varkey]

Originally Posted by tud

That is awesome! If you have been able to get that refunded, can you please attach screenshot of your email and IDFC's response agreeing to refund. This will help a lot of people who are on the fence because of this useless addition by IDFC to opt for it now.

So I did the same after seeing it mentioned here and got the amount credited to my tag account.

I purchased the first tag with Max for Rs 550 on March 23rd night. It was validated and issued almost immediately (within 30 minutes). I was then able to login to the First Forward portal, and it gave the option to order a second tag for my other car, but this time the Max addon was not added, and I had to pay Rs 300 (100 for tag + 200 as deposit).
For the first tag the breakup was 100 for tag + 150 as wallet balance + 300 for Max (no security deposit).

On Sunday, I emailed them saying I'd like to cancel the Max service for the first tag saying it is not beneficial for me (I also have an EV, so PUC reimbursement & Fuel delivery doesn't really help me). Today I got an email saying they have credited the Rs 300 to the wallet. So for this tag, I had to pay only Rs 100 as the remaining Rs 450 is now available as wallet balance.

Coming to the delivery of tags, both tags were dispatched the next working day ie Monday and delivered yesterday ie Tuesday. They had also wrapped the tag in silver foil, I guess to avoid any tag debits while in transit as they ship it in an Activated state.

I also activated the pool account, where the individual tag balance would be zero, and I just need to recharge the pool account.
I'm having some trouble with activating auto recharge, so I have a ticket open with them.

[condor]

Originally Posted by theexperthand

ICICI also gives a similar service. I have three cars under ICICI but under two customer IDs. You can link a maximum of five customer IDs and can have multiple tags under each ID.

Anoop, would you know if I can get a tag for a car that is in her name, added to my CUG account ? ( I have two cars in my name which are in the CUG account).

I would prefer to not having switch customer id's - basically, one login and do all the work

[theexperthand]

Sorry for the late reply, guys.

Originally Posted by jalsa777

Does it dynamically deduct money from the pooled balance every time any Fastag is used?

Or does it maintain a balance in each fast tag account, and then deducts a fixed amount of money from the pooled account when an individual Fastag balance is low?


Does it allow auto recharge of wallet from any Bank account (non-ICICI)?
Some banks seem to have restrictions for auto-recharge from other bank accounts.

I have not used the pool balance - I usually recharge individual tag accounts.
You can recharge from any Bank account and can recharge using UPI (directly from gPay) too.

Originally Posted by SideView

Hey Anup you forgot to blur out customer id in your first pic (background)

Work with teambhp mods and sort it out.

Mods: please delete my post after!

Thank you and thank you Adithya for fixing it

Originally Posted by condor

Anoop, would you know if I can get a tag for a car that is in her name, added to my CUG account ? ( I have two cars in my name which are in the CUG account).

I would prefer to not having switch customer id's - basically, one login and do all the work

Yes, you can add a car that does not belong to your name to the same CUG account.

My CUG has one car which is in my name and another car which is in my MIL's name.

--Anoop