A couple of days ago, while driving my daughter to school, I suddenly realized that the ETC device in my car had stopped working.
I did not notice anything on the way out. At Zhengzhou South Station, I went straight through the ETC lane as usual. But when I got off the expressway, the barrier would not lift. A staff member took my card and tried to scan it. It probably did not go through. He asked which station I had entered from, and I told him it was Zhengzhou South Station. After checking it manually, he raised the barrier and let me pass.
On the way back, the same thing happened again. The barrier still would not lift. I pulled the card out and put it back in, but there was no beeping sound anymore. That was when I realized the device itself was probably broken, so I had no choice but to use the manual lane.
This ETC was one I had applied for through Alipay back in 2019. At that time, there was no device fee, but I had signed an agreement saying it could not be canceled within three years. Now it is already 2025, so that restriction had long expired.
There happens to be an official Henan ETC service point right at the Zhengzhou South Station exit. I asked about replacing it, and the answer was clear: the old ETC had to be canceled first before I could apply for a new one. Fortunately, canceling it through Alipay was quite simple. It was fully canceled within three working days.
Why I wanted a local ETC this time
The ETC I originally got through Alipay was issued by Shandong Expressway. It worked fine in Henan for years, so in daily use there was no major problem. But after this experience, I started thinking more about after-sales service.
If the device breaks again, I would rather deal with a local service outlet directly than go back and forth by courier or try to contact an issuer in another province. A local ETC just feels more practical and less troublesome.
The reason I definitely still need ETC is simple: around Zhengzhou, there is a policy that allows ETC users to travel free on certain surrounding expressway sections. Since I make two round trips when picking up and dropping off my daughter, it saves more than 100 yuan in expressway tolls each week.
Today was Friday, and since I had to pick up my daughter anyway, I went to Zhengzhou South Station first to get the new ETC sorted out. After finishing the application, I got straight onto the expressway. Everything worked smoothly.
Choosing the new device
At the service point, the staff introduced the ETC devices currently available.
Cardless device with a switch
- Price: 299 yuan
- No card needs to be inserted
- Controlled by a switch, easier to use
- Can be placed freely in the car
- The fee can be waived by applying for two credit cards
Device with a card
- Price: 199 yuan
- Requires a card to be inserted
- Needs to be attached to the front windshield
- The fee can be waived by applying for one credit card
At first, I was not very willing to apply for more credit cards. Earlier this year, I had canceled almost all of mine and kept only one as a backup. For example, I used to have a Bank of Communications card with a limit of nearly 50,000 yuan, and I still canceled it.
The person handling the credit card application noticed my hesitation and explained that the credit cards could be canceled after six months. They would not be permanently tied to the ETC.
So I weighed the two options.
The card-based device was cheaper, but it was bulky and had to be stuck to the windshield. That did not feel very convenient. The cardless device required applying for one extra credit card, but the actual user experience would be better later.
In the end, I chose the cardless device. Applying for one more credit card was acceptable, and I could cancel it after six months.
A small credit card hiccup
There were also a couple of small surprises during the application process.
The Postal Savings Bank application had quite a few steps. The staff said the bank might call later to verify the information. But after waiting for a while, the card was approved directly, with a credit limit of 28,000 yuan. Even the staff seemed surprised.
The Shanghai Pudong Development Bank application, on the other hand, was rejected.
Because only one credit card was approved, the staff said I could only get the card-based ETC device. I did not agree with that. After all, I had cooperated with the process and applied as requested. If the second card did not get approved, that was not exactly my fault.
After some back and forth, they let me pay an additional 30 yuan and switched it to the cardless device.
Other car owners at the service point
While I was there, I also met several other car owners who had come in because their ETC devices had failed. Their situations were much more troublesome than mine.
Many of them had not applied through official channels. Instead, they had used so-called agencies or informal application points. Some devices were issued by expressway companies from other provinces, such as Hebei or Beijing.
Once those devices broke, repairs or cancellation had to be handled by the original issuer. But in reality, many of those agency points could no longer be found, and the local service outlets would not handle out-of-province devices.
So these car owners were stuck. The old ETC could not be unbound, and without canceling it, they could not apply for a new one either.
A few lessons from this experience
After going through this, I took away a few practical lessons.
First, if an ETC device breaks, it does not automatically get removed from the system. You have to cancel the old one before you can apply for a new ETC.
Second, it is better to choose an ETC issued locally if possible. Maintenance, after-sales service, and cancellation are all much easier. At least you will not end up trying to solve a problem across provinces with no clear place to go.
Third, the application channel matters. Official service outlets, Alipay, WeChat, and other formal channels are relatively reliable. It is not worth using some unknown agency just to save a little money. Once something goes wrong, no one may take responsibility.
Fourth, the device fee and credit card promotion should be calculated carefully. Applying for a credit card can waive the device fee, and the card can be canceled after six months. Compared with paying 299 yuan directly for the device, this option was more cost-effective for me.
This broken ETC did not cause a huge problem, but it did make me spend extra time dealing with something that should have been simple. It also reminded me that some things may seem unimportant when they are working normally, but once they fail, the value of a proper channel becomes obvious.
Small discounts are fine, but not every bargain is worth taking. For something like ETC, which is tied to both your vehicle and payments, it is safer to use a formal channel from the beginning.