Weigh Station Bypass: PrePass vs Drivewyze Costs

Written by the Logity Dispatch team for owner-operators and small fleets. Every price, rule and restriction below was read on the vendor’s or the government’s own page on 28 September 2026: the PrePass website, its FAQ and its Supplemental Terms; the Drivewyze PreClear FAQ, its bypass restrictions page, its pull-in reasons guide and its Weigh Station Bypass 101 guide; and 23 U.S.C. 127 as published by the Legal Information Institute. Where a vendor does not publish a number, we say so instead of guessing one.

How does weigh station bypass actually work?

A bypass service is a pre-screening step. Before you reach an open inspection site, the system identifies your truck, looks up your carrier, and sends you one instruction: bypass or pull in. Drivewyze describes the checks in plain terms in its PreClear FAQ: each state has a pull-in requirement based on “your vehicle’s valid registration, your carrier’s safety score, vehicle weight, IFTA and other licensing requirements as well as a random pull-in” rule. PrePass describes its eligibility the same way: carriers “that comply with safety, weight, and credentials requirements” can bypass at highway speed.

There are two ways the truck is identified, and they matter more than the brand name.

1. Transponder (RFID). A small device on the windshield is read by a reader on a pole in the right lane. Drivewyze’s bypass guide puts that pole “about a mile before the weigh station”. The transponder lights green for bypass or red for pull in. PrePass sells this; PreClear does not use a transponder.
2. Software (cellular). An app on a phone, tablet or ELD uses location and a data connection instead of a pole. Drivewyze says PreClear alerts you at 2 miles and again at 1 mile, reads your USDOT number without you slowing down, and gives the bypass or pull-in instruction inside the last mile. It requires “a constant cellular-data connection” on approach. PrePass also runs an app that works this way, and it can work alongside a PrePass transponder.

Weight is checked too. According to Drivewyze’s guide, the truck crosses a weigh-in-motion scale in the road “about a half mile away”, which registers its weight and flags it if it is overweight. That reading feeds the same decision.

What does PrePass cost, and what is published?

Start with what PrePass does say. Its transponder FAQ says transponders come “with no upfront cost”, that “you may have a nominal monthly tag fee added to your invoice” depending on the service you pick, and that a damaged or lost transponder can carry “a replacement fee of up to $100”. Another FAQ says a current customer’s subscription covers bypass, with the app and the transponder both included, and a third says there is no additional charge for adding the app.

What PrePass does not print is the monthly bypass price itself. Its Supplemental Terms list the “Monthly Alliance Device Service Charge” as “Customer will be advised of amount; amount subject to change”, and state that the monthly service fees are disclosed when the customer creates the user account. We did not find a public pricing page on prepass.com; the address we tried returned a 404. So we are not going to print a number for it. Ask for the monthly figure in writing before you sign up, and keep that email.

The same terms do publish the fees around the edges, and these are the ones an owner-operator actually trips over:

PrePass fee (Supplemental Terms)	Amount
Lost, stolen or damaged device	$100 per device
Device not returned within 30 days of non-assignment	$100 per device
Device not returned within 30 days of cancellation or termination	$100 per device
Device refurbishment	$20 per device
Device reactivation (including a third-party transponder)	$25 per device
Returned ACH payment	$25 per returned payment
Late fee (fees unpaid more than 21 days)	Greater of $10 or 1% of unpaid fees per month
Refund requested for a customer-related error	$10 per refund
Check not mailed to the lockbox address	$5 per check
Invoice redelivery	$2 per invoice
Toll violation processing, for vehicles or plates not enrolled	$5 per transaction

Three contract terms deserve a second read. First, the monthly fees renew automatically, and to avoid the next month’s charge you must cancel “on or before the tenth (10th) calendar day before the end of the then-current calendar month”; there is no refund for the rest of the month you cancel in. Second, PrePass promises no less than 30 days’ written notice, by email, before it changes the monthly fees. Third, the transponder is PrePass property. If you leave, it has to go back within 30 days or the $100 device fee applies, and the terms tell you to insure each returned device for $100 with delivery confirmation.

If you add tolling, the terms also require a “Payment Guarantee Amount” set from your estimated tolling, your charges and your credit history, which may be a bond, letter of credit or cash deposit. That is money tied up before the first toll, so budget for it.

What does Drivewyze PreClear cost, and what is published?

Drivewyze prints the number. Its PreClear FAQ says mobile users can “try it for 30 days absolutely free! After the free trial expires the cost for Drivewyze services is $17.99 USD/month. Fleet pricing is available for larger fleets.” That is the only per-month bypass price either vendor publishes, and it is the one to test against your own routes. A Drivewyze pricing page we tried returned a Drivewyze “page not found”, so the FAQ is the source.

What you need to run it, according to the same FAQ and the bypass restrictions page:

• Your USDOT number, your license plate number, and the state or province of that plate.
• A photo of the truck, which Drivewyze says is required by law enforcement: the passenger side from a 45 degree angle.
• A phone, tablet or supported in-cab device with a live data connection on approach. Drivewyze says to launch the app before every trip and leave it running, because if it is not ready “at least 2-3 miles BEFORE” a site, you may not get a bypass or even the alert.
• One device at a time. Drivewyze says it blocks a second device from getting a bypass for the same truck.

Two more things from the FAQ. A new trial shows “bypass service activation pending” until you pull in at your next Drivewyze site. And if bypasses stop and you only see “Pull In Unless Closed”, Drivewyze lists an expired trial or a suspended paid service as possible causes, so check the account before you blame the scale.

Where does each service work?

Coverage is where the two services really differ, and both vendors warn you not to be fooled by a headline site count. PrePass says total site count “is of little significance” because some sites are rarely open or are not on your routes. We agree with that part. Compare your own lanes.

Coverage point	PrePass (per prepass.com)	Drivewyze PreClear (per drivewyze.com)
How the truck is read	RFID transponder, the PrePass app, or both together	Software only: app on a phone, tablet or ELD
Site count claimed	Does not lead with a total; app adds “over 160 mobile-only sites nationwide”	“900+” sites in the US and Canada
Transponder-only programs	Transponder can be enrolled in NORPASS, Oregon Green Light and Weigh2GoBC	Not available: those programs are transponder only
Where it says it is the only option	Not claimed	Says it is “the only bypass service in Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Minnesota, Nevada, Ontario, Alberta, Manitoba, and Newfoundland and Labrador”
Tolls	Yes, with a transponder (PrePass Plus / Toll Management)	No toll payment in the bypass service

The transponder-only point is the one that decides it for a lot of western lanes. PrePass’s own knowledge base says NORPASS, Weigh2GoBC and Oregon Green Light “only accept transponder bypassing”, and that a transponder expands access in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, South Dakota, Alaska, parts of New York and Connecticut, and British Columbia. A PrePass FAQ adds that those programs are not compatible with apps at all, including the PrePass app. If you run I-5 or I-84 regularly, an app alone will not get you bypasses at those sites.

The same PrePass page says electronic toll payment “is only available through the use of an RFID transponder” and that cellular apps, naming both Drivewyze and its own app, will not provide it. That is a vendor statement about the market, so read it as such, but it matches what Drivewyze sells: PreClear is a bypass and alerts product, not a toll account.

One caution on Drivewyze’s own numbers. The product page we read says “48 states and provinces” in one place and “47 states and provinces” in another. We are not printing either as fact. Open the coverage map on the Drivewyze site and check it against the states you actually run.

What still makes you pull in with a bypass service?

This is the part most drivers learn the expensive way. A subscription buys you eligibility for a screening decision, not a pass. Both vendors list the triggers.

PrePass’s FAQ says you must pull in “any time that your transponder gives you a red light signal or no signal”, and when you are hauling one of the special load types in its PrePass Bypass Restrictions Brochure. Another PrePass FAQ tells you to follow roadside signs and “always stay in the right lane for at least one mile prior to approaching weigh station systems for an accurate reading.”

Drivewyze publishes a pull-in reasons guide that is the most useful document in this whole comparison, because it tells you what the screening actually looks at. We grouped its categories into what you can fix and what you cannot:

Pull-in reason (Drivewyze guide)	What it means	Can you fix it?
Credential	ISS score not found or in a monitoring state; carrier out of service; vehicle image not approved; a temporary Nebraska plate	Partly: keep the carrier record clean and the truck photo approved
IFTA	IFTA status invalid, in pre-verification, or not on file	Yes: file and keep the license current
Registration	Registration invalid or expired, or no license plate provided	Yes: keep the plate record current in the service
UCR	Unified Carrier Registration not paid, or carrier not found	Yes: pay UCR on time
State taxes	Delinquent in Kentucky or New Mexico weight distance tax, North Carolina fuel tax, or Florida overdue citations	Yes: settle the account
Weight check	Weigh-in-motion reading overweight on the front, single, tandem, tridem or quad axle, a permit violation, or no weight recorded	Mostly: scale and slide before the lane, not after
Safety rating	Selected randomly but at a higher rate because of the ISS score, overall violation rate or, in Alberta, the R-Factor	Over time, through inspections and records
Inspection or random	An officer requested the truck, the carrier asked for an inspection, or the truck was drawn at random	No
Undefined	Usually a communication failure	Check signal and the app before the site

On the safety side, the Drivewyze guide explains the Inspection Selection System score this way: scores run from 0 to 100, lower is better, carriers from 1 to 49 are “generally granted a pass”, 50 to 74 is an optional inspection, and 75 to 100 is where inspection is recommended. It also says these “are merely recommendations to enforcement agencies”, that states pick their own selection rates, and that even carriers with excellent scores get pulled in to meet random pull-in rates. We could not open FMCSA’s own ISS page to confirm the bands directly; it refused our request. Treat the bands as Drivewyze’s description, not a federal table.

Then there are load restrictions. Drivewyze says drivers hauling oversize, overweight or permitted loads “must ignore Drivewyze bypass commands and pull into inspection sites in all states and provinces” unless a listed exception applies. Its state list adds other load types that must report in particular states, such as placarded hazmat, agricultural and livestock loads, piggy-back or drive-away loads, and, in Oregon, every vehicle at the first Port of Entry. It also lists states where roadside message boards override the app. The list changes; the page we read was last updated 20 May 2025. If you haul anything other than a plain legal dry van or reefer load, read the current restrictions page for the states on your route before you trust a green screen.

And weight is the one you control completely. Federal law caps Interstate weights at 20,000 pounds on a single axle, 34,000 pounds on a tandem, and 80,000 pounds gross, each including enforcement tolerances, with a bridge formula for axle groups (23 U.S.C. 127(a)). If you want the axle-by-axle version, our guide on how much weight a truck can carry walks through it. A weigh-in-motion flag on one axle is a pull-in no matter how good your score is.

What happens if you run both PrePass and Drivewyze?

Plenty of carriers do, and both vendors plan for it. The rule from the Drivewyze restrictions page and FAQ is strict: “if either Drivewyze PreClear or the other bypass service indicates you should pull in into the site, you must pull in if the station is open. You can only legally bypass if both programs indicate you should bypass.”

At sites with a transponder reader, both vendors tell you to follow the transponder. Drivewyze’s multiple transponders guide says that once the transponder is set up in its system, the app shows “Follow Transponder” at those sites. PrePass says the same in its own words: at sites equipped with RFID readers, its app will tell you to “Follow in-cab transponder”. Drivewyze also says that at sites which are not on its network, or in states like Louisiana with integrated electronic signs, you may simply get “Follow Road Signs”.

Put together, running both only ever adds pull-ins at the sites where both are live, because the stricter answer wins. What it adds is coverage: the transponder reaches the transponder-only programs and toll lanes, and the app reaches sites with no reader on the pole.

Is a weigh station bypass service worth it for an owner-operator?

The vendors publish savings claims, and they are the vendors’ own. PrePass says each bypass can save “up to $10.65” and “up to 7 minutes” in one spot on its bypass page, and “at least $10” and “at least 7 minutes” in another spot on the same page. Drivewyze’s product page says “at least $11.96” per bypass, while its driver page says “at least $8.68”. Those numbers do not agree with each other, and neither vendor shows its math on the page, so we would not build a budget on any of them.

Do your own arithmetic instead. It takes three inputs you already have:

1. Open sites on your usual lanes. Not the national count. The stations you actually pass in a normal month, and which service reads each one.
2. How often you are waved through. Count your own bypasses and pull-ins for a month. That is your real bypass rate, and by the vendors’ own descriptions it depends on your carrier record, your credentials and your weights.
3. What a stop costs you. Your own minutes per pull-in, your cost per hour, and the fuel of slowing down and getting back up to speed.

Drivewyze’s free 30 day trial is a cheap way to measure the first two before you pay anyone. If your record keeps triggering safety rating pull-ins, no subscription will fix that, and the money is better spent on the causes in the table above.

How should an owner-operator choose between PrePass and Drivewyze?

There is no single right answer, but the decision follows your lanes and your paperwork, in this order:

1. Run the Pacific Northwest, BC, parts of New York or Connecticut, or Alaska? You need a transponder at the transponder-only sites, which points to PrePass (or at least a PrePass transponder).
2. Want tolls on the same account? PrePass pairs bypass with toll payment on one transponder. Drivewyze’s bypass service does not pay tolls. Remember the payment guarantee if you add tolling.
3. Run New England, Minnesota, Nevada or the Canadian provinces Drivewyze lists? Drivewyze says it is the only bypass service there.
4. Want a published price and an easy exit? Drivewyze prints $17.99 a month after a free trial. With PrePass, get the monthly fee in writing, note the 10 day cancellation cut-off, and plan to return the transponder within 30 days if you leave.
5. Pulled in often already? Fix IFTA, UCR, registration and weight state taxes first. Those are pull-in reasons on the Drivewyze list, and they will follow you onto either service.

Many owner-operators end up with both: a PrePass transponder for the reader sites and tolls, and PreClear on the tablet for the rest. That works, as long as you obey the stricter of the two instructions every time.

Which paperwork keeps the green lights coming?

Look again at the fixable rows in the pull-in table. Nearly all of them are paperwork that lapsed: an IFTA license that is not current, UCR not paid, a registration the state record shows as expired, a weight distance tax account in arrears. The screening system reads those records in seconds, so a filing that slipped last quarter shows up as a red light this week.

That is the part a small operation can control. Our IFTA service handles IFTA reporting, and our safety and DOT compliance service keeps a compliance calendar and supports audits for DOT, FMCSA, IRP and IFTA. The bypass subscription itself is your call and your account with the vendor; we do not sell either one. If you are comparing other apps for the cab, our roundup of the best mobile apps for truck drivers covers the rest of the phone.

Frequently asked questions

How much does PrePass cost per month?

PrePass does not publish its monthly bypass fee. Its Supplemental Terms say the monthly device service charge is advised to the customer and disclosed when the user account is created. The same terms do publish other fees, including $100 for a lost, stolen, damaged or unreturned device, a $20 refurbishment fee and a $25 reactivation fee.

How much does Drivewyze PreClear cost?

Drivewyze says PreClear is free for 30 days and then costs $17.99 USD a month, with fleet pricing available for larger fleets.

Can I use PrePass and Drivewyze at the same time?

Yes. Drivewyze says that if either service tells you to pull in at an open station, you must pull in, and you may only bypass when both say bypass. At sites with a transponder reader, both vendors tell you to follow the transponder.

Why did I get a red light even though I pay for bypass?

A subscription only gets you screened. Drivewyze lists pull-in reasons including credential or ISS problems, invalid IFTA, expired registration, unpaid UCR, delinquent state taxes, an overweight axle reading, an officer request and random selection. PrePass says you must pull in on a red light or no signal.

Does Drivewyze work at NORPASS and Oregon Green Light sites?

No. PrePass says NORPASS, Oregon Green Light and Weigh2GoBC only accept transponder bypassing and are not compatible with apps. A transponder is needed at those sites.

Do weigh station bypass apps track my speed?

Drivewyze says bypass programs do not track vehicle speeds between weigh stations and are not used to issue speeding citations.

Can I bypass with an oversize or overweight permit load?

Generally no. Drivewyze says drivers hauling oversize, overweight or permitted loads must ignore bypass commands and pull in in all states and provinces unless a listed state exception applies. PrePass also restricts special load types.

Sources checked on 28 September 2026: prepass.com (home, bypass and knowledge base pages, the PrePass FAQ and the Supplemental Terms); drivewyze.com (PreClear product and driver pages, PreClear FAQ, bypass restrictions by state, pull-in reasons reference guide, multiple transponders guide and Weigh Station Bypass 101); and 23 U.S.C. 127 at law.cornell.edu. Vendor prices, coverage and restrictions are quoted from the vendors’ own pages and can change, so confirm them before you sign up. This article is not legal advice.