Have any of you ever hired a car in Portugal

Going there in May for a couple of weeks and may look into getting a hire car

Can't remember the location of the villa i have got, but its about 30 minutes from Faro airport, so it will have to be company that has office in that general area.


Cheers in advance  Former Mod/Member, with the most post & Chicken George Arch nemesis

npinks wrote:

Have any of you ever hired a car in Portugal

Going there in May for a couple of weeks and may look into getting a hire car

Can't remember the location of the villa i have got, but its about 30 minutes from Faro airport, so it will have to be company that has office in that general area.


Cheers in advance

npinks wrote:

Have any of you ever hired a car in Portugal

Going there in May for a couple of weeks and may look into getting a hire car

Can't remember the location of the villa i have got, but its about 30 minutes from Faro airport, so it will have to be company that has office in that general area.


Cheers in advance

cheers for the link Muddywheels, never thought they did car hire price search

Getting rates of 661 for a 7 seater which isn't bad at all Former Mod/Member, with the most post & Chicken George Arch nemesis

Auto Jardim are the biggest of the local companies and have offices in most of the main tourist areas. I think they have a tie up with Holiday Autos in UK and it is usually cheaper to book here although they often have 'special deals' on local bookings.

I used them last year, car delivered to hotel and collected from hotel with no hassle.

Have just been out to Fuerteventura, and hired a car through Europcar. It was part of a deal when we booked the holiday so don't know how their rates compare with the other big firms.
What I can say though was, although we only paid for a Fiat punto or similar, I was going to enquire about an upgrade when I got there, but didn't have to because they upgraded for free up to a Seat Altea 1.9 td, and it was virtually new as well. It is not the first time I have used them, and I remember in the past getting decent motors off of them
I did notice round the resorts some "cheaper" hire firms, but looking at some of their cars there was visible damage, the odd kinked wheel etc and I wouldnt have given them the time of day,
I guess it will be the same in Portugal so good luck.

ps I also remember a few years back hiring a Renault Megane in Gran Canaria, and believe it or not Avis came up with one of the best prices so I used them.

I have always used Europcar on my travels for a few reasons, they are a big name in the rental world so that gives a piece of mind that standards should be ok, they have a good fleet of cars and plenty of options, and my favourite is that getting an free upgrade is easy.

In around 30 rentals (most in the UK) over the past few years I've managed to have the mojority upgraded for free. Book a full size (passat sized car) and you can easily get it upgraded to a C-Class.

Now compare that to my frequent flyer card with KLM, where I have been a Platinum member for the past 4 years and have never received a free upgrade!!!! Airlines suck!