Hello! My friend and I will be doing a week-long Douro cruise in Sept, beginning and ending in Porto. We plan to travel around Portugal for 13 days with a car, and already have our itinerary. We want a mid-size car that will fit 2 people, 2 suitcases and 2 backpacks. Must be automatic transmission, with a/c, unlimited km and full insurance for all eventualities. We've been looking at a lot of auto rental websites, but are not clear if the vehicles (even if they claim "mid-size") will be big enough for our needs, but at the same time small enough to get through winding, narrow village streets. We'd like to add on GPS and some type of toll pass, so we're not surprised by a big toll road bill in the mail later. No company seems to offer a toll pass, and most major roads in Portugal appear to be toll roads. Any suggestions/recommendations welcome. Obrigado!
Posted by
Twin Cities of MN
7218 posts
I like to use Autoeurope. They are a 3rd party based in the U.S., and you can compare prices between the rental companies and see the size of the car. I sometimes call their 800 number when I have a more unique rental situation. If it were me, I'd look at picking up a car at the Porto airport or Porto Campanha train station. I find the pricing on Autoeurope to be less than working directly with the company.
Posted by
Mid-Atlantic area
7774 posts
We’ve gone through Enterprise the last few years for our European trips, renting a compact or intermediate SUV. We were given Hyundai Tucsons on a couple trips and a KIA Stonic on one trip; other trips were Seat Aronas. We don’t get automatics as we can drive a manual nor do we pay the outrageous GPS rental fee since Google maps live or downloaded for offline use worked just fine in Portugal. The rental company will handle the toll transponder.
Posted by
Twin Cities of MN
7218 posts
Agree with James, you'll get the transponder with the car. If you do choose to use Autoeurope or Enterprise as James suggested, check you purchasing the insurance in advance. I, myself, do not purchase extra insurance as I have full coverage thru both my CHase and AAA cards. As far as GPS, we traveled all over Portugal using google maps or maps.me OFFLINE, which does require you to download maps when you have wifi
Posted by
OP
8 posts
Thank you, Jaime and Jules! Good info. Of the cars you mentioned, Jaime, were there any you didn't like?
Posted by
4 posts
Following this...been doing research the last few days and Zest has come up often as an option. They are a car hire broker and on their website you can view the customer satisfaction with the actual rental firms. Some of their rates seem ridiculously low, but could be since we are renting in November. We have primary car coverage through AMEX, so looking at the base rate and transponder.
Posted by
OP
8 posts
Thank you!
Posted by
Mid-Atlantic area
7774 posts
Each of the vehicles was fine, but keep in mind you’ll get what’s available when you pick up the car, not necessarily the type vehicle the reservation says. That’s where the “x vehicle or similar” comes into play. On a few occasions we were given the next higher class type for no additional fee. On one occasion in 2023 we were given a hybrid Tucson and it worked fine. I wouldn’t have wanted an all electric vehicle since only one of our lodgings had a charging station.