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Have you rented a car recently in Portugal?

Posted by (Tel Aviv) on

I'm in the throes of last-minute planning for my trip that starts in 18 days. I just read the "fine print" on my Europcar reservation. It says I have to bring:

  • driver's license + IDP (got them)
  • credit card (got it)
  • Your Passport or Identity Card . . . and . . . a paper based proof of identity (such as a bank statement or utility bill) that is less than 3 months old.

Hunh??? Bank statement or utility bill? Mine are all in Hebrew! Has anyone been asked for this? I recently rented from Europcar in France and I've rented in Spain and Italy in recent years, never been asked for anything like this.

Posted by
11294 posts

Wow - that is a weird one! I've had to use utility bills to prove my address, but that was for local things (new driver's license, library card).

I guess you could always bring a utility bill in Hebrew, and they could use the camera function of Google Translate to see it translated (roughly) into Portuguese.

Posted by
32363 posts

Chani,

This is the first time I've ever heard of a car rental firm requiring a utility bill from a jurisdiction outside Europe. How will they know it's even authentic, as they won't be familiar with various utilities around the world. With your bills being written in Hebrew, that will probably be quite a challenge for them. I suspect this requirement is a response to being defrauded by a few unscrupulous people.

It sounds like they're also being strict with the requirement for an IDP.

Posted by
15794 posts

Harold - You're right. I'll take a current bill and if they ask for it, they can try to figure it out.

Ken - The IDP is no problem. It took me 5 minutes (got lucky with a parking place) and about $6 to get one before my trip to France last month.

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