Tolls in Portugal and Spain?

I'm currently in Portugal with a car. The person at Europcar explained the process to me pretty well.. I rented a device for 1.50 per day and this enables me to go though the "V" lanes on the toll roads. Just like I'm accustomed to doing at home. The only difference is the tolls are automatically charged to my credit card at the time I go through the toll 'booth'. It's working great so far.

I've rented cars in Spain a couple of times but don't remember how it worked. I was told there are some toll roads in Portugal I could not use without having the electronic devise. I'm not certain if this was just a sales tactic but I'm pleased with the process so far.

Taking a foreign car into Portugal and using it on toll roads is a pain! Portugaltolls.pt will explain what you have to do. Sorry, I have not used Spanish tolls. I have only used a Portuguese rental car in Portugal.

You will also need to check that you can take the hire car from Spain into Portugal, which should not be a problem.

In Portugal some of the toll roads have attendants and you can pay cash. Throw the money into the bin or pay an attendant. Portugal decided to eliminate 90% of their toll takers, so you can either do what the first person suggested, a little pricey, but convenient, or... you can also just drive through a toll spot and pay your toll at ANY POST OFFICE!! Take a photo of the license plate on your car, and go into the post office (which looked like a retail store to me!) 48 hours AFTER you have gone through. You can then pay the toll with no additional fine. I just showed them the photo of the car plate and they told me how much I owed.

By the way, I don't think you can take a car from Spain into Portugal. Check with the rental companies.

You certainly can take a car from Spain into Portugal. If you rent in Spain and drop off in Portugal it will cost you a hefty dropoff fee, though.

In April we drove a car that we had rented in France through parts of Spain and Portugal. Tolls in Spain were of the "take a ticket and then pay at the booth" type. As we entered Portugal on a major highway, we found a little automated station a few miles into the country. There your submit your credit card and the machine takes a photo of your license plate, determines your car registration information, and issues a "receipt." From there on, overhead signs flash the toll amounts for sections of highway. We drove quite a bit in three days for a reasonable total cost of just under $40. It appeared on our credit card a day or so after we left the country. While I think the credit card information automatically expires in 30 days, we logged on to the website shown on our "receipt" and cancelled the pass as soon we saw the total charges on the credit card.

This was a very easy and efficient means of paying tolls; it would be great if other countries used the same method. Note that this is newer information than that discussed in Rick Steves' guide to Portugal.

Just came back from Portugal and Spain. We rented a car in Lisbon. Rented the V chip for tolls. We drove to Lagos, Portugal. From there, onto Seville, Cordoba, Tarifa and Gibraltar. Only had to pay tolls not included in the V chip around the Lagos Area, paying the attendant. Spain, a few tolls, just paid the attendant.
We originally wanted to rent the car as a one way route, but too expensive.

Our total V chip toll was 35 euros. Extra Portugal tolls was less than 10 euros. In Spain, it was around 20 euros total.
Hope this helps.
Have a great adventure!

Olga. We will be driving in Portugal in October and were wondering about the toll roads there. What is the V chip? Do you rent it from the rental agency?

Thank you.

Devra