Is anyone aware of any fees involved with renting a car in Portugal, driving to Spain and returning the car to Portugal? So far I have been unable to find any information on the fees from rental companies. Also, what rental car company would you recommend?
Thanks
We have never ever paid paid any fees for crossing borders. We pick up a car in one country, visit other countries and return car to original country frequently.
There are always steep fees when picking up in one country and dropping off in another. So picking up and dropping off in Portugal is good!
You should research how tolls are paid in both countries if you plan to drive
on the highways. In many cases you need a "medallion" (aka something that
pays the tolls) which is country-specific. A car rented in Portugal will most
likely not be equipped to pay tolls in Spain, depending on how these things
are done there.
We flew into Bilbao this past April, rented a car for 10 nights, and spent part of the trip in southwestern France. All the rental companies in Bilbao charged an extra fee to cross the border into France. It equated about 10 Euros per day. They described it to me as "insurance" so that if we ran into any kind of car trouble/accident in France, the fee would pay for the tow back to Spain.
We rented in Belfast this past July and had to confirm in writing that we would not cross the border from Northern Ireland into Ireland.
Required insurance coverages are the biggest wild card, as well as perceived liability. I have seen anything from nothing, to an added insurance package, and even where you might prohibited from crossing into a certain country, at risk of invalidating any agreement (including your credit card based insurance). That is why you need to explain your plans to the rental agency. Between Spain and Portugal, there may be no issues, or they may vary by agency, just ask.
We used Avis in Portugal, but did not cross the border. We only used them because I could used a brokered rate from my company at the time.
You should always let the rental car company know if you are driving to another country. As stated above, if anything occurs it could invalidate your policy.
When we rent in Croatia and list Slovenia and Italy, the fee is nominal. The most we have ever paid was $100 extra.
