VERDICT: WE GAVE 2 OUT OF 5 TICKETS AND HERE’S WHY!
This guide forms part of our complete Portugal Travel Guide, featuring destination ideas, scenic road trips, practical travel advice and honest first-hand reviews from across the country.
Our story: Driving Across Portugal (Algarve)
Europcar Rental Cars – Faro, Portugal, Airport
We had planned well in advance to rent a vehicle in Portugal to complete a series of Road Trips for this website.
On our European tour, we needed to rent vehicles a few times. We like to venture out from a central location so having a vehicle makes it easier to plan what we want to see and do without worrying about public transit.
The second car rental for this trip was through Europcar from Faro Airport in Portugal.
“If you crash, don’t worry about it” – staff at Europcar
We were greeted by someone who said she was fairly new but then she proceeded to hard sell us like she’d been doing it awhile. We had already paid for insurance through booking.com when we reserved the rental but she insisted that it wasn’t what was needed and no, we didn’t HAVE to take the extra insurance, but if we didn’t then she’d need to put at 25,000 EURO hold on our credit card.
Are. You. Kidding. Me. So basically, if you want the car, you’re taking the extra insurance you don’t need. No doubt, this was high pressure selling at it’s finest.
Looking back we should have told her to keep the damn car and gone elsewhere, but we were worried there wouldn’t be another vehicle for us + would we be penalized for having reserved then cancelling the day of? We checked and there was no refund available at that time.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, she then informed us she needed to have another €100 holdback on our credit card, in case we didn’t bring it back full of fuel. We always bring it back filled. It can take anywhere from 2-4 weeks to get that money back. And, if it is not returned full they refill it and charge us for the gas at a higher rate plus an admin fee. So why the extra €100.
We did have a staff member meet us at the vehicle but he wasn’t worried about looking it over for any damages & kept saying it would be covered by insurance & we could “crash it” and it would be taken care of. We said we don’t want to be dealing with anything like that whatsoever from another country thank you very much.
We always take tons of photos & video of any damage or issues at all because one trip we were blamed for some damage to a vehicle that we did not do, months after the fact. Thankfully we had the photos with date stamps to prove it. Even then, the back and forth was ridiculous. The assistant handing the car to us was most nnoyed that we still decided to take lots of photos. Many of the scratches were not even listed on the damage form presented to us.
It seems this type of thing has happened many times with rental companies & there’s very little you can do except protect yourself with photos and video for damages.
I guess our point is just to expect that it’s going to tie up more on your credit card than you think.
Another thing to ask when you’re about to rent a vehicle… is it electric, gas or hybrid and how do you go about filling/charging it. Despite booking and paying for a gas/petrol vehicle, which is also annoying.
Twice, we’ve rented a vehicle that was hybrid but it didn’t say it was anywhere on the vehicle nor were we told. There are rarely any type of manual with the vehicle. It became apparent, when after driving quite a ways, that the gas gauge hadn’t really moved. The hybrid vehicle doesn’t always make a sound when it switches back and forth from gas to electric.
We definitely appreciate the savings in gas (especially now that it’s so expensive) but just knowing the details is nice.
On returning the vehicle to a parking lot in Albufeira more surprises occurred. After speaking with the assistant we asked her to sign off the vehicle. She only wanted to check the gas. Reluctantly she walked around the vehicle and said ” there’s no need to worry as you purchased full insurance – even if you crashed it you can just walk away” to which we replied, let’s review the vehicle regardless. Unfortunately, it did feel good to return the vehicle as it carried a burden we could have done without!
Highlights to remember when renting a vehicle
- The €25,000 Hold Tactic: Told our pre-paid insurance wasn’t enough, forcing us to buy their extra coverage or face a massive credit card hold.
- Hidden Fees & Fuel Holds: Hit with an unexpected €100 fuel deposit that takes weeks to get back, even if you return the tank full.
- The “Crush It” Handover: Staff rushed the vehicle check-in, dismissing damages with “insurance will cover it”—a major red flag for tourists. Even stated “if you crash it, don’t worry about it. It’ll be covered”.
- Protect Yourself: Why we insist on taking date-stamped photos of every scratch and panel before driving away.
- Mystery Hybrids: The struggle of renting cars that don’t tell you they are hybrid (after asking for gas/petrol models), leaving you confused at the gas station.
Useful Visitor Information:
- Ultimate Guide to Algarve Beaches
- Castro Marim Medieval Castle
- Cost of Living Expenses
- Benagil Cave by Boat Adventure
- Two Very Different Parts of Albufeira
- Best things to do in and around Albufeira
Plan your next trip:
With every trip, we offer feedback to travel companies along with honest views for you, the reader. We rate adventures on a scale of one to five tickets, judged on quality, service, memorability, and price. A perfect ‘Ticket Rating’ of a five-ticket score means the experience was flawless and we’d eagerly return. Your desire to go back is the ultimate measure of a trip’s worth. Exclusive to My Return Ticket.
