Car Rental: Spain or Portugal Better?
 

This summer we want to drive around Iberia [both Spain and Portugal] for 2 to 3 weeks. Which is better and cheaper

Hire in Spain and drive to Portugal, returning car in Spain?
or
Hire in Portugal and drive to Spain, returning car to Portugal?

Typically how much do Car Hire firms add to the price of wanting to drive in two countries? What happens to breakdowns and insurance? and CDW?

Re: Car Rental: Spain or Portugal Better?
 

Would need to decide on what airport you intend to fly into and out of , if its the same one then there would be your best bet.Some of the bigger companies will let you do a drop off at another airport , but they are expensive vs local non multinational , and off course would probably surcharge you too.

Some of the cheapeer rental guys do no cdw as its all inc , and one or two give you the extra insurance free for in and out of spain.

Re: Car Rental: Spain or Portugal Better?
 

One thing to be aware of: If you hire a car from Portugal most companies will allow travel to Spain (sometimes for a small extra fee) but for some, their breakdown cover is only valid as far as Seville (strange but definitely true).

Re: Car Rental: Spain or Portugal Better?
 

Extra cost for border exit where charged is no more than about 20 euros with the smaller portuguese firms.

Re: Car Rental: Spain or Portugal Better?
 

Using online sites like

http://pt.sixt.com
http://www.guerin.pt

To get an estimate at the Portuguese end.

Hiring a car seems to cost between 300 to 400 euros per week in Portugal at end of May for a Compact car.

Wow!

Buying excess cover seems incredibly excessive.
Renting a satnav from the car hire firm seems outrageously high @ 12 euros a day.
And all the other add-ons.

Add on the price of petrol and motorway toll fees, and perhaps rental of one of those auto toll paying devices for some of the highways in Portugal, it all seems sky-high.

None of these web sites says whether you can use the car to go into Spain or not. Or whether it costs even more to do that.

I thought Portugal was in recession. And car-hire were wanting to give away their cars during the off-season.

Re: Car Rental: Spain or Portugal Better?
 

They're expensive companies - try Economy Car Hire - they have compact cars (Clio or similar) for 2 weeks for £80ish per week at the end of May.

A tip: register with the site then log on first, and you can see which local partner each car is with - I particularly recommend Drive 4 Fun and Travelrent, both of which we used many many times before we got our own Portuguese car. They have modern vehicles and are both easy going about border exit.

Re: Car Rental: Spain or Portugal Better?
 

...and yes, 300-400 per week in May is ludicrous. I just got a quote with ECH for some friends and it's only 185 per week for a small car in August!

Re: Car Rental: Spain or Portugal Better?
 

Thank you: Economy Car Hire seems to do what we need and want.

http://www.economycarhire.com/

Their rental conditions include

Border Exit: Vehicles can be taken into Spain, which is free of charge.

Deposit Requirements: Full collision damage waiver and full theft waiver are included (with no insurance excess liability in the event of collision damage or theft).

Re: Car Rental: Spain or Portugal Better?
 

Used to use that for years , then bypassed it and startred getting big discounts from drive4fun , contact carlos he will sort you out.Hope they are still running after all those years , service was excellent.I had a duff tyre once he came and dropped off another upgraded car to the hotel..top bloke.

Re: Car Rental: Spain or Portugal Better?
 

Would also recommend contacting Drive4Fun direct, Carlos (and the company in general) have been great to deal with over the years - top service and cars.

Re: Car Rental: Spain or Portugal Better?
 

Actually Drive4Fun is not at all convenient for us, being Algarve based. We are more Lisbon based, and often fly into Lisbon Portela Airport.

More, we are actually dreading the move of the airport to Alcochete in 2017. Extra cost, extra distance, remote and unwelcoming: no doubt a mad EU funding exercise.