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Car rental with Automatic Transmission in Lisbon

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Car rental with Automatic Transmission in Lisbon

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Old Aug 30, 2014, 6:40 pm
  #16  
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Originally Posted by CaptainMiles
I am not aware of any such city in Portugal. Are you?
In fact no, it was the reason I wrote "may have"

Anyway, I did a little google, and I only found that Lisbon restricts old cars (without catalyzer) in downtown (in Portuguese, sorry).

I pretty sure OP won't rent an 1996 or older car, than he must be OK

I didn't find any other information about it. ^
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Old Aug 30, 2014, 9:26 pm
  #17  
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Thank you all for your advice!
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Old Aug 31, 2014, 8:29 am
  #18  
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just go to autoeurope.com, and check the automatic trans box to get a feeling of the price of cars. compare it to the std transmission offerings. autoeurope is a broker. they may not be the least expensive, but from that, one can get an idea of cost.
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Old Oct 8, 2014, 8:45 pm
  #19  
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I came back from Portugal this week and had a great time. Thanks again to everyone for their advice!

I rented for 5 days from Europcar (by way of National), picking up in downtown Lisbon, driving to various places between Lisbon and Porto, and returning at the Lisbon airport.

A couple of observations:
  • GPS is essential, especially in cities and towns as there are few (if any) street signs
  • Google Maps on my iPhone worked very well, even in small towns and on country roads
  • The electronic toll device is also essential and simplified driving on toll roads significantly
  • There are very many round-abouts, but they are not too hard to navigate
  • The positioning of the stop lights does require some getting used to

Overall, I found driving in Portugal to be pretty easy with a GPS.
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Old Oct 9, 2014, 2:49 am
  #20  
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Originally Posted by epi231
I came back from Portugal this week and had a great time. Thanks again to everyone for their advice!
Pleased to hear your trip was a success!

For reference, could you give us an idea what the cost of an automatic car was ?
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Old Oct 9, 2014, 6:42 am
  #21  
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Originally Posted by IAN-UK
For reference, could you give us an idea what the cost of an automatic car was ?
Including all taxes and fees, I paid US$ 377 for a 5-day rental for a compact. I believe the cost would have been the same if it were 6 or 7 days. This includes EUR 1.50/day for the electronic toll device (which is much less than Hertz charges for PlatePass in the US!).

Also, my sense is that the cost would have been around half of what I paid if I went with a manual transmission rather than automatic. Finally, booking through National was much cheaper (hundreds of dollars) than booking directly through Europcar.
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Old Oct 9, 2014, 3:47 pm
  #22  
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Originally Posted by epi231
Including all taxes and fees, I paid US$ 377 for a 5-day rental for a compact. I believe the cost would have been the same if it were 6 or 7 days. This includes EUR 1.50/day for the electronic toll device (which is much less than Hertz charges for PlatePass in the US!).

Also, my sense is that the cost would have been around half of what I paid if I went with a manual transmission rather than automatic. Finally, booking through National was much cheaper (hundreds of dollars) than booking directly through Europcar.
Thanks for getting back with that information!
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Old Oct 9, 2014, 5:30 pm
  #23  
 
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For what it's worth, last week I paid 114 euros--including taxes--for a two-day rental of an automatic that began and ended in downtown Porto.
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Old Apr 20, 2016, 9:17 am
  #24  
 
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Sorry to bump up this old thread but hopefully the information is still pertinent. We'll be 4 renting & driving and only 1 has current experience driving a manual (she lives in the UK) 1 doesn't have a license at all (she lives in Mozambique) and the other 2 of us learned to drive a stick back in the day but aren't comfortable doing it currently. In a foreign country^

My big question is what identification is required to rent a car in Portugal (we'll likely be renting at the Lisbon airport and immediately driving out - we're not sure yet where we're staying but not in Lisbon) Can we use current US & UK drivers licenses? Thanks!
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Old Apr 20, 2016, 10:17 am
  #25  
 
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UK driving licenses should be ok (say thanks to EU regulations).

For US driving licenses, you'll probably need an international driving license (the same way, europeans need one for renting a car here in the US). For specific information, you should check the website of the rental agency.
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Old Apr 20, 2016, 11:38 am
  #26  
 
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Originally Posted by WorldLux
UK driving licenses should be ok (say thanks to EU regulations).

For US driving licenses, you'll probably need an international driving license (the same way, europeans need one for renting a car here in the US). For specific information, you should check the website of the rental agency.
No one that I've looked at so far has mentioned needing the IDL, which is why I'm asking here.....(so far have checked CostcoTravel which gives rates for a few, EuropCar, and Skyscanner - which was out of the UK so wouldn't have license info)
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Old Apr 20, 2016, 11:48 am
  #27  
 
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Originally Posted by Hoyaheel
No one that I've looked at so far has mentioned needing the IDL, which is why I'm asking here.....
Yes. And as I said, reading the fine print on the car rental website will clear everything up.

Sixt Portugal requires for instance that renters don't have a visa inside their passport or in case, that they have a visa haven't been in Europa for more than 6 months (Once you've stayed in Europa for a period of 6 months or more, you'll need a european driving license)

Personally, I carry the IDL with me at all time (while abroad obviously), as it potentially expedites traffic stops.

Last edited by WorldLux; Apr 20, 2016 at 11:53 am
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Old Apr 20, 2016, 12:01 pm
  #28  
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I'd get the international license. Some local car rental agencies in Europe, including Hertz in major airports, "require" it, although you might win a long argument. It just makes renting the car easier and avoids problems if you're stopped by the police for any reason, including registration and insurance or drunk driving checkpoints.
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Old Apr 20, 2016, 4:10 pm
  #29  
 
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Originally Posted by Hoyaheel
Sorry to bump up this old thread but hopefully the information is still pertinent. We'll be 4 renting & driving and only 1 has current experience driving a manual (she lives in the UK) 1 doesn't have a license at all (she lives in Mozambique) and the other 2 of us learned to drive a stick back in the day but aren't comfortable doing it currently. In a foreign country^

My big question is what identification is required to rent a car in Portugal (we'll likely be renting at the Lisbon airport and immediately driving out - we're not sure yet where we're staying but not in Lisbon) Can we use current US & UK drivers licenses? Thanks!
I can't speak to current conditions but in 2014 a US drivers license plus a passport were sufficient.
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Old Apr 20, 2016, 7:08 pm
  #30  
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Originally Posted by LAXGUY
I can't speak to current conditions but in 2014 a US drivers license plus a passport were sufficient.
Rental agencies usually don't bother a lot with the license driver, you just need to show one with your name.

Police officers, in other hands, might be a problem if they don't understand what was written at the document...
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