Car rental drop off charges
 

I’m planning to rent a car through auto-Europe at Lisbon airport in April, drop a week later at Porto airport. Price for rental is good but they won’t give a quote for the drop-off fee. Has anyone done this and have a ballpark figure of the cost.

I have never encountered a drop off fee for returning a car at a different location within the same country in Europe.

BTW, I always rent through Autoeurope or its sister company, Kemwel.

Try pricing it on Expedia. Nice in that they also include ratings of the various agencies.

They also give you a price for daily collision insurance if not covered by a credit card.

In addition go to the car company website and read the fine print if you book direct.

Have you spoken with one of the AutoEurope agents? They are very helpful and should be able to answer your questions. 888-223-5555 .

I, too, have never had to pay a drop charge within the same country when renting through AE or Kemwel, but have not rented in Portugal.

Call them to find out if there is a drop off fee. Contrary to other posters, I generally have not had a drop-off fee with Europcar as the provider in France, but regardless of the provider in Denmark or northern Germany, I had to pay a drop-off fee. I once looked into renting a car, picking it up in Bordeaux and dropping it off in Limoges with Hertz as the provider, and in that instance there was a drop-off fee, and none with Europcar which had a train station pickup fee which was less than Hertz's drop-off fee. We did not have one in Portugal, but that was quite a quite back, and policies change constantly.

One-Way rental car fees
 

Our October rental, picked up in Lisbon at Oriente Rail Station and dropped off at the Faro airport, did not include a one-way drop off fee.

Thanks everyone good advice from real travelers. I’ll follow up with your suggestions and let you know

I drove in Portugal. We Picked up the car in Porto, and dropped it off in Faro. Booked the car through Auto Europe and did not pay any drop off fee.

The final rate you were quoted and paid to Auto Europe included any applicable “one-way” or drop-off fees. Auto Europe is a broker, and when you attempt to book a car with a different drop-off than the place you rented, they warn you that a drop-off fee may be included in your final fee (depending on the rental car company you select). I did a quick check and noticed that Europcar’s rates are unchanged if you return the car to Lisbon or Porto; Avis rates go up dramatically if you return to Porto, and Budget’s are close to the same either way. Having said that, we have had great success with Portland, Maine, based Auto Europe, which also holds a great reputation with many posters here.

Be aware of what Whitehall is telling you: the "drop fee" if there is one will be built into the daily rate you are paying.

Best to call AE to reconfirm if there is a dropoff fee, AFAIK a dropoff fee, if it is charged, is an additional extra which is not built into a daily rate. it is a separate charge much like a charge for a GPS, child seat or additional driver etc.

GPS systems
 

You might want to note that many of the cars being rented today included a built in navigation system, at least the last three compact cars we rented through AE/Kemwel, using Europcar, included the navigation systems installed as part of the car's basic equipment. There was no extra charge for using the car's own navigation system. They only issue is you have to be familiar with the system as there are no instructions on how to set it up, including changing the language, but it shouldn't be that difficult. Most of the new navigation systems are similar.

None of our three Auto Europe rentals this fall had it, but we declined the offered free upgrades because we wanted the smallest car possible, for parking and squeezing in the many narrow spaces we always encounter. We find it easy to use google offline maps, since we are familiar with them. They also work well when walking around cities and towns. I assume I could "pair" our phone with the installed on board computer/screen in the cars you are talking about.