car rental websites?
 

Hey all,

My friend and I are leaving for southern Spain one week from today! We are planning on visiting Seville, Granada, Ronda and Malaga in the first week, and then renting a car and driving the Algarve region the weekend before we leave. (Does this sound do able?)

Ok. my question here is should we book the car in advance or wait till we get there? We are planning on booking roundtrip rental through Seville. Will we have trouble driving across the border to Portugal?

Also, what are some great websites with some good rates? Im finding it hard to find an Automatic! (Neither of us drive stick!)

Lastly, do we need a temporary license ? (we are from the U.S.) Thanks a bunch in advance!

First, a warning. You'll be there for Easter.

Book in advance. You can compare prices for cars at different locations for the best prices. Some folks have touted autoeurope as a good place to go. I travel a lot, and seem to get a good price from Hertz. It helps that I belong to AAA, as there's always a discount.

95%+ cars in Europe are stick shifts. Expect to pay "through the nose" for an automatic. I just did a quick search on Hertz for Easter weekend, just as an example. What wasn't sold out, were upscal cars. The cheapest stick was about 140 euro, the cheapest auto,atic (a Mercedes A series) was 360 euro.

You need nothing more than your U.S. driver's license. If you're under 25, expect to pay more, regardless of the rental company.

try auto europe.

Book in advance. I've had good luck with Nova and AutoEurope for good rates. Although Nova was cheaper for my France trip this year. Both allow you to pick the type of transmission. But I've only rented manual.

http://www.autoeurope.com/
http://www.novacarhire.com/

Jeff,
We leave WED for Belgium and found the best deal for a compact on AutoEurope:
http://www.autoeurope.com/index.cfm?

Safe and happy travels!

Hi M,

Also try www.gemut.com

You have good answers so far; my personal experience is that renting a car from Auto Europe and picking it up at Train/bus station Estacion Santa Justa in Seville works the best. Lagos is about 3-3.5 hours away. An automatic car in Europe is not cheap; expect to pay quite a bit more for one. Definitely rent from the States; if there is a problem afterwards, you will find it also much easier to deal with them from the States base anyway. a weekly rental would be so much cheaper.

Do you mind posting your itinerary? I am curious of your route and the potential for backtracking.

As far as the temporary driving permit, one is not needed, but again per personal experience, get an International Driving Permit (IDP) from AAA. This doc provides translation of your home driving license info to 5-6 languages. In the region you'll be traveling English is not widespread and there are frequent routine car stops by local police. Hand over your IDL and you will be in much better shape (again by personal experience). To add to the need, Potugal drivers are quite agressive, in the event you find yourself in a situation where giving your driving info is needed, you will be very, very glad you spend the $10 at AAA (free if a AAA Plus Member).

We were told by the rental car company to have the following ready at the border: drivers licence (we also provided the IDP), Car registration or rental papers, and passengers passports. No children under 12 are allowed in the front seat whatsoever, car seat or not.

As far as a weekend trip to the Algarve, I think is a cool idea. Spain has plenty to offer, though. Your call. Where are you leaving from?