Car rental recommendations: Faro. Something interesting?

Rowley Birkin QC

Afternoon all, I'm travelling to the Algarve on Friday for a week and planning to rent a car. I always try to get something interesting when travelling so don't mind paying a little bit extra.

I usually use SIXT when travelling for work and and have previously rented a 500 Abarth and convertible 4-Series with Hertz in Italy but never in Portugal.

Any recommendations for this location?

Thanks!

George Dalton

Doesn’t seem to be the best location for renting anything decent.

I’m also travelling over on Friday for a week and was looking for something interesting. When I clicked on the premium option on one of the rental sites and was presented with a Nissan Juke I just gave up and booked the usual Golf or similar.

Rowley Birkin QC

Mind me asking who you went with and how much you paid?

I'm looking at Avis coming in at €228 for a Megane class.

Marcusm

Rowley Birkin QC wrote: »

Mind me asking who you went with and how much you paid?

I'm looking at Avis coming in at €228 for a Megane class.

Seems like a fairly strong price for a shoulder period where the summer fleet should still be available. In May I think I paid €95 to Hertz/Dollar/Thrifty for a Tipo estate. I wonder would you get a better price at the location? Having been through Faro 4 times this summer, I have rarely seen anything other than bog standard at the airport.

RINO87

Rowley Birkin QC wrote: »

Afternoon all, I'm travelling to the Algarve on Friday for a week and planning to rent a car. I always try to get something interesting when travelling so don't mind paying a little bit extra.

I usually use SIXT when travelling for work and and have previously rented a 500 Abarth and convertible 4-Series with Hertz in Italy but never in Portugal.

Any recommendations for this location?

Thanks!

Hi sorry bit of a hijack here, but how did you mange to get the 500 Abarth in Italy? Did you have to deal direct with one of the rental companies? We're flying into Bari next month and would love a 500 Abarth, but I dont see it as an option anywhere on autoeurope.ie

Philb76

Just back from faro on Sunday we needed two cars used ok rental for the week nothing interesting I'm afraid but they were brand new we got a Renault captur and the new polo and they were very well specced

Philb76

Forgot to mention the rates were very reasonable even taking there insurance

Rowley Birkin QC

RINO87 wrote: »

Hi sorry bit of a hijack here, but how did you mange to get the 500 Abarth in Italy? Did you have to deal direct with one of the rental companies? We're flying into Bari next month and would love a 500 Abarth, but I dont see it as an option anywhere on autoeurope.ie

I just looked at my emails there and I had booked with Hertz directly. I originally reserved a Fun Collection Opel Adam Rocks (:rolleyes:) for the grand total of €42 for 3 days using a corporate code during the booking. I put in the special requests that I would love a 500 Abarth if one was available.

When I got to the airport (Ciampino) there was a brand new white one parked outside Hertz and the lady was waiting for me with the key and proceeded to tell me how fun it was to drive and to watch out for speed cameras! Great little machine for zooming around the roads north of Rome. :cool:

I've also seen 4C's, Jag XKR's and a Giulia Quadrifoglio in the Hertz fleet at Rome Fiumicino. Seeing and more importantly hearing a Quadrifoglio going through mountain passes with skis on the roof was something epic!

Rowley Birkin QC

Marcusm wrote: »

Seems like a fairly strong price for a shoulder period where the summer fleet should still be available. In May I think I paid €95 to Hertz/Dollar/Thrifty for a Tipo estate. I wonder would you get a better price at the location? Having been through Faro 4 times this summer, I have rarely seen anything other than bog standard at the airport.

As in hold out until I arrive?

My flight gets in at 19:30 on Friday and I have a few hours to kill waiting for others to arrive so I guess that could be an option if places will be open.

I do prefer to deal with more established places for car rental though, too much scope for cowboys to add questionable charges.

L-M

I went there in 2017 and rented through Autoeurope, picked and Adam and got a Golf.

My brother arrived two days later and literally walked straight out the airport door and straight across to the car park in front of you (The Mainstream rental companies are over to the right) and rented a horrendous Automatic Citroen c3 saloon for half what I paid including insurance.

Wtf ?

Little Suzuki open top jeep. Cheap as chips and great craic !

elperello

I have rented with a lot the big companies in faro over the years but lately I have been hearing good things about Zitauto.

Marcusm

Rowley Birkin QC wrote: »

As in hold out until I arrive?

My flight gets in at 19:30 on Friday and I have a few hours to kill waiting for others to arrive so I guess that could be an option if places will be open.

I do prefer to deal with more established places for car rental though, too much scope for cowboys to add questionable charges.

The desks are all in glass cabins just past the arrivals area. Both international names (Avis/Budget, Hertz/Dolla/Thrifty) and more local names (Guerin etc) are all there. The car lots are beside the cabins. If you were up for it, you could look at the car lots and then try it out. I might be wrong in thinking that a decent price should be on offer given the car stock vs tourist numbers.

galwaytt

Last time I was in Faro (last year), could only see very basic stuff.

On a related note, was in UK for a week in August and got an E-Class Convertible for €390 for the week. I booked an Astra, and when we turned up they were sitting there in the sun, tops down and he gave me a deal on the spot. As we are kinda toying with getting an E-Class sometime we took it as the best test drive you could get.

Previously, at BHX, booked a hatch and on the they had an Audi TT S-line for an extra pittance and I took that. They'd rather rent it than have it sitting there idle: there's loads of takers for the bread & butter stuff on a daily basis, including walk-ups, so the nice stuff can be under sold.

Voodoomelon

Very nice, great to see.

Spent last week in France in a brand new 3 series, bloody pricey though in the end, guts of €730 inc full insurance and extra driver. Add in €85 fuel bill and she wasn't a cheap rental. But worth every penny, massively specced from Sixt.

garv123

Rowley Birkin QC wrote: »

Afternoon all, I'm travelling to the Algarve on Friday for a week and planning to rent a car. I always try to get something interesting when travelling so don't mind paying a little bit extra.

I usually use SIXT when travelling for work and and have previously rented a 500 Abarth and convertible 4-Series with Hertz in Italy but never in Portugal.

Any recommendations for this location?

Thanks!

Hertz has a mustang convertible. 4.5k for a week..

jag xE convertible, 1.1k for a week.


I always book through argus car hire, I got a fiat tipo sport through them with air auto a in May, in Faro, needed a estate for 4 people and lots of suitcases. I was surprisingly impressed with it. Only cost me €9 a day too.

Rowley Birkin QC

Voodoomelon wrote: »

Very nice, great to see.

Spent last week in France in a brand new 3 series, bloody pricey though in the end, guts of €730 inc full insurance and extra driver. Add in €85 fuel bill and she wasn't a cheap rental. But worth every penny, massively specced from Sixt.

I nearly always book SIXT in the UK when work are paying. They have nice 3/5 Series for not a whole pile more than the ordinary and it's most definitely worth asking when you arrive at the desk. Got a lovely 3 Series M-Sport from Park Lane for a very nice spin up to Oxford one Friday morning, they had some amazing stuff in the fleet there.

Will be getting one tomorrow morning in the UK before heading to Portugal. Happy to swap the good car for good weather though. :cool:

ChippingSodbury

I always Marina Rent a car https://marinarentacar.com/. They don't have anything much exciting but they are the best company I've ever dealt with. There's no messing around. I was out a couple of weeks ago, didn't get in until late, was told where the car would be in carpark before we left. I didn't get a call until three days later to pay! They provide full CDW and also cover for travelling in Spain which is why I use them (only caveat, any breakdown/ accident in Spain, you have to pay for the recovery truck yourself if required).

George Dalton

Rowley Birkin QC wrote: »

Mind me asking who you went with and how much you paid?

I'm looking at Avis coming in at €228 for a Megane class.

Mine is slightly more complicated. I wanted unlimited mileage and it's 9 days total with pickup and drop off in different locations (Porto/Faro)



Ended up paying €258 for a Golf or similar with Avis.

CalamariFritti

Travel there quite a bit and tried a few different ones. Local cheapies as well the big brands. My recommendation would be to stick with Sixt. Decent cars at a decent price and you can be pretty sure they won't try to pull some stunt over a small scratch that may not even be yours. Last time I took a Sixt car there it was explained to me that any scratch under 10cm that doesn't go to the metal will simply be ignored, yours or not.

CalamariFritti

garv123 wrote: »

Hertz has a mustang convertible. 4.5k for a week..

jag xE convertible, 1.1k for a week.


I always book through argus car hire, I got a fiat tipo sport through them with air auto a in May, in Faro, needed a estate for 4 people and lots of suitcases. I was surprisingly impressed with it. Only cost me €9 a day too.

That has to be a pisstake (I mean by the company not by you). Took a Mustang convertible in the states - from Hertz actually - for a week and it was $55 for the day.

Rippy

Rowley Birkin QC wrote: »

I nearly always book SIXT in the UK when work are paying. They have nice 3/5 Series for not a whole pile more than the ordinary and it's most definitely worth asking when you arrive at the desk. Got a lovely 3 Series M-Sport from Park Lane for a very nice spin up to Oxford one Friday morning, they had some amazing stuff in the fleet there.

Will be getting one tomorrow morning in the UK before heading to Portugal. Happy to swap the good car for good weather though. :cool:

I booked a 1 series , Merc A class etc from Sixt at Stansted the other day. They didn't have one so offered me an 'upgrade' to a Renault Captur. I said I wouldn't be keen on that , so they gave me very nice brand new Merc C220.
Not bad at all for £50 !

uck51js9zml2yt

http://www.drive4fun.info/

Highly recommended on this forum.

Rowley Birkin QC

So Friday ended up being an "good car day". Pics here

Brand new 5 Series uber to the airport, very comfortable.

First rental was in the UK at Manchester Airport from SIXT for a customer meeting. Ended up with a brand new 320D Sport. It was very nice. Not sure if this was especially well specced but the tech on offer was fantastic. Rather sadly, my favourite bit, over the gesture control radio and adaptive lighting, was the windscreen washer jets integrated into the wipers.

Then at my customer site, it turns out they have a motorsport engineering school next door which I asked for a tour of! Highlight was a James Hunt driven McLaren F1 car from the 70's, a Manor F1 car from 2016 and a race prepped Bentley. Also got a tour of the Keating Supercar facility Pretty cool.

Second rental of the day was in Faro. I had booked a Golf class with RentalCars.com which ended up being with Guerin. Got to the counter, got chatting with the lad there who showed me pictures of his E46 328 that he was restoring and ended up getting a 420D convertible for a small upgrade (€120 over 8 days). It was great for the 280km spin to Lisbon and fun with the top down in the evenings. It also really highlighted the leap forward in technology in the newer 3 series. Utterly impractical for anything more than two suitcases though. Guerin seemed to have pretty standard fare (Seats, Skodas etc.) and then a handful of 4 Series convertibles on offer.

Thanks all for the recommendations and advice!